Sunday Dinner Series

My neighbors and I cooked up a collective dinner last night. We made pork loin, roasted squash and zucchini, salad, caprese and poured a mix of wines. Good times. I think the plan is to have one of these wine dinners a month.

• 2012 Ameztoi Getariako Txakolina Rubentis 86 Points

  Spain, País Vasco, Getariako Txakolina

  This is the kind of wine to keep around the house for those miserably hot days. So light, crisp, full of acid and minerality, but not the most fruit-forward wine. Pale pink with a bit of a spritz. Smells like someone poured oyster sauce over top of a strawberry bush. Very crisp on the palate, with intense acid and lots of crushed rocks and slightly bitter minerals. The fruit is mild and leans toward watermelon rind and wild strawberry. Mountain stream minerals linger onto the finish. Not incredibly complex, but a solid summer buy to have as an aperetif or with salads.

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• 2011 Wolfberger Gewurztraminer 87 Points

  France, Alsace

  Very aromatic and impressive: lychee pulp, green melon, honey suckle, also some herbal and white pepper notes. Wonderful nose. Juicy white peach and lychee on the palate. A waxy-oily mouthfeel but nice acid balances it all out. Flavors of nuts and apricot add complexity, and there's a pine sap-like aspect that is really interesting. Just a bit of sugar cane sweetness. Not the deepest or most profound gewurztraminer, but I appreciate this solid expression of the grape for only $16.

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• 2007 Aurelien Verdet Gevrey-Chambertin 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin

  An auburn ruby color in the glass. Soft, earthy undertones of loam, mushroom and beet root, but on top the aromas of bright, snappy cranberries and cherries shine through. On the palate, snappy cranberries and cherries zip across the palate. Moderate acid and dusty tannins keep this balanced. There's a really distinct note of beet root and dill, almost like borsht, and I love it. Overall, a solid Gevrey from 2007, a vintage I'm enjoying lately. They seem to be developing quickly and ready to drink, at least on the village level. I decanted this wine for three hours before having it with pork loin. Yum.

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• 1990 Field Stone Cabernet Sauvignon Hoot Owl Vineyard 89 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Alexander Valley

  I wasn't expecting much from this bottle, but I was pleasantly surprised. I barely got the cork out, but the wine inside was still alive. Soft, nuanced aromas of dried berries, rose petals, campfire ash and black licorice. On the palate, the tannins are soft and smooth and the acid is clear and focused. The flavors of dried berries and plum skins are mixed in with bay leaf, chewing tobacco and olive. At 13%, this is a smooth, light, easy-drinking cabernet that has shown some serious staying power. While I enjoyed this, I'd probably drink up in the next year or so.

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