Had friends for thanksgiving dinner last evening:

Blue Mountain Brut (NV) - simple nose, good fizz, citric finish,
equivalent to a decent Cava.

2003 De Wetshof Estate Lesca Chardonnay (S. Africa) - abundant fruit
in nose, full and slightly sweet in the mouth, nice wine and recently
on sale here.

With squash soup.

2002 Morgante Nero d'Avola (Sicily) - ripe hot nose with
boysenberry and nutmeg, the wine slightly coarse but quite tasty
nonetheless. For those days when you feel like a bit of rough trade....

With pasta with sage-butter sauce.


1989 Borgogno Barolo Riserva - some browning/fading at edges, mature
nose without to much tar, still surprisingly tannic, ending well -
juicy, and with some fruit that only appeared 4 hours after decanting.

With roast goose with baked pears and apple stuffing

1998 Brolo di Campofiorin - a selected batch of the regulat ripasso,
actually lighter and drier than the Morgante had been, but decent
cheese match. The typical ripasso nose, readily identifiable, was not
heavy and the wine matched the cheese quite well.