Last night Betsy's sister had a surprise 50th birthday party for her
husband. Despite it being 2 weeks before actual birthday, I think he
was suspicous when his quartet insisted on a long rehearsal right
before leaving this AM for some concerts in Bogota. Still, I think he
was mostly surprised to come home to couple dozen friends and some
"boats" of sushi. Rather than have Katherine rummage through his wine,
I had volunteered to be the wine supplier:

NV Sciarpa Prosecco
This was a blowout sale buy, and at $7.50/bottle I was happy to bring
over several. Light, citric, a little leesy, fine as an inexpensive
way to have bubbles, and decent match with sushi. B-/B

2007 Pernot Bourgogne Blanc
Once again, just lovely, a midweight Burg with clean pear fruit,
excellent length for the level, wet rock finish. I bought a bunch but
should have bought more. B+

2008 Geil "Bechtheimer Heiligkreuz" Scheurebe Kabinett (Rheinhessen)
(front label just Scheurebe Kab, back has vineyard)
Exotic fruit cocktail of a wine, sweet oranges, mangoes, a limey note
from the excellent acids. Not very long, but very good for $12-13 I
paid for this. B+/B

2008 Willi Schaefer Riesling QbA
Wow, what a QbA! Just a hint of CO2, pretty Granny Smith and lime
fruit, very light, slatey/flinty. Brighter than sunshine acidity.
Floral, refreshing, delicious. B++

2008 Pepiere Muscadet de Sevre et Maine Sur Lie
Initially a little austere after the Scheurebe, but as I adjust the
typical Ollivier style winner, saline minerality under clean lemony
fruit. She sells seashells by the seashore. B+

NV (I think, didn't see vintage) Anselme "La Fiole du Pape"
Chateauneuf du Pape
We've all seen this. The weird distorted bottle, the dusty/gritty fake
aged surface, the "torn" label. This was brought to my house recently
by a non-geek. You know, it's actually not that bad. Red fruits, some
herbs, a little leathery note, decent length. If it was in a normal
bottle that said 2001 Cotes du Rhone I'd have nodded wisely as if it
was just what I expected. As it is, certainly better than I
anticipated. B

2000 Ch. Pericou (Bdx Sup)
For anonymous red wine, ok. For 2000 Bordeaux, rather poor. Red plum
and a little currant, a green/weedy note in background, a little
tannic rasp. Not very long. C+

1959 Antonio Ferrari Solaria Jonica (Puglia) (500 ml)
I was holding this for Betsy's birthday in December, but she said take
it over (I have a couple other 59s in reserve). So this was released
about 5 years ago. The story is a Piedmont producer originally from
Puglia trucked a load of very ripe Primitivo to make a big wine. But
the fermentation stuck at 14%, leaving lots of RS. Wine then spent 10
years in botti, and then 35 years in concrete. OK, so I open it. Dark
color, but lively aromas. Toffee, figs, raisins. Some cocoa and ripe
berries. Kind of Madeira meets Amarone. It's sweet, but not full-
fledged dessert sweet. Powerful wine, thick. Pretty good, I'll give a B
+ for quality, but an A for making people happy on occasion.

Fun evening, highlighted by a parody of S&G's "America" by a couple of
friends.

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.