Mark Lipton wrote:
> 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

A lot of Nero 'dAvola is showing up on shelves these days, and a lot of
different styles are produced. What other producers' wares have you
sampled?