Tuesday Betsy made a couple of recipes from a Biba Caggiano book,
shrimp with mushrooms along with fried green olives (way better than
it sounds!), served with salad and the 2006 Pepiere/Ollivier "Cuvee
Eden" Muscadet. Nice friendly style of Muscadet, lemon/apple fruit
with balanced acids and some mineral notes. Not as complex to me as
say the Briords, but drinking well and quite nice. B+/B

Wednesday was warm, so we pretended it was summer and grilled coffee-
rubbed steak and squash, with salad and the 2001 Ch. D'Aiguilhe
(Cotes de Castillon). Still showing some oaky notes, coffee and cocoa
over the black plum and berry fruit. Moderate tannins, good fruit
core, lower acids and quite modern but with a steak that doesn't
especially bother me. My only one of these, not pining for more but it
filled its purpose. B

Thursday no wine as I had dinner at office before a meeting, but
Friday I knew I'd like some wine. I left office to drive Betsy and her
mom to JFK to fly to Scotland to visit Dave. As a parting Valentine's
gift, Betsy told me she had made chicken and mushrooms in red wine,
I'd just need to make a roux and do the sauce. As I was driving back
through horrible traffic, Betsy called. I needed to come back and get
her mother- who had brought her expired passport from California.
Betsy flew off, and her mom came back to Dobbs. Luckily Betsy made a
full recipe of the chicken, so there was plenty. The cooking wine had
been the 2006 Guion "Cuvee Domaine" Bourgueil. Lovely light little
wine, classic Loire Cab Franc with raspberry fruit, good acids, light
tannins, and little hints of pine and herbs. Nothing complex, but a
very fine value ($9ish I think). B

I opened the 2006 Georges Descombes Brouilly (I hate wax capsules).
Surprisingly sweet, bright acids and red fruits. I was actually quite
disappointed at this. Tasted on Saturday it was a much fuller wine,
showing less sweetness, darker fruit, more PN than Gamay. I'd say C+
on day one and B on day 2, but for me even the second day's showing
isn't great for a $20something Beaujolais.

Saturday FedEx came through with the correct passport, and I made
another drive to JFK. I like my M-i-L, but was happy that she was on
her way. I made a stop on Long Island at Post to pick up some orders,
and made my way home. For dinner I braised some cabbage in white wine
with some smoked pork chops, and roasted some beets (cleaning out
fridge). The cooking wine was a $6 closeout, the 2000 Domaine Emilian
Gillet "Quintaine" Macon-Villages. I was prepared for this to be
over the hill, but it was actually quite lively. These Thevenet wines
are probably the only Macons one could describe as exotic. This came
across like the ******* child of a Coche-Dury (though not oaky) and a
white Rhone.
Intensely sweet fruit, but this is quite dry on finish- don't think
there is RS. Honied pears and quince jam, decent acids for the
superripe fruit, some mineral notes on finish. So unusual I am quite
taken, though not something I would want to have as a dinner wine very
often. I should have gotten more than 2, just so I could blind them on
people and see what happens. An A as a curiosity, a B for me as a
wine. Will be curious how it shows tonight.

For my actual dinner wine, I opened the 2007 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger
Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett. This is one of the best '07s I've tried
for my palate. Comes across as quite light (8.5 abv), yet there's a
real concentration to the fruit core. Classic Mosel apple and slate,
amazing length for a light wine, just enough sweetness. Creamy texture
enlived by bright acids. I really like this. A-

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.