2005 Christian Salmon Sancerre

Maybe not cold enough. I thought this would really hit it with the seafood extravaganza of grilled salmon, scallops, and shrimp. Wonderful evening outside of the deck after a day on Willoughby Bay. The chef was rushed even with an outstanding assist from the La. Timing on the grill was a challenge with some items at direct high heat and some and indirect. Scallops were slippery in the honey mustard bath. Anyway, I think this bottle is well worth a second chance in a less ambitious menu.

2005 Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir

Very nice, velvety (haha) with just a touch of dryness. Not overfruited. After our second garden party in a row, this one the farewell to Sir Mark, we drifted down to La Galleria (terrific service) for a repeat dine. The place was almost deserted, and some talented lady on the piano sang her heart out for the bartender. The Gladiator warmed quickly to the Carol King medley, "looking out on the mornin' rain".

2005 Laboure-Roi "les Sangliers" Pinot Noir Reserve

The first decent wine of June. At the Zinc Brasserie in VB-Hilltop. The little bottle of wild boar musk from Pays D'Oc stood up through several hours of both fish and beef dishes. After reacquainting with the Sisson clan - 1, celebrating Lindsay's imminent gradja-ation and promises of future fishing trips the Sangliers helped finish a fine evening as we wearily set off for bed and La to disco down. Hail Laboure-Roi.

1999 Williamsburg Winery Virginia Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

High grade swill. Watery. Thought the extra years of ageing would help. Uh-uh. A beautiful evening outside on the deck, dining on steaks, the last weeks of Spring, it should have been magic. Noooo.

Mathew Meyer, the winemaker at WW explains: “We were using an old, rundown DE (diatomaceous earth) machine, it was very abusive to the wine, and we were experiencing a lot of wine loss." Well, that little quote wasn't on the label!

Luckily the T-Bones survived. Ah well, another VA wine off the list.

2005 Red Rock Red

Offset by a plate of grey, oozing moussaka, the triple-R from Merced snapped at us nastily. Best qualities: Raw and biting. Couldn't finish the bottle. The elder, feisty munchkin at checkout (see below) was not allowing a cork and go--not sure how the contents would have ended up anyway, wait, yes I am. All sad, because we were ready to celebrate just having avoided a huge faux-pau after misreading the date of the Raleigh House Garden Party invite (uh, that would be on June 16th) and stopped just short of knocking on the Admiral's front door (thinking, I guess we're a bit early tonight).

Later found the RRR website defunct and an Aussie competitor by the same name. The Chain of Logic: the waitress at Orapax Inn said the owners only allow four people to handle money (hence the need to checkout), the youngest of which has worked there 18 years, e.g. they are a little "tight" with the funds; ex post facto: they came across an opportunity to buy a "buncha" cheapo bottles from a winery (and brewery combined) on the way out the door. Mission accomplished.