Friday Betsy and I went to Sunset Cove, a waterfront place at one of
the Tarrytown boat clubs. A beautiful cool breezy early fall evening,
in a pretty setting. Alas, the old adage of the "the better the view ,
the worse the food" has some validity- while nothing here was bad, it
was uniformly boring. Betsy got a steak, and I got duck breast in an
overly sweet cherry/berry sauce (the most interesting thing on either
plate was a cauliflower/celeriac crumble as a side for me). Nothing
exciting on wine list, I ordered a bottle of the 2003 MacMurray Pinot
Noir (I think this had a Sonoma designation). Actually a pretty
pleasant if light California Pinot, clean cherry fruit accented by some
light vanilla oak, there's just a bit of earth. Nothing compelling but
ok accompaniment to the duck. I'll give it a B, but that might be
partially because I was enjoying the company, the sunset (and the
lights on the bridge), the ducks, and the breeze.

Betsy ordered dessert, and I order a glass of 1994 Churchill's Port.
That was the only specification, but at $7 and with looking at rest of
the list, I assumed this was LBV, not VP (our waiter got corkscrew
stuck in the PN, had to get help, clearly wouldn't know, and I was too
into conversation with Betsy to go to bar and ask to see bottle). And
it tasted like a decent LBV- warm black plum fruit with a note of figs,
low tannin, not especially hot. A B?

Saturday we had an early dinner of roast salmon & potatoes with an herb
vinaigrette. I opened a bottle of the 2001 Saintsbury Pinot Noir
Reserve (Carneros) - I had recently found for $26, which seems very
low for this bottling (I usually see in mid-to-upper $30s). Has this
been dissed in a publication recently? I can't see any reason for it,
as this has the best fruit and structure of any Saintsbury Reserve I've
had since the '95. Brambly raspberry and black cherry fruit, some
rather overt spicy oak notes, a long finish with lots of damp earth and
saddle aromas. Actually at moment it's a bit too tannic and oaky, but
it reminds me of the '95 young which in 3-4 years turned into one of my
all-time favorite California Pinot Noirs. A B to drink now, but an
A-/B+ for potential.

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