Friday Betsy made mussels & rigatoni in a saffron-infused broth, I
served the 2005 Domaine de L'Ecu "Expression de Gneiss" Muscadet Sevre
et Maine Sur Lie. Soft chalky minerality, Golden Delicious fruit
edged with lime. This is a tasty Muscadet, but a little softer on the
acids than my preference. I've liked the Expression de Granite more
(though haven't had the 2005). B

Saturday with slow-baked king salmon and barley-mushroom risotto, the
2002 Pavelot "Aux Guettes" Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru. A bit hard and
shrill at first, opened to show black cherry and raspberry fruit over
a solid backbone of tannins and acidity. Nice wine, but needs time.
It's a bit more friendly sampled the next day, but still tannic. I'm
going to revisit remaining bottles post-2010. B+

Betsy needed some white wine for the risotto, so I opened a 375 of the
2005 Ch. Lamothe de Haux (Bordeaux AC). Good acdity, grassy notes,
some light citric fruit. Maybe just a tad dilute, but who's
complaining at $5 a half? B-/B

Sunday started the year of the pig, Betsy is (in a Chinese
astrological sense, only) a pig, and wanted to celebrate with pork.
Might as well add duck and sausage, so she made cassoulet, with a
leek.chevre starter and accompanied by beet salad and garlic bread.
Recently I opined that Cahors or Madiran should be the cassoulet wines
of choice, but I own 1 bottle of the former and 2 of the latter, and
none are stored at home. I was too lazy to go to office (offsite
storage), so went with a young Rhone, the
2004 Domaine de Marcoux Cotes du Rhone. Somewhat floral nose, rather
broad on the palate with big kirsch and red cherry fruit. Moderate
tannins. Could easily pass for a Grenache-driven CdP. I'm not a huge
Grenache fan, and most of my favorite Rhones are Syrah or Mouvedre
dominated, but this is nice. B+/B

Over the space of 5 days, the 2005 J. Leitz Rudesheimer Klosterlay
Riesling Kabinett held up nicely. Pretty bright acidity, sweet peach
and apricot fruit with a hint of lime. Slate on finish is more
noticable after daty 2. Nice wine, probably my last bottle (I bought a
case for under $12 a bottle, they shipped the 3 bottle they had and
charged for them, rest are backordered, but doubt they ever
materialize at that price). Great value at that price. 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.

On Feb 19, 10:37�am, "DaleW" > wrote:
> Friday Betsy made mussels & rigatoni in a saffron-infused broth, I
> served the 2005 Domaine de L'Ecu "Expression de Gneiss" Muscadet Sevre
> et Maine Sur Lie. Soft chalky minerality, Golden Delicious *fruit
> edged with lime. This is a tasty Muscadet, but a little softer on the
> acids than my preference. I've liked the Expression de Granite more
> (though haven't had the 2005). B
>
> Saturday with slow-baked king salmon and barley-mushroom risotto, the
> 2002 Pavelot "Aux Guettes" Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru. A bit hard and
> shrill at first, opened to show black cherry and raspberry fruit over
> a solid backbone of tannins and acidity. Nice wine, but needs time.
> It's a bit more friendly sampled the next day, but still tannic. I'm
> going to revisit remaining bottles post-2010. B+
>
> Betsy needed some white wine for the risotto, so I opened a 375 of the
> 2005 Ch. Lamothe de Haux *(Bordeaux AC). Good acdity, grassy notes,
> some light citric fruit. Maybe just a tad dilute, but who's
> complaining at $5 a half? B-/B
>
> Sunday started the year of the pig, Betsy is (in a Chinese
> astrological sense, only) a pig, and wanted to celebrate with pork.
> Might as well add duck and sausage, so she made cassoulet, with a
> leek.chevre starter and accompanied by beet salad and garlic bread.
> Recently I opined that Cahors or Madiran should be the cassoulet wines
> of choice, but I own 1 bottle of the former and 2 of the latter, and
> none are stored at home. I was too lazy to go to office (offsite
> storage), so went with a young Rhone, the
> 2004 Domaine de Marcoux *Cotes du Rhone. Somewhat floral nose, rather
> broad on the palate with big kirsch and red cherry fruit. Moderate
> tannins. Could easily pass for a Grenache-driven CdP. *I'm not a huge
> Grenache fan, and most of my favorite Rhones are Syrah or Mouvedre
> dominated, but this is nice. B+/B
>
> Over the space of 5 days, the 2005 J. Leitz Rudesheimer Klosterlay
> Riesling Kabinett *held up nicely. Pretty bright acidity, sweet peach
> and apricot fruit with a hint of lime. Slate on finish is more
> noticable after daty 2. Nice wine, probably my last bottle (I bought a
> case for under $12 a bottle, they shipped the 3 bottle they had and
> charged for them, rest are backordered, but doubt they ever
> materialize at that price). Great value at that price. 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.

Thanks for the notes Dale. I've always enjoyed the Marcoux and find
the newer vintages are more "fruity" than those of pre-2000.

DaleW wrote:

> Sunday started the year of the pig, Betsy is (in a Chinese
> astrological sense, only) a pig, and wanted to celebrate with pork.
> Might as well add duck and sausage, so she made cassoulet, with a
> leek.chevre starter and accompanied by beet salad and garlic bread.
> Recently I opined that Cahors or Madiran should be the cassoulet wines
> of choice, but I own 1 bottle of the former and 2 of the latter, and
> none are stored at home. I was too lazy to go to office (offsite
> storage), so went with a young Rhone, the
> 2004 Domaine de Marcoux Cotes du Rhone. Somewhat floral nose, rather
> broad on the palate with big kirsch and red cherry fruit. Moderate
> tannins. Could easily pass for a Grenache-driven CdP. I'm not a huge
> Grenache fan, and most of my favorite Rhones are Syrah or Mouvedre
> dominated, but this is nice. B+/B
>

Great notes, Dale. So, how was the match? My CdR (Alary Font
D'Estevenas) was a bit more Syrah-heavy than yours and was a decent if
not great match.

Mark Lipton

On Feb 19, 12:48�pm, Mark Lipton > wrote:
> DaleW wrote:
> > Sunday started the year of the pig, Betsy is (in a Chinese
> > astrological sense, only) a pig, and wanted to celebrate with pork.
> > Might as well add duck and sausage, so she made cassoulet, with a
> > leek.chevre starter and accompanied by beet salad and garlic bread.
> > Recently I opined that Cahors or Madiran should be the cassoulet wines
> > of choice, but I own 1 bottle of the former and 2 of the latter, and
> > none are stored at home. I was too lazy to go to office (offsite
> > storage), so went with a young Rhone, the
> > 2004 Domaine de Marcoux *Cotes du Rhone. Somewhat floral nose, rather
> > broad on the palate with big kirsch and red cherry fruit. Moderate
> > tannins. Could easily pass for a Grenache-driven CdP. *I'm not a huge
> > Grenache fan, and most of my favorite Rhones are Syrah or Mouvedre
> > dominated, but this is nice. B+/B
>
> Great notes, Dale. *So, how was the match? *My CdR (Alary Font
> D'Estevenas) was a bit more Syrah-heavy than yours and was a decent if
> not great match.
>
> Mark Lipton

It was certainly ok, but not inspired. Normally I focus more about
texture/size/acidity as far as matching, but in this case I really
felt a black fruit profile (ala tannat, malbec, or even your
syrah)would have helped a bit. I think we're having leftovers
tomorrow, maybe I'll makethe effort to dig out a bottle of Madiran,.

"DaleW" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>>
> Saturday with slow-baked king salmon and barley-mushroom risotto, the
> 2002 Pavelot "Aux Guettes" Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru. A bit hard and
> shrill at first, opened to show black cherry and raspberry fruit over
> a solid backbone of tannins and acidity. Nice wine, but needs time.
> It's a bit more friendly sampled the next day, but still tannic. I'm
> going to revisit remaining bottles post-2010. B+
>
I tried some of the Jadot 2002 "Guettes" a couple of months ago. Very
pleasing raspberry fruit and cherry (like yours) but it lacked the "tannic
backbone". Definitely drink by 2010 rather than afterwards.
Graham