Hello everyone!! We had dinner with some friends on Saturday night. I made this really intense mushroom lasagna with homemade pasta. We also had salad and bread, and brownies for dessert. We had a great time! Forgive me if the notes are a little brief, but we went through several bottles and I made notes after our guests left.
We started the evening with the Moscato d'Asti. This was given to me by a friend from our little food and wine group. I thought it was delicious! It was sweet, but refreshing with a nice bit of fizz. Interestingly, it had a regular cork, not a screw top and not a champagne cork. It was pleasantly floral on the nose. The flavor profile was of apple and pear with a bit of minerality. This made a nice apertif, and would also be great as a dessert wine.
We opened the A to Z pinot noir as we started on dinner. It was very nice. It a little heavy for a Burgundian pinot and a little too light for a typical New World pinot. This hits a sweet spot for many people, which is probably why it's so popular. It had the aromas and flavor of strawberry and blueberry with a bit of spice. It started out a little "rough", but mellowed out nicely after 15 or 20 minutes in the glass. I got this at McScrooge's for about $20. It was very nice, especially after opening.
Then we opened the 2004 Brunello from Casisano-Colomboio. This was an excellent, delicious, silky smooth wine. It had a similarity to the A to Z pinot noir, but with an elegance and sophistication lacking in the Oregon pinot. It had aromas of vanilla (oak, but well under control) There was raspberry and cherry with horehound and a little spice on the finish, which was beautiful and lengthy. It was balanced and smooth, but very real and a little rustic. The elegance of this wine made me think of the Testa Rossa with its amazing silkiness. That was such a beautiful wine! But I come back again and again to the Italian wines. I think it's because they ARE more rustic. They have a richness of character, a complexity that is unique to these wines. Oh well, I guess my personal bias is showing, but I LOVED this wine! It sells for about $40 at Total Wines in Atlanta.
Finally we opened a Fonseca 10 year tawny port to have with the brownies. It was yummy with the dried cherry and raisin flavors. I still have half the bottle in the fridge, and I'll make more complete notes later. My first impression is that we liked the Graham's better, but it may be that because we had it after the delicious Brunello, it affected my opinion of this wine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment