Betsy's pianist friend Lily arrived Wednesday to prepare for a benefit concert. While Betsy got her at airport I put together dinner- Korean-ish marinated pork, brown rice with oyster mushrooms, sesame green beans, and a Napa slaw with an Asian bent. Dave joined us and we tried a couple of wines:

2012 Merkelbach Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett (#8) Lovely, lively, light, & limpid. Wet rocks, apple, citrus. Thanks for David Bueker for reminding what fine value Merkelbach provides. A-/B+

2010 Pascal Marchand Bourgogne rouge
Nice somewhat flesh pinot fruit, medium acid, light tannin, easy to drink B

Thursday I had a board meeting, Lily and Betsy went to a local BYOB bistro, I gave them a red and a white to take along. They went with the red , and brought back leftovers of the 2009 Viticcio Chianti Classico. Cherries, flowers, and a little spice. A bit less acid than I think classic for Chianti, but a pleasant bottle. B

Friday dinner was supposed to be a reunion- Betsy's bowmaker and his wife were post-college friends of Lily's. However, illness intervened to prevent the reunion, yet we got a smaller group together for a nice dinner.

I made a white bean dip with olives and smoked oysters, and we had

NV Laherte "Ultradition" Brut Champagne
Full, doughy, citrus zest and herbs. Interesting, good acids, I like. B+

2010 Ferret "Sous Vergisson" Pouilly-Fuisse
I got a strange lactic note on the nose if this, on palate apples and pear, a little oak, could use more acid. I've liked this much more before. B-/C+

Main course was duck legs with a panko crust, roast root vegetables, and an arugula/avocado/citrus salad. A couple of red Burgs:

2007 d'Angerville Volnay
Midweight, fine tannins, red fruit, a little sandalwood exotica. Takes a little while to open. Good, but I think I jumped the gun slightly on this one.. B/B+

2002 Lafarge Volnay
Fuller, big black cherry fruit, still a little tannin. Some coffee, earthy, quite well. A-

Saturday was the benefit. Concert was fantastic (I admit I'm prejudiced)- the wonderful Brahms Clarinet Trio, a Schubert sonata, some cello/viola duos (Betsy and her sister doing Bartok and Rebecca Clarke), and Bach viola de gamba/harpischord sonata rearranged for 3 cellos. A crush of wellwishers at end meant we were late for our 10 PM dinner reservation, but Harpers was welcoming to our party of 8. We had an excellent dinner (bibb salad and roast chicken for me, very good but a bite of Betsy's "mushroom toast" was highlight). I had dropped a couple of bottles early and they had decanted:

1989 Meyney
Black fruit, a little leather, just a touch of barnyard. Fine old fashioned midweight Medoc. This is an old fave and it's still holding well, though probably not destined for another decade or anything. B+

1979 La Lagune
Red and black fruit, good acids, cigarbox, saddle leather. Sweet and bright.. B+

2010 La Tour Bon Bandol
Black fruit, smoked meats, underbrush and lavender. Primary of course after the Bordeaux, but a nice wine. 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.