TN: CA bubbly, CdP, VdP Herault, La Lagune

Some friends came to dinner, bringing their new Golden Retriever-Poodle mix pup. While watching Lily and our Bbuttet Lucy tear around the house, we enjoyed some cold shrimp with chickentail sauce, and sipped the NV Chandon Brut. I'm not really a fan of most California sparklers, and this is pretty much par for the course. Ok apple turnover fruit flavors, but a little rough-short on the finish. Rather coarse mousse, I'd rather spend a bit more for Champagne. B-

Main course was a leg of lamb roasted with tomatoes, rosemary, and garlic; sides were swiss chard, "Boulangerie potatoes", and a fennel salad (the last two from Tom Colicchio's "Craft of Cooking", both excellent). With the somewhat Provencal nature of the lamb, I chose two wines from the South of France:

2003 Domaine des Moulines Merlot (VdP de l'Herault) Ripe red plum fruit, some herby notes, a little touch of tobacco. Ripe but not flabby, a pleasant enough wine, but a step behind the Iche Heretiques in the Herault sweepstakes. B--B

1999 Lucien Barrot Chateauneuf-du-Pape More herbs, this time with some peppery spice on a body of ripe raspberry fruit. More CdR than CdP, a pleasant medium-bodied wine that seems fully mature. I like 1999 CdPs more than most people, but this is not one to especially look out for. B

Today Betsy was playing, and I volunteered to do dinner. Roast chicken with rosemary and thyme, leftover potatoes and fennel, and some sugar snap peas. Wine was the 1988 La Lagune (Haut-Medoc). Cork was almost saturated through, and wine quite mute at first. But after a half-hour some real (surprisingly youthful) fruit showed through- red plum but with hints of blackcurrant and blackberry. Tannins fully absorbed, moderate acidty, a wonderful medium-bodied claret. Not a blockbuster, but lots of fun, and with no harsh '88 tannins. Nice wine, A--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.