TN: '97 Monbousquet

Betsy flew out early Tuesday, leaving me a large hunk of one of the 2 standing rib roasts she had cooked for Christmas defrosting in the fridge. But it was snowing Tuesday night, and I had to pick up the stepson (rather than trust him to a 16 yr old driver in the snow), so I left the beef to sit and had some leftovers, along with a NV Geroldsteiner water (B+, good QPR at $0.99, oops, wrong newsgroup!), to keep a clear head. But Wednesday night there was no need for me to drive, so the beef came out. I sliced a 2" steak, seared it to warm up (it was roasted to very rare before freezing), served with some red cabbage and some Japanese-style kale. Served with a 375 of the 1997 Monbousquet (St. Emilion). Not profound, but a clean well-done modern Right Banker. Enough body to stand up to rare beef, good dark berry fruit with some heavy but integrated smoky oak. Some tannins remaining, but the beef acts as a foil. Some coffee & tobacco notes. Well-worth the under$15 price (Post in Syosset, closeout bin). It's kind of strange, the more modern-styled St. Emilions are not generally my favorite style, but they're probably my favorite style of 1997s. 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