Welcome back wine lovers. This month’s rambling will be a dissection of a wine dinner held at my home on September 21, 2024. In addition to my wife and myself there were three other couples, two of whom are Pinehills residents. The fourth couple was very familiar with the premise of the event, as they were a part of the group I’ve written about on several occasions, which date back some 40+ years. The male half of that couple is in the wine business and has been since we met. He, on the doorstep of retirement, works for the largest wine distributor in the state of Massachusetts. Ironically, it was his home, in 1999, that was the setting for the 1997 retrospect cabernet tasting I wrote about in the September 2024 issue of Stroll magazine. The irony doesn’t end there. One of the attendees of this September 2024 event, whom I had not previously met is also in the wine ‘trade’ and actually works with my longtime friend and, as fate would have it recently moved into, not only Pinehills but the same subdivision in which I reside. This event was premised around our meeting for the first time. The final couple of the group were participants in the October 2023 neighborhood wine dinner which I wrote about in the February 2024 issue. By happenstance, I held a second such event with the same attendees in October 2024 (to be discussed in a future rambling). This time it was hosted at the home of Chuck and Margaret Napier. Lo and behold, that haunting six degrees of separation. Or maybe it’s what goes around comes around or perhaps déjà vu applies. It seems as though there ought to be some colloquialism or idiom that fits.  

Enough about the players’ back story. Let’s move on to the wine dinner.

Because not only are all four of the couples really into wine but also three have fairly substantial collections, this particular wine dinner afforded the opportunity to pull corks on a few more pedigreed offerings. 

Before more detailed discussion about the food and wine, please take a moment to peruse the menu.

                                                                            

***SEE SCREENSHOT For an idea how LARRY wants menu to read (centered, 6 food courses w/ wine pairing directly beneath each course in bold, with space before next course/menu item***

                                                  Smoked Salmon on Toast and Three Cheeses  

With respect to the menu, I’d first like to make several comments about the food.  All six courses were, as hoped, exemplary. Wine pairings with the food were also stellar. The smoked salmon appetizer with the La Grande Dame was a perfect way to start the evening. The seafood cakes by Jean Shiels were as good as the first time we had them some 30+ years ago (recipe from Bon Appetit). The homemade pasta dish by Chuck Napier was, as always, over the top. Dom’s sirloin tips never fail to please and make it easy to cook for eight people and get varied wellness correct. The amazing cheeses from the best cheese shop, at a minimum, in the state of Massachusetts, were carefully hand selected by Dan Shiels together with Brian Wasik, the shop owner and longtime friend. The Death by Chocolate Cake, lovingly made by my mother-in-law June Panarello, from Great Island was, well, to die for.  She never fails to come through!

Ok, this is after all a wine rambling so some belated discussion about the wine would certainly be appropriate. Note that with older wines you are never quite sure what to expect.  You anticipate an aura of greatness but fully recognize that disappointment may well ensue.  In this specific case we sampled a 25-year-old premier cru red burgundy (100% pinot noir) from a highly acclaimed vintage, a 41-year-old first growth Bordeaux (blend of cabernet, merlot and cabernet franc) from a very good vintage, a 38-year-old super Tuscan (blend of cabernet, sangiovese and cabernet franc) produced by the pioneer in the genre from an extremely good but not legendary vintage and 32-year-old and 26-year-old cabernets from consistent popular California icons. The Caymus was one year removed from a Wine Spectator #1 Wine of the Year award. And, to end the evening, the 54-year-old vintage port was uncorked. Fortified ports are legendary for hanging in and actually improving for many decades. I mention these five wines first because they were the oldest and culled from my cellar and hence, I can speak directly to their provenance. Each was purchased upon release and continuously stored in a temperature/humidity controlled environment. That, however, guarantees nothing when dealing with wines this old!

Now, let’s explore how the wines actually fared.  First let me admit that there were some disappointments but not beyond reason. Not one wine was bad (corked or undrinkable). Two, the 1986 Solaia and the 1983 Mouton were showing their age and had definitely been much better at some point in the past. Nonetheless, the bottles were consumed and showed appropriate class given their age and pedigree. The most disappointing bottle of the evening was the 2000 La Mission. While not BAD, I expected it to be the wine of the night. Unfortunately, it was not only not that, but it was also totally uncharacteristic of the Graves region of Bordeaux. A few of the diners, including myself, have previously consumed dozens of Graves wines, all exhibiting the same distinctive character. This bottle did not.  The oldest wine of the evening, the 1970 port was nothing short of spectacular (as expected from a fortified wine, from a great vintage and producer). The 2015 La Grande Dame made the Cliquot house proud. It was exquisite bubbly. As many of you might not have surmised, but as I had hoped, both the white and red burgundies were appropriate pairings for the scallop and shrimp cake preparation.  Following dinner, an informal survey revealed the evening favorites. Excluding the champagne and the port from voting, since they are more unique categories (bubbly and fortified), there was not a unanimous winner. Most deemed three wines to be fairly close contenders for the wine of the evening. Those, all superb, were the 1999 Arnoux red burgundy, the 2007 Barolo and the 1996 Opus (my favorite).

PULL QUOTE: “Drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life’s most civilized pleasures” - Michael Broadbent, British Master of Wine, Author & Critic