Sunday we decided to skip the petanque tournament and just eat at home. Veal chops and zucchini (both in a lemon rosemary marinade) and broccoli. Wine was the 2005 Pernot Bourgogne - the ripeness showed it a child of '05, but there was balancing acidity. Rich ripe Bosc pear fruit, crisp texture, forward but with a spine. With the PremOx issue I'll happily get my white Burg fixes mostly young and under $20. B+/B
Monday I decided to just get it over with and open a bottle of 2006 Kendall-Jackson Sauvignon Blanc that had been sitting around since it was left at a party. I tried to keep an open mind. But my mind slammed shut pretty quickly. Canned fruit salad, a little overt sweetness, flabby. No varietal character to speak of, but it DOES reminds me of something- oh yeah, the KJ Chardonnay. Sweet and empty, though I guess clean. C
Dinner was a flat iron steak that had marinaded in a pepper oil before being grilled, plus some leftover veggies. Wine was the 1998 Bourgneuf-Vayron (Pomerol). Fleshy and ready, tannins present but ripe and easy, big cassis and kirsch fruit. Some espresso and graphite on nose. Bourgneuf seems to be one of those wines that needs a big ripe vintage to do well. Note that Bourgneuf-Vayron and Bourgneuf are the same wine, just label is different in different markets. 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.