Monday David was home sick from school, and Betsy decided to make her version
of comfort food- beef simmered in broth with cinnamon, ginger, and garlic.
Usually served over udon, but an empty pantry led to a substitution of egg
noodles. Usually this recipe leads me to a red with a bit of spice, so I pulled
out the 2002 Cline California Zinfandel. This is an annual buy for me (the '99
of this was one of my all-time CA QPR favorites). This seems a little lighter
than the 2000 & 2001 which I felt were just a tad too much for me; this shows
ripe berry fruit with some vanillin. Nice enough, and good QPR at $10ish, but
not the steal the '99 was. B

Another favorite from '99 vintage was the Lafarge Bourgogne, and it looks like
the 2002 equals it (I like '00 & '01 too, but this is better for my tastes).
Served Tuesday night with mushroom risotto, a classic medium-bodied Pinot with
concentrated black cherry fruit, lively acidity, and clean long finish. Lovely
wine that could pass for a good village Volnay any day. Needs some time (I
think with time the fruit will take a backseat as the light earthiness
increases- this was good with the risotto, but an older Bourgogne might have
been better). A-

Last night was number 2 in our holiday mini-parties, about 15 friends gather.
Again started with smoked fish, then this time progressed to a baked ham with a
cranberry sauce, salad, and a winter vegetable tian from an Alain Ducasse
recipe. This last is one of those recipes that makes me doubt my wife's sanity
- why would anyone try this at home without help? I admit it was gorgeous and
delicious- layers of beets, turnips, etc with a paste of sauteed mushrooms. But
she probably spent 2-3 hours ON A SIDE DISH! But I happily ate. Crowd actually
had several non-drinkers, we had some open wines from previous nights, plus:

2002 St.Urbans Hof Riesling Qba - something with some RS for the ham. OK if
unexciting, light bodied Riesling with citrus and flower aromas. OK, but not
sad this is my last bottle. B-/B

2002 Cave de Lugny "Les Charmes" Macon-Lugny. Light easy wine, maybe just a
hint of sweetness. No oak, but no "oomph" either. Even for a co-op wine I
thought that maybe 2002 would be better. 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

Dale

Dale Williams
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"Dale Williams" > wrote in message
...
> Usually this recipe leads me to a red with a bit of spice, so I pulled
> out the 2002 Cline California Zinfandel. This is an annual buy for me (the
> '99
> of this was one of my all-time CA QPR favorites).

I don't know if Ian mentioned it when he visited you, but Cline was one of
the wineries we visited while in the Carneros area.

Our guide (whose name I've forgotten) gave us a grand tour of the grounds,
including a ride to the top of the vineyards, a description of the history
of the place, and a visit to the "aviary" with its exotic pheasants.

The best part was the tank room, where we tasted anything we wanted from
sample valves on the sides of the tanks. We ran the gamut, from Alicante to
Zinfandel, with Mourvedre, Cabernet, Viognier, Chardonnay, and a number of
others. This winery has much greater breadth than I was aware of, and the
quality was uniformly high. I've seen their prices in the stores and they
deliver excellent QPR.

Tom S