Better yet - Soldier of Fortune.
"Dale Williams" > wrote in message
...
> Monday Betsy made leg of lamb, with a basil-anchovy sauce; accompanied by
> chard
> with pinenuts and boiled potatoes. The sauce is surprisingly wine
> friendly; in
> this case I decided to go for a Rhone. The 2001 Chave "Offerus" St. Joseph
> was
> exceedingly tight upon opening, just tannin and barely perceptible fruit.
> An
> hour in the decanter presented a more agreeable wine. Blackberry and
> blackcurrant fruit with an edge of peppery Rhone spice, good finish. Still
> tannic, but the meat helps out. We drank half the bottle,had the rest next
> night with a puttanesca sauce. Not really a recommended combo, but the
> wine had
> enough acidity to do ok. On day 2 the fruit had more of a red
> raspberry/cherry
> flavor, with a herby nose. Good wine, needs time. If negociant wine is
> this
> good, would love to try the estate. B++
>
> Wednesday Betsy made Eric Ripert's version of Keller's butter poached
> lobster,
> with a Champagne/tarragon sauce. She didn't actually use Champagne, but a
> bottle of 2000 Windsor North Coast "Champagne" (my italics) Brut (this was
> a
> gift from a non-drinking neighbor, his company was giving out these with
> their
> own holiday label). Ok for the recipe, but not easy to drink. Sharp green
> apple
> fruit, somewhat coarse mousse, slightly off (herby?) smell, short finish.
> C
>
> I pulled out the first white I saw in fridge, the 2001 Strub Niersteiner
> Bruckchen Kabinett. Seemed a little bigger than last bottle tried, though
> still on the lighter side. Nice balance of acid and sugar, not closed at
> all.
> Peach and cherry fruit, lengthy chalky finish, nice wine. B+
>
> So Thursday Betsy tells me that friends are coming to dinner, and she is
> making
> Nigela Lawson's duck with blueberry sauce, from Wednesday's NYT. Duck with
> fruit sauce actually isn't my favorite, especially as a wine match. But I
> never
> stand in the way of Betsy wanting to try a new recipe. I polled cyberspace
> for
> opinions, and got suggestions of Rhone, Burgundy, RRV PN or Syrah, Petite
> Syrah, Zinfandel, and more. So I went with a few options based on what I
> had
> handy:
> '01 Claude Dugat bourgogne (rebottled in 375, refrigerated earlier in
> week)
> '01 Strub Kabinett (because it was open)
> 2001 Charvin Cotes du Rhone
> 2003 3 Thieves Zinfanfel (because my guests love Zin, and are always
> looking
> for budget ones)
>
> the results:
> well, first of all the match wasn't as bad as I feared. Betsy said
> "duck in blueberry sauce", and I had visions of purple duck (a
> blueberry version of duck l'orange). But what she actually served was
> roast duck with a blueberry sauce (made with fresh blueberries, not
> extraordinarily sweet)on the side. I sampled each wine with just duck, a
> quick
> dip of the sauce, and with mucho sauce.
> With just duck, my favorites (in order) we Burg, CdR,Zin, Riesling.
> With duck and a touch of sauce: CdR, Burg, Riesling, Zin.
> The couple of experimental bites heavy on sauce: Riesling, CdR, Zin,
> Burg (with only the Riesling being even a halfway good match).
>
> As to the wines, the 2001 Charvin Cotes du Rhone really showed well.
> Medium-bodied, ripe but not flabby, bright raspberry and cherry liqueur
> fruit.
> Some smoke and herb, clear clean if not especially lengthy finish. Baby
> CdP,
> indeed. Buy more at $15. B+/A-
>
> The 2003 3 Thieves Zinfandel ($9 for a liter retro jug) is a pleasant easy
> to
> drink Zin on the red fruit end of the Zin spectrum, with bright raspberry
> fruit
> and a hint of white pepper. Fun easy wine, nothing complicated, good QPR.
> 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
> Dale
>
> Dale Williams
> Drop "damnspam" to reply