Weekend wines with Loudoun

The past two weekends I have hosted friends from out of town, which has given me the opportunity to break out several wines from the cellar. Last weekend, Loudoun was visiting from Charlotte, and we had two nights to choose some various wines.

Friday night we had steaks, so for our first wine I opted for the 2000 Tardieu-Laurent Cornas. The wine had an hour or so to open up, and was a very interesting selection, It continued to evolve as we drank it, and I'm not sure it ever showed everything it had. Tardieu-Laurent is known to have modern-styled wines, and Cornas is a very traditional appellation, so in the end I'm not sure it's the best interpretation. I didn't think the wine was bad at all, just not all I had hoped for.

Up next, I let Loudoun make a selection, and he went with the 1999 Gaja Sito Moresco Langhe. This wine is a blend of Nebbiolo, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon, quite different from most of Gaja's wines (and also a lot less expensive). The wine was nice, and definitely international-styled, with no real defining characteristics. It was well-made and didn't really have any flows, but overall nothing that really stood out either.

Saturday night, we had ribs, so as per my usual matching, we went with a Zinfandel. The choice was the 2005 Turley Moore Earthquake Zinfandel, a selection that we only received one bottle of, so Loudoun had not had it. This wine received among the highest marks of the vintage from Parker, but Loudoun was quite underwhelmed by it. I thought it was decent, more similar to a Grenache in profile. To me it could've passed for a Southern Rhone from a hot vintage, but it was certainly a different taste than most Turleys we have had over the past couple of years.

Finally, we went with a 2000 Igino Accordini Amarone Riserva Gino Corolin. This was a very nice Amarone, and with more time to open up would've really been singing I think. As it was, it still offered a full body with plenty of rich fruit. I think we both agreed it was our favorite wine of the weekend, and a good way to finish up.