Sunday was our annual holiday party, which led to a frantic day of preparation.
Lots of cooking, moving, trips to the store, and more. The ham was in the oven,
new propane tank on the grill, the sushi was ordered. Then 4 PM rolled around,
and the people came..and came..and came. The house was packed, the food was
mostly good, the Bassets were barking (well, mine was, the other was just
looking for snacks) and folks had a good time despite the crush.

As to wines, hard night for real notes. With a houseload of people, we had
plastic cups. As I was keeping the whites outside (no fridghe space), so most
were too cold (35° F). And it wasn't a night I wanted to pull out treasures, as
the vast majority of folks were not winegeeks. But I did note decent showings
from a lot of QPR favorites I've commented on before, like 2002 Naia, 2002
Borsao, 1999 Cline Zin, 2001 Richter Qba .

Some others:
2001 Domaine des Vielles Pierres (Jean Jacques Litaud) Mcon-Vergisson
Very ripe apple fruit, some minerality. Good buy.

2001 G. Mascarello Santo Stefano Dolcetto
Pleasant earthy funk, black fruit, drying finish

2001 Eric Texier Côtes du Rhône
Now this was a disappointment. I've liked most Texier wines I've had, but this
was thin, fruitless, and acidic.

2002 Guillaume Delcoeur (Iché) "Hérétiques" VDP de l'Hérault
Like previous vintages, a QPR winner (though the price has crept up to a whole
$7). Dark berry fruit, a little animal note with earth and licorice.

2001 La Baronne Corbières Montagne d'Alaric
Spicy berry fruit , midweight with some tannin, some pleasant herb aromas and a
bit of grilled meat. Good.

1998 Pince-Guerre Monbazillac
Does this taste like a great Sauternes ? No. But it's a decent midweight honied
wine that is a QPR winner at $12/750ml. Good wine to put next to the Roquefort.


While definitely not a wine-geek party, there were a couple who had headed up
from the city. So eventually decided to break out a couple of better bottles
(and some Spiegelaus). I don't believe in segregation of wine drinkers ("I'm
sorry, you don't know enough to taste this"), but I did make a point of telling
those who cared about wine when something nicer was being opened.

There was :
1995 Ch. La Gaffellière (St. Émilion).
Not a lot of fruit here, I wavered between thinking it was just closed or
actually a little fruit-deficient, but did enjoy the earthy undertones. Clearly
an "old-style" St. Émilion aiming more for elegance than sheer power. Mainly I
was just happy to see it wasn't cooked, I bought this summer at a store I don't
know well, the $29 price tag had me worried re damaged goods.

1999 Terrabianca Campaccio (Tuscany).
Earthy nose, black cherry & cassis fruit. Some apparent oak. Nice , though not
showing quite as well as some recent bottles (maybe owing to being opened
immediately before serving.

2000 Marcel Juge Cornas "Cuvee C"
Floral/herb nose, then some meat aromas. Fruit on the red end of the spectrum,
well-balanced Syrah with a nice finish. My second bottle this week, going back
for more.

1998 Müller-Catoir Haardter Burgergarten Riesling Spätlese
Initially way too cold, but you could still sense the class. As it warmed, lush
tropical fruit balanced by zippy acidity, with rocky minerality and long
finish. Very tasty.

My beverages of the night were the Cornas and the Müller-Catoir, followed
closely by Jay Miller's eggnog (I told several people I had never used the
words "good" and "eggnog" in proximity before).

A fun night, lots of friends, lots of food, lots of wine, lots of work, only
one broken stem.
As we head to the end of the year, I hope everyone has a great holiday, no
matter what you celebrate!
Dale

Dale Williams
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