On Saturday, Jean and I hired a babysitter so that we could: 1) work on
an impending NIH grant proposal and 2) go out for a much-needed relaxing
dinner afterward. Dinner was had at one of our local fine dining
establishments, one with a Specular "Award of Excellence" for its wine
list. With our first courses (prawn cocktail and salad of mixed field
greens, caramelized pearl onions and grilled wild mushrooms) we got:

2003 Loimer "Lois" Grüner Veltliner

nose: initially reticent, developing good varietal (green pea) character
with some minerality in evidence
palate: lightweight GV, decent concentration, crisp and refreshing

A good match with the prawns and a good aperitif wine, this showed fine
acidity for an '03 white. Not a complex GV by any means, but a very
decent wine for the price ($22 on the wine list). It went down all too
easily, considering that we were moving to red for the main courses.

With our main courses (rigatone with duck, onions, portobellos in red
wine-veal stock reduction for Jean and pink peppercorn-encrusted ostrich
for me), we got:

2002 Feudo Arancio Nero D'Avola
nose: simple, grapey
palate: medium body, soft tannins, fruity, simple

We were so intrigued to see a Nero D'Avola on a wine list in Indiana
that we decided to give it a whirl. Another factor in our decision was
that, since we'd already consumed 2/3 of a bottle of the Lois, it didn't
seem prudent to spend $60 on the '03 Ridge Lytton Springs, especially
since there are several bottles of it in the cellar. There was nothing
wrong with this wine, but it failed to excite either of us.

Overall, a very pleasant meal and we managed to remain sober throughout
the meal, despite splitting two (!) full bottles with dinner. Some
thoughts on the wine list: our dilemma began with no Champagne offered
by the glass, an option that we often employ when getting white wine
appetizers with red wine main courses. We decided to therefore get a
white to start with, and the Lois was the pick of the litter in that
regard. However, it was disappointing to see that there were almost no
half bottles on the list, and that the year of the Lois was listed. The
red selection was less interesting than that of the whites, but again
only one half bottle (of a St. Supery Cab) and no year on the Nero
D'Avola. This wouldn't be at all suprising for our community if it
weren't for the Spec Award -- it just goes to show you how little they
mean these days.

Mark Lipton