I thought Betsy had said she was doing chicken meatballs along with a grated asparagus/celery salad , opened the 1997 Domaine Drouhin Chardonnay. This was a longshot cheap bid, can’t win them all., definitely oxidized, though there is some body and charm underneath, reminded me of an older version of a surprising 90 Chassagne of night before, while it might not have made 15, I bet this was nice at 8-10. C/C-

So I opened the backup, the 2009 Leflaive Macon-Verze. Nice, more Cote d’Or than Macon, full peach and Meyer lemon fruit, good acids, nice length. B+

But it turns out Betsy had done traditional spaghetti with meatballs (veal, beef, pork) so we drank the Leflaive with the asparagus salad, and opened a half of red for the pasta (yeah, I know, white does fine with tomato sauces, but I like excuses to open more). The 2006 Mocali Brunello di Montalcino (from 375) is a bit tannic and stern, but solid black cherry fruit and good acids, not any overt oak, nice inexpensive (comparatively) Brunello. B

With roast salmon, potatoes, corn, and a watercress salad the 2008 Bize “Marconnets”” Savigny-les-Beaune 1er. A little tight but not really closed down- 30 minutes of air seems to do the trick. Fresh dark berry fruits, earth, a pleasant herby note. Good length, refreshing acids, I enjoy this. B++

Last night was garlic chicken sausage, king trumpet mushrooms, and asparagus, cauliflower with pimenton and tomato, and arugula salad with walnuts and bluecheese. A while back in a discussion on WLDG I mentioned I seldom see Theo Minges wines, so when recently I saw on sale I picked up couple bottles of the 2006 Minges Gleisweiler Holle Riesling Spatlese (Pfalz).Hey, vino-lok style closure, those are cool. Sweet but I’d say almost restrained by 2006 standards. Peach and citrus, rather floral, good length, interesting if not compelling wine. 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.