Last night Betsy made a starter course of chard/ricotto gnocchi in
sage butter (she's made an almost identical recipe before, which they
called "malfatti", but Marcella just calls gnocchi). Went well with
leftover Macon. Before dinner, I had opened the 2005 Pierre-Marie
Chermette (Domaine du Vissoux) "Cuvée Traditionelle" Beaujolais VV.
It was rather mute at that time, with fair amount of tannins for a
Beaujolais sticking out. But after we finished appetizer, Betsy served
the chicken (with herbs, potatoes,and pancetta, a Biba C. recipe). We
switched to red, and quite a pretty Beaujolais greeted us. Some soft
tannis in background, but overall a lighter wine. Pretty black cherry
fruit with a little hint of grenadine, sweet and smoky. Delicate but
with real verve. MArk was right to put this on his under$20 list,
excellent for the money! B+

Over the course of several nights, the 2005 Herve Souhaut Syrah (VdP
l'Ardeche). I'm not sure I gave this a fair test, I opened one night
when a red loving friend dropped by, and kept sampling post-dinner as
my dessert for several evenings. First night the acidity was so
prickly it was startling. There were some interesting flavors-
blackberries, black raspberries, a bit of bacon fat. But the acidity
was sharp and overriding. Best night was probably #2, when the acidity
went down a notch (though way higher than most reds) and the flavors
came through, the meat and black olive reminding me a little of a
lesser Northern Rhone. By third night some oxidative notes were
showing. I can't say I got a lot of pleasure from this,too acidic for
even me, I'll give a B- at its best. But I have a sneaking suspicion
that with the right timing (a few hour decant) and the right food
(maybe a stew with meat, tomatoes, olives) I might have found this
delightful. But only bottle, so I'll never know.

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