On Saturday evening, Warren and I went to Cafe Deluxe in N.W. Washington, DC for dinner. I had a herb(ed) roasted chicken and mashed potatoes, and Warren had crab cakes. Warren selected a bottle of Allan Scott 2004 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. We were both a little surprised when the waiter brought the bottle and it was a twist off top. We know that many Wineries in New Zealand and Australia are using twist off tops but our experience with twist off tops on wines in America hasn’t been very good. We were both pleasantly surprised to find that this wine was very good and paired well with our dinner choices. The wine has strong lemon notes and Warren noted grass as well. I did not notice grass hints myself. The winery describes this wine as follows:
A very full bodied wine that contains an abundance of fruit flavours and a spanking acidity. Pineapple, passionfruit and melon like flavours are all present, in addition to a hint of Marlborough herbaceousness. A very lively and approachable wine.
I would say that Warren and I would agree with this description. Try it. You may enjoy it as much as we did.
This evening for dinner Paul made pasta with alfredo sauce with diced chicken. For the wine, Warren picked out a 2001 
Yesterday Warren and I went to Gadino Cellars with our friend David. The wines were actually well crafted; this is a first-year winery in Rappahanock County, and they’ve created some very good wines. The whites were particularly good. The Chardonnay was done in a California style, but less oaky and certainly very crisp. The Viognier was a surprise—less oaked with more prominent fruit flavors. Warren bought a bottle of this one, and Viognier is not usually his “glass of wine”. Gadino only had two reds to taste. The first was a Merlot, and it was quite good though perhaps a bit young. Red currants and cherries came to mind with a nice finish; Paul, Warren and their friend David, all enjoyed this one and bought a glass to sip on the deck. The Cabernet Franc was the weakest of the offerings; it was not a bad wine, but nothing seemed to be outstanding about it. Cab Franc is one of Virginia’s strongest wines, and Warren expects that Gadino will be producing very good Cab Francs in the future. All in all, this is a very good winery, and we will be back to Gaudino with a nice picnic lunch! 
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. There was plenty of food and delicious wines with each course. Here are the wines we had with dinner and what we paired them with: