Jes' Wine

Tonight we sampled the modest ($8) Black Swan Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003, a putative "Best Value" according to Wine Spectator, whose experts surely have tasted more wines than I (the bastards), and surely know more than I. About wines, anyway. Although palates vary. I suspect friends and couples do best when they share similar palates. My friend Leeser and I are palate pals: We both love big garlic and big wine that has some spunk to it, like Zins and some Syrahs. Also basil and mushrooms and bleu cheese and pecans. When we taste dishes we're cooking, we usually agree on what's missing, what's overdone, what needs to be tweaked.

The Black Swan Cab didn't do much for me, or Leeser, or Andie. Not the first time around, anyway. We moved on, helping my sister Kelley with her bottle of Nobilio Sauvignon Blanc (the 2003, I think). I don't drink much white wine, but this one was terrific. Grapefruit nose, which Lisa calls "cat pee," and wonderful muted citrus flavors. I think the label was touting gooseberry and passion fruit, but I have no notion of what those might be. The New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs from the Marlborough region are just flat out GOOD. They often have a grapefruit and lime nose, and they're wonderfully refreshing. Those of you who don't like heavily oaked wines, and are tired of Chardonnays, have a wonderful surprise in store if you try these winners from Down Under. (Is New Zealand Down Under, like Australia? I mean, of course it IS "down under," but does one only use that to refer to Australia and not its more progressive, much smaller neighbor?)

And they go terrifically well with Thai food. Lisa, long may she wave, swung by the Westport Thai Place and picked up veggie pad Thai, coconut shrimp, basil chicken wings and spring rolls for our weekly L Word fest. Food review: good pad Thai, very good spring rolls, so-so chicken and "eh" shrimp. Television review: I'd rather have seen more Alice/Dana action, but at least Dana mustered the cojones to kiss off her icky, cat-killing fiance (who'd already moved on for Melissa Rivers, as it happens. Hee-hee! This season, the writing seems much better. And let's drink a toast to Jenny's new haircut!).

Lisa had a Nobilio tucked in her fridge, but we opted for the screw-top Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2004, another Marlborough/New Zealand SB. Once again, grapefruit and cat pee nose, and some pear. It was lighter/less distinctive in its fruitiness, and although it costs more and usually rates higher, none of us liked it as much as the Nobilio. Which is not to say that we didn't drink it. I drank it, actually. Way too much of it. Had a headache that lasted most of the night. Hydrate, Kim, hydrate! That's the problem with white wines -- they go down very easily. I'd never have slurped three glasses of red with dinner. One glass does me just fine -- and I remember to drink water.

A follow up note: The Black Swan Cab was MUCH better the next night, when I sipped it solo, with soup. I think it needed to breathe. As do we all. . .