Saturday we drove up to Craftsbury, VT. In a complicated plan of niece going from one VT camp to another, Betsy and her sister rented a lovely cabin for a week. I went up for 2 nights. First night we were alone, made some BBQ chicken, grilled local corn, salad, along with a lovely Black Prince tomato. I opened two wines (I should note that I debated whether to bring own glasses, but decided we were lugging enough (I was bringing back stuff from niece's first camp) and we'd go with the "full dinner service" I guess they don't have wine with dinner in Vermont, these were drunk from juice glasses)
2006 Donnhoff Norheimer Kirschheck Spatlese
Limes, peach and cherry fruit. Sweet, good acidity, good length. Forward and easy to like, shows the opulence of the vintage but without being blowsy. Showed fine on night two.Very nice wine that can age, but why? B+
2005 Dominique Laurent Cotes de Nuits Villages VV
Juicy dark berry and cherry fruit, balanced acids, some slightly raspy tannins (it was better on day two). No noticable oak. Big for CdNV. B
A nice day with some gentle hiking, then night two we were joined by Betsy's sister and nephew, along with another mother who had also moved her daughter from wilderness camp to running camp. We had made dinner, a couple of people were pesce-vegetarians, so we did a pasta with pesto, grilled shrimp, corn, salad, and a couple Striped German tomatoes (our tomato ripening came finally). We used wines from previous night, plus the
2007 Ermita de Nieve Verdejo
Lighter styled, lemon and apples with a little herby note. Good on a warm evening, even if lacking a bit in depth and length. B-
Monday I drove back, worked for a couple of hours, headed home to see what was left in fridge/freezer. Too hot to cook inside, used microwave for a red/green cabbage mix, grill for some garlic chicken sausages, and had a half bottle of the 2006 Rossignol-Trapet Gevrey-Chambertin, Nice earthy midweight, lots of Gevrey earth, maybe a little shorter than ideal, but nice for level. Gets a little spicy note with time. Good value at $15/half, B/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.
) on the Kirschheck, though I have aged some & it does some wonderful things over time, while still preserving that sunny disposition that it has on release.