Pre-Betsy, I always held a huge overcrowded holiday party in my apartment. When we got married, continued tradition for a couple of years, then we bought our house and got our dog. OK, so huge crowd in small house with (friendly, loud, hungry) Basset hound was bad idea. So for last 3 years has series of smaller parties. This year we decided to re-introduce the big party, but sent Lucy the hound to camp for the night.
That was a good idea, but bad idea was having the party on a Saturday instead of a Sunday. Betsy spent week finishing painting David's room, I worked, and then Friday we both went to a Champagne dinner. So I woke up Sat facing 45 people coming at 4 pm (probably was closer to 65), and little done. A forecast of snow/ice meant I had to go to office a few times, and in between we made food, put up pine roping, cleaned house, and did exterior lights. A bad cold didn't help. But at 4 we were ready for our pre-Christmas/post-Chanukah / here comes Winter Solstice & Kwanzaa/pre-NewYear's/Tet's-Coming-Soon party.
Betsy made a ham, candied bacon nuts, spiced nuts, fricos, meatballs, and more. I did
cheese balls (cheddar-chutney and herbed chevre), trout mousse, "confetti" potatoes, etc. In addition we had cheeses, pickles, olives, and quite a few dishes that guests brought (though we had said not to). So much food that I never put out my leg of lamb, but at end of night there was suprisingly very little left.
The wines were a mix of mine and ones brought by guests. Read the notes with even more caution than usual, I am seriously stopped up.
The whites
2005 Stringtown Pinot Blanc (Oregon)
I could have sworn I had bought the Pinot Gris. This is a little short, a little sweet, and a little lacking in character. C+
2005 Haut Rian (Bordeaux Blanc)This redeems the cheap white category. Just a hint of grass, ripe Sauvignon fruit. B
2006 Hofer Gruner Veltliner
Another good cheapie ($9/liter), very light, but great as an apertif, rainwater and citrus. B
The Reds
2005 Montevertine Pian del Ciampolo
WOTN. After Cliff's notes, I had planned on picking some of this up anyway, but now I surely will. Beautiful light-bodied Sangiovese, black cherry and red raspberry with violets and a little leather. Nice stuff, A-/B+
2000 Clos des Lunelles
2 bottles of this seemed quite different. One was a fairly nasty short Bordeaux, the other a medium bodied right banker with decent fruit, resolving tannins, a little tobacco and earth. Bottle #1 C, #2 B/B-
2002 Hundred Tree Hill Cabernet (Victoria)
I kind of groan at the thought that this is going to be an OTT Aussie, but actually reasonably restrained. Herbs and cassis, a little too much oak, but not hot or bulky. B
2005 Christian Moueix Pomerol
Like previous bottle, a very credible effort for a sub-$20 Pomerol. Velvety lushness, ripe red fruit, not especially long or deep, but good. B+
2005 Haut Colombier (Premiere Cotes de Blaye)
I caught the end of the bottle of this, seemed pretty umimpressive, even for a Blaye. Red fruit, light but hard tannins, sharp. Hope it's better than that, I have more. C+
2003 Querciola Barolo Sori
Modern, approachable. Not overripe as I feared, not especially Barolo-ish but a good bottle of balanced Nebbiolo. Quite popular. B
2005 Panacea (Napa Valley)
Ripe but a bit lacking, a medium-bodied Cabernet with a fair amount of oak. I'm not thrilled but didn't take notes on the spot, others liked much better. B-
2005 da Vinci Chianti
High acids, sharp cherry fruit, decent length for inexpensive Chianti. I tried this in conversation and away from food, maybe would have been better with food, but still a B-
2005 Orin Swift "The Prisoner"
Big brambly berry fruit, this runs a little hot, but it does get ones interest. This is also between food, and I think benefits from that. A guilty (mild) pleasure. B
1998 Suremain "La Bondue" Mercurey 1er Cru
Light, resolved tannins, sprightly cherry fruit. A couple of light accent notes of mushroom and damp earth. This isn't complex, and I found it a bit short, but for a $20 mature Burg (even Cote Chalonnaise) not too bad. B
2006 Villa Borghetti Valpolicella Classico
New producer to me, but this is rather nice, fresh lighter red with a nutty edge. Nothing complex, but refreshing and fun. Tastes ok on day 2, too. B
OK, except for the Pian del Ciampolo not a banner wine night. But lovely to have so many friends around, that's what holidays are for. Only one person there besides myself MAYBE qualifies as a winegeek, but I was touched that a lot of $5-10 buyers doubled or tripled their budgets for bringing bottles. I have an assortment of bottles I've never tried waiting (some with anticipation, some with trepidation, but all with gratitude for the thought). Happy Holidays to you all, no matter what you celebrate, celebrated, or ignore.
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