No wine opened Thursday, as I had dinner at office before a meeting. Friday was a chicken tagine-ish dish with couscous and the 2014 Domaine des Costes Bergerac rose. Light, fresh, spicy. Nothing complex here but nice foodfriendly pink for $10.B

Saturday the fishmonger at market had first of the season bay scallops- made a white wine /red pepper sauce served with linguine and the 2014 Clos Roche Blanche "#2" Sauvignon Blanc. Quite full bodied, ripe but with a nervy underlay of acidity, grapefruit and melon fruit with wildflowers. No grass, no catpee, but identifiably SB. Shoulda bought more. B+/A-

Sunday went a friend's 60th. Her husband greeted us with foie gras canapes, salmon on cuke, and the NV Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs Champagne. Crisp, green apple, snappy, light but fun B

Dinner was a salad, lamb shanks on white bean puree, and roasted vegetable. Several reds made rounds

2006 Crognolo
Softer Sangiovese, black cherry and plum, round. B-

2006 Fontodi Chianti Classico
Fairly structured still, both tannin and acid prominent, but balanced by black cherry fruit. Some saddle leather, hint of underbrush. B+

2007 Vieille Julienne Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Others liked. Hot, a little pruney, jammy, overripe. C+/C

2001 La Rioja Alta Ardanza Rioja Reserva Especial
At first I was a little put off by this, some VA and green pickle notes, but this improved drastically in decanter and glass, dropping the pickle, lowering the volatility, and emerging as a very nice Rioja, red fruited with some spice, sandalwood, & fennel. Quite nice. B+/A-

I had brought cheeses (Stilton, Comte de Savioe, Montgomery Cheddar) and an offdry wine to finish.
1989 Mabilliere Vouvray Demisec
Moderate sweetness, good acids, no Huet but tasty. B

Fun night

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. 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.

DaleW > wrote in
:
>
> 2001 La Rioja Alta Ardanza Rioja Reserva Especial
> At first I was a little put off by this, some VA and green pickle
> notes, but this improved drastically in decanter and glass, dropping
> the pickle, lowering the volatility, and emerging as a very nice
> Rioja, red fruited with some spice, sandalwood, & fennel. Quite nice.
> B+/A-


Different price point, but La Rioja Alta 904 Gran Reserva 2004 is
outstanding and has a promising future. Fruits, leather, balanced mouth
with quite some grip still. I had one glass with the local distributor at a
tasting dinner and bought a case inmediately.

On 11/13/15 12:14 PM, santiago wrote:
> DaleW > wrote in
> :
>>
>> 2001 La Rioja Alta Ardanza Rioja Reserva Especial
>> At first I was a little put off by this, some VA and green pickle
>> notes, but this improved drastically in decanter and glass, dropping
>> the pickle, lowering the volatility, and emerging as a very nice
>> Rioja, red fruited with some spice, sandalwood, & fennel. Quite nice.
>> B+/A-
>
>
> Different price point, but La Rioja Alta 904 Gran Reserva 2004 is
> outstanding and has a promising future. Fruits, leather, balanced mouth
> with quite some grip still. I had one glass with the local distributor at a
> tasting dinner and bought a case inmediately.
>

Nice to hear, Santiago. I got some of the '04 as it's a birthyear wine
for our son.

Mark Lipton

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