A bit more snow, a bit more shoveling, then off to friends Saturday night for dinner. We were greeted with stuffed pickled peppers, and I opened a white I had brought along, the
2012 Pepiere "Briords" Muscadet. For a supposed weak Loire year, this keeps wowwing me (I realize the Loire is quite large). Rich fruit, nervy acidity, minerally finish, just lovely. A-

We sat down to Bolognese sauce and pasta with a side salad, and some wines:

2006 Crognolo
A superTuscan Sangio blend, ready to go, black cherry, leather, a little vanilla, not bad.. B/B-

2006 San Filippo Brunello di Montalcino
Not a producer I know, there's some oak and I'd call this somewhat modern, but there is acidity to keep it fresh, cherry and red plum, not bad. B

2006 Anares Rioja Reserva
This was an open bottle from night before. Seemed disjointed and short, but not fair to really judge.

There was a decent if unexciting Minervois, but I forgot to note (Donjon?)

Sunday I made salmon, lentils with walnut oil, and broccoli, and opened the 2011 Jadot "Dominode" Savigny-les-Beaune 1er. Young but tasty, nervy, full, some tannins but drinking ok at moment. Better on night 2. B++

Tonight I made tofu/spinach (kind of saag paneer with tofu replacing paneer), a toor dal with carrots, and curried fennel. Wines was the 2007 Pacherhof Kerner. Herbal, floral, good acids, but not really convinced at first. But air does this a lot of good -pears and honeydew, a solid rocky streak, ginger. Full bodied, floral, I like this a lot, but at price point ($25-30) there's a lot of competition. 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.