TN: Lunch at Gramercy Tavern Betsy and I had lunch yesterday at Gramercy Tavern (Restaurant Week special). The usual impeccable service, and what bad can you say about a place with (a) choice of glbutt or tasting pours & (b) extensive btg list that includes Cerdon Bugey, Il Mimo, Madirans, etc. along with some good choices from better known places? As an apertif and to accompany my first course , I ordered a tasting pour of the 2000 Prager Weitenberg Gr=FCner Veltliner (though waiter showed me bottle, I didn't notice level - I would expect Federspiel on a btg list, but this had enough weight to be a Smaragd). More mineral-driven than fruity, lively acidity, some pepper and spice, with a flinty-slatey finish. Went well with my fluke sashimi (with baby cukes and artichokes) as well as Betsy's eggplant ravioli. B+-A- Our friend Oswaldo decided to try a 1989 Prince Poniatowski Aigle Blanc Vouvray. I didn't actually taste, but smelled the lovely Chenin nose of fresh-baked applepie and spice, with some floral and mineral overlay. Oswaldo remarked it reminded him of a Prum Auslese we had tried, and based on a previos bottle I could see that - similar levels of sweetness, more about minerality than fruit, etc. Betsy ordered the spiced duck main course, and got (as did Oswaldo) the 2001 Jean-Marc Morey "Comme Dessus" Santenay. Pleasant medium-bodied red, with black cherry fruit and a good floral-fruit nose. But there's not a lot of there there on the finish, leaving as a good wine but not a compelling one. B-B+ With my braised veal I ordered a taste of the 2001 Palacios Remondo Rioja. Bright cherry fruit, with lots of vanilla-y creaminess. Especially creamy mouthfill. Not shy on the oak, but not atypically for Rioja. It's a bit short on the finish but an acceptable entry-level wine. B We got the cheese course for dessert (Hudson Valley "Camembert", a very good cheddar, and a blue). I ordered a glbutt of the 1996 Huet "Clos du Bourg 1er Trie" Mo=EBlleux Vouvray. Intensely sweet but with superb acidity, citrus zest over a chalk and slate laden body. A-A- After returning to the suburbs, I tried to wait out some thunderstorms before loading some vans, but ended up soaked anyway. I went home, changed, and sat down to a nice dinner of stuffed squid with tomato sauce. I opened the 2002 Mastroberardino Lacryma di Christi Vesuvio. I had bought this on closeout (apparently distributor dumped on market when Mastroberardino changed importers) for $7. Some light floral and melon notes on nose, but the wine is originally almost neutral on the palate. Eventually some citrus and honeydew fruti peeks out. There's some acidity to help with the food, inoffensive is the order of the day with this one. Barely worth what I paid, definitely to me not worth the $12-15 it normally goes for. B--C+ 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 
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