Last night we finally got around to doing our taxes (we filled our
extension, and then accountant's wife had a medical issue when we
tried in June). Afterwards we thanked our patient accountant and his
lovely wife with dinner, as is our custom. Lovely night on the
patio,with great food, and good wines. .

Dana arrived while Jim was stilling documenting concert expenses with
Betsy. She and I retired outside, and had a glass of the 2005 Vrac
Macon-Villages. $4 bottle (normally $9ish). No oak, a little citrus,
but mostly clean pear/apple fruit. Not exciting, but certainly
acceptable at $4! B-

When Betsy was done, she brought out the tofu/spinach/miso napoleans
she had prepared as a starter. Ming Tsai suggests sparkling Chenin for
this, and it's a great match. But the only ones I have on hand are
some Huet 2000s, and I don't feel like infanticide (especially knowing
there will be leftovers). So I go with still Chenin, the 2002
Deletang "Les Baltisses" Montlouis Sec. I liked this better than a
demi-sec last year. I actually thought it might be a bit off at first-
I thought I got some applepeel oxidative notes. But those quickly
floated off into the ether, leaving a fairly classic CB profile.
Marked sec, I'd call this more sec-tendre- just a hint of sweet apple
juice, over a body of fresh apples, lemon peel, and wax. Good. B

Main course was another Ming recipe, 5 peppercorn steak with a butter/
red wine/shallot sauce, topped with thin fried onions. Side was rice
noodles with bok choy and mushrooms. A couple of reds:

1996 Le Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf-du-Pape
OK, let's see, "off" vintage, good producer. What'll happen? Light and
tart at first, not very CdPish, not very appealing. It sits awhile as
we have the Chenin with the first course. With the steaks, its quite
bit better. Cherry, with a lightly (pleasant ) bitter note. Lighter,
somewhat Burgundian. Puts on some weight during the night, with red
fruit and herbal notes that are more what one would expect from CdP.
Good acidity (for my tastes, some CdP lovers might find high),
resolved tannins. Last glass of the night is probably my favorite-
raspberry and black cherry fruit accented with underbrush and cigar
tobacco (unusual for CdP in my view). Not a great or typical CdP, but
a very good deal at the $15 I think I paid. B+

2005 Grand Veneur Cotes du Rhone Reserve
We also pass this (opened as cooking wine for the red wine sauce)
around with the steaks. Sweet red fruit, little tannin, a little
peppery spice. Round forward easy drinking style, light, but pleasant.
B/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