Consumed with various meals over the past few nights:

2009 Wind Gap Pinot Noir Griffin's Lair
nose: dark fruit, earthy
palate: medium-light body, firm acidity, clean finish

Consumed with a dinner of roast chicken and risotto. This wine would
have been difficult to peg blind as Pinot Noir: it was too dark with
little varietal character. OTOH, it steered well clear of the goopy,
overextracted model of CA PN. We liked this very much when we had it at
the winery last year. I'll let my other bottles sit for a few more
years in the hopes that it'll get more red-fruited with time.

2005 Eric Texier Brezeme
nose: briery dark berry fruit, pencil lead, fairly muted
palate: juicy fruit, lean, fine grained tannins

Consumed with a dinner of grilled, butterflied leg of lamb. I opened
this in part because of concerns about its being sealed with a fake cork
(it wasn't) and in part as a result of an online kerfuffle concerning
Texier's wines. Regardless, it was great with the lamb, but pretty lean
on its own. More time might help it if you've got a cork-finished bottle.

2008 Martinsancho Rueda Verdejo
nose: initially, smoky oak, later becoming more citrusy and tropical fruit
palate: a bit rounded, with decent acidity and a solid core of fruit

Consumed with a dinner of "Shrimp Uggie" (a dish made famous by
Uglesich's in New Orleans) this wine lost all trace of its earlier
oakiness and sported quite luscious citrus fruit and tropical fruit.
Not bad for a bargain bin clearout!

2010 Arianna Occhipinti SP68 (Frappato/Nero D'Avola)
nose: slightly tarry, bright red fruit, earthy
palate: rich but light, deep fruit, moderate acidity


With the arrival of Fall shipping season, cases of wine have recently
arrived in the household. This bottle was in one of the cases and was
opened this evening to accompany a brief scientific discussion chez
nous. Bright, cheerful and lively wine (much like the vigneronne).


Mark Lipton