On Monday Betsy made a Georgian (Black Sea Georgia, not Jimmy Carter
Georgia) chicken recipe (tamarind and pomegranate). I was thinking
something off-dry to counter the sweetness of the sauce. I opened my
first bottle of the 2004 St. Urbans-Hof Riesling QbA. This was sweeter
than I hoped, or at least apparently so, without the zippy acidity of
the '01 version of this (one of my paradigms for $8 Riesling). Not the
match I hoped, but still a pretty nice $10 wine. There's nice peach
fruit with a touch of lime zest, a flinty/smoky note. I'll try again
with something like a hot-spicy Thai dish or the like. B

We also tried another glass of the CRB Gamay. Not really showing any
more complexity, did at least as well as the Riesling as a match. The
dish was less sweet than it sounds, I think something a little drier
than the Urbans-Hof Riesling would be ideal (a halbtrocken maybe, or a
tec-sendre Loire).

Tuesday Betsy made sauteed scallops with a grape sauce, and roasted
squash with nuts and shallots. The scallop recipe had a match listed, a
"ripe crisp white", with a NZ SB as an example. I went downstairs for a
Cairnbrae, but wandered back up with a 2003 Nora Albari=F1o (Rias
Baixas) that Ken Blake had brought to a picnic, but which hadn't been
opened. It's certainly ripe, and reasonably crisp, but I guessed it
was a 2003 without checking label- the 2002 was certainly crisper. This
has light apple and white nectarine fruit, with a light overlay of
spice. OK, but not as good - for my tastes- as the 2002. 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.