A Little Dickens

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

Charles Dickens
Great Expectations

 2012 Benanti Rosso di Verzella.  14% alcohol and $15

The Second Time Around

“Wine enters through the mouth,
Love, the eyes.
I raise the glass to my mouth,
I look at you,
I sigh.”
―W.B. Yeats

From the post below... The Mt. Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon in the glass on the second day after being opened.

Mountain Wine

One sure way to test the palate for complete recovery is to pop open a mountain wine from Napa Valley.  They are full of tannin and take some time to mature.  Since part of my palate problem was the production of less saliva than normal tannic wines have been a challenge since tannin seems more pronounced with less saliva.  

I opened a 2008 Mt. Veeder Winery, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, made with mountain grapes.   The cork came out about four hours prior to dinner and that proved a blessing.  The initial sip was pure tannin and not pleasurable at all.  By the time some beef stroganoff as ready the wine had changed dramatically.  The tannin seemed much less brutal.  There were wonderful aromas of earth and cedar and tobacco.  The flavors were not shy and full of dark berries with some red cherries for highlights.  The tannins were still strong but they were manageable.  With the food the tannins mellowed considerably and provided a structure to both the food and the wine.  They were quite good together.

I drank just less than half of the wine and poured the remainder back into the bottle for an overnight stay under vacuum.  The next day it accompanied some asparagus and Gruyere ravioli in brown butter sauce.  What a difference another twenty four hours made.  This wine was really singing some beautiful music on the second day.  The tannins were friendly and warm and the fruit was ripe and sweet.  This time it was a total joy.

I very much dislike putting numeric scores on bottles of wine. No need to go into the reasons for that here, so let me just say that if I were scoring this wine it would have scored significantly higher on day two. 

2008 Mt. Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon. 14.5% alcohol and $40.

Still Winter

The previous, resident Gordon Setters for whom this blog is partially named would have been apoplectic if they looked out the door and saw this Eastern Gray Squirrel casually eating hickory nuts and cracked corn under a crab apple tree.  The current, resident Gordon is napping and dreaming of spring and her coming dinner.  

Fortification

Yesterday was dark and stormy with four more inches of snow.  Today is sunny and clear but after sunset the temperature will plummet to zero again.  A Dark and Stormy seemed like the perfect drink a cold, but sunny day.   Dark rum, ginger beer and lime juice to carry me away to the tropics if only for the afternoon. 

"After all tomorrow is another day"..... Vivian Leigh.  Gone With the Wind

Winter Wine

Wine gives a man nothing... it only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost.

Samuel Johnson

Calamari and bay scallops, spring onions and zucchini as a fritto misto. Good food - better wine.

2009 Kinkead Ridge, Ohio River Valley Viognier Rousanne.   14.2% alcohol and $16

Cullen Diana Madeline

Our wine for Open That Bottle Night (OTBN) this year was from the Margaret River area of western Australia.  The wine was a 2003 Cullen Wines, Diana Madeline - a blend of 72% cabernet sauvignon, 20% merlot, 4% petit verdot and 4% malbec.  It has been resting in the cellar for a number of years and yesterday was its time to shine.

The wine got four hours in a decanter before dinner, though there was a small sample taste when decanting.  That sample taste was very closed and offered little in the way of aroma and only basic fruit and tannin in the taste.  The four hours in the decanter totally transformed the wine.

When the lamb chops (pictured below) and pasta, filled with pureed asparagus and Gruyere cheese, was ready so was the wine.  There were strong and beautiful aromas of freshly crushed red cherries and darker berries.  There was a not too dry aroma of clean earth as well.  The wine was fully colored and dark in the glass.  The taste was a total balance between red cherries, a few berries and a much darker flavor of cassis.  There were ample tannins, but they were certainly not harsh.  They gave a great structure to the wine and left a sensation of graphite on the finish.  This wine was excellent from the tip of the tongue to the back of the throat.  Despite the luscious fruit this wine stayed more to the savory side of life and with the lamb it was near perfect. 
 

2003 Cullen Wines, Diana Madeline.  13.5% alcohol and an internet searched replacement price of $130.