Saturday Betsy had a rare night off, and went to work on some duck
breast. Served with a red wine & shallot sauce, grilled zucchini,
beets, and basmati rice. We tried two wines with dinner, some leftover
2004 Brun/Terres Dorees Fleurie (excellent, bright and minerally, even
better than 2 days before) and the 2002 Tablas Creek Cotes de Tablas
(Paso Robles). The Tablas Creek surprised me a little, my previous
experience was with the 2001, which could have passed for a hefty Cotes
du Rhone (from a ripe vintage). Well, this was REALLY ripe, at first I
was a little taken aback. This truly showed as New World, all sweet
red plum and red berry fruit, with a little overlay of vanilla/oak. But
with a little time it calmed down and showed more depth- some flinty
minerals and earth, and the fruit began to take on more of a black
fruit character. Still, a litttle fat for me, but a B.

Sunday Betsy stopped at Fairway on way home from matinee, came home and
cooked while I was doing a speech at a church. Thick veal chops with
fried sage, crisped Brussels sprouts, potatoes, and a salad with
leftover beets. The wine was the 2004 Marco Felluga Tocai Friulano
(Collio). All about citrus and nuts at first, some steely mineral notes
and a less sharp apple fruit appear with time. Nice medium-bodied wine
with good acidity, that nut (almond) note and a hint of bitterness on
the finish mark it as typically Italian for me. B+

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of
consistency.

"DaleW" wrote in news:1142275634.196321.250950
@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com:

Saturday Betsy had a rare night off, and went to work on some duck
breast. Served with a red wine & shallot sauce, grilled zucchini,
beets, and basmati rice. We tried two wines with dinner, some leftover
2004 Brun/Terres Dorees Fleurie (excellent, bright and minerally, even
better than 2 days before) and the 2002 Tablas Creek Cotes de Tablas
(Paso Robles). The Tablas Creek surprised me a little, my previous
experience was with the 2001, which could have passed for a hefty
Cotes
du Rhone (from a ripe vintage). Well, this was REALLY ripe, at first I
was a little taken aback. This truly showed as New World, all sweet
red plum and red berry fruit, with a little overlay of vanilla/oak.
But
with a little time it calmed down and showed more depth- some flinty
minerals and earth, and the fruit began to take on more of a black
fruit character. Still, a litttle fat for me, but a B.


I had some of this on Saturday (IIRC a 2003 or 4) It screamed Cotes du
Rhone. I wasn't smooth enough for a CdP but it does have a fairly broad
base of Grenache, Syrah, and 3 others including Mourverde and a very
small amount of Cinsault. So know I now what a B tastes like! I would
have gone as much as a + but that's me.


--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

Joseph,
I've heard good things about the 2003, haven't heard a report on 2004.
Vintages are of course funny things. I did give the 2001 a B+.
It was not as successful a vintage in the minds of the Perrin/Hass team
as the 2002, but because of that they didn't make an Espirit in 2001-
so all the grapes went into the Cotes.

"DaleW" wrote in news:1142347403.765645.193610
@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com:

Joseph,
I've heard good things about the 2003, haven't heard a report on 2004.
Vintages are of course funny things. I did give the 2001 a B+.
It was not as successful a vintage in the minds of the Perrin/Hass
team
as the 2002, but because of that they didn't make an Espirit in 2001-
so all the grapes went into the Cotes.



I just checked, it was the 04 Tablas Creek Cotes du Tablas

they were also serving the 03 Esprit Blanc which was an excellent white
"rhonish" wine with only the faintest hint of oak (no new stuff and only
one variety made in old oak barrels the rest was stainless), made the
Perrin blanc taste like slightly sour water, but the wine of the day was
the '04 Pichot Vouvray Moelleux I think I can still feel the aftertaste

--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/