TN: couple good bachelor wines Lafarge, Donabaum Betsy went to Maine for a chamber concert this weekend, and Wednesday I was eating alone. A quick marinade of a salmon steak in a soy-mirin combo, then the fish on the grill with a couple ears of corn (a little early for corn, but I'm impatient). The wine was the 2001 Michel Lafarge Bourgogne, a wine that has consistently shown well despite being a tough year for Volnay ( I believe most of these vines are just outside Volnay proper). A little acidic and even slightly tannic when opened, a half-hour in glbutt lets out a pure clean wine. Cherry and black cherry fruit with some clean damp earth and light spice aromas. This is wine that makes me happy. A- PS Wine went well with the fish, but funnily not the corn! Something about the (reasonably sweet for early June) corn made the wine taste thinner and sharper. Thursday I had thawed a piece of Alaskan halibut, then found out David would be eating with me. As he hasn't recently been eating cooked fish, I also grabbed a couple pork chops. Both the fish and chops were brushed with a bit of vermouth-evoo, and grilled along with some summer squash. To bridge the pork-halibut divide, I chose the 2002 Johann Donabaum Loibergarten Gr=FCner Veltliner Smaragd. Great GruVe typicity- not so much lentil as sweet pebreast pois, with a clear and present overlay of white pepper. Besides the pea there's green plum and a bit of tropical fruit, and the finish has some clear mineral, if not the pure wet stone of say Nigl. Very 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 
|
|||||||
