ToddT was in town, and Jay rallied a small group to greet him at Grand Sichuan on St. Marks. We had a nice assortment of dishes: soup dumplings, cucumber with scallion sauce, tea smoked duck, qui zhou chicken,lamb with cumin, pork with chestnuts,ginger spinach.

We also had some wine:

Non Riesling whites
2014 Pinon €œTrois Argiles€� Vouvray
Ive had the "14 Silex and Deronnieres, my first 3 argiles. Nice showing- pear and wax, lively acids, just offdry. Long. B++

2001 Brundlmayer Ried Kaferberg Gruner Veltliner
Initially I was a little put off by a cheesey/lactic note. But this paired beautifully with the spinach, and either the food or air blew off the lactic note (or my palate adjusted). Peas, tropical fruits, pepper. B+

1991 Donnhoff Grauburgunder Eiswein
Sweet, dark, exotic, others liked much more than I - thrilled to have it as a curiosity, but despite the good acids it seemed soft to me, a little fruit salady. B-

Rieslings
2001 Prager €œAchleiten€� Riesling
Big but on its toes, rich pit fruits and citrus with a steely/mineral undertone. A-/B+

1996 Kruger-Rumpf Munsterer Dautenpflanzer Auslese
Rich, petrol over applesauce, moderate acids (I thought "96 was very high acid but this didnt come across that way). B

1998 Maximin Grunhauser (von Schubert) Herrenberg Kabinett
Better on nose than palate, but palate is fine! Floral nose with citrus zest and ginger, on palate very light but very precise. Flavorful, bright, real Kabinett. B+/A-

2002 Emrich-Schonleber Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Rutsch Spatlese
(auction bottling)
Rich, Auslese+ like, honied fruit notes with slate and smoke, mature. B+

1990 Diel Dorsheimer Pittermannchen Auslese
My palate was shot by time I got to this one, had trouble getting enthused, felt comparatively sweet and simple. B-/C+

Reds
2008 Marimar Estate €œDon Miguel Vineyard- Stony Block€� Pinot Noir
This was actually first wine I tried, and at that point it was too cold to appreciate. Apparently this is the Torres family of Gran Coronas fame. On revisit with the duck it seemed young and bright, black cherry and earth, nice except for a light cola note. B

2009 de Montille €œTaillepieds €œ Volnay
I think maybe a bit shutdown. Quite ripe, big fruit, but a bit hollow. I think this will be fine but for this night a B-

2007 Roty €œFontenys€� Gevrey-Chambertin
At first I found this hard, more Roty than 2007. But with air and food it really bloomed. Lovely meaty/smoke dark fruited Gevrey. A-/B+

1978 Lucien Geoffroy €œClos Prieur€� Gevrey-Chambertin
Corked. Damn.

2005 Vissoux (Chermette) €œPoncie€� Fleurie
Lovely texture, black cherries with smoke and coffee topnotes. As it airs develops more earthy/meaty notes. B+/A-

Fun night, fun people.

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.