Wine Without Numbers: Carol's Birthday

Two Sundays ago we celebrated my beautiful wife Carol’s xxth birthday. If I told you her age you would not believe me because, like fine wine she ages beautifully. The celebration took place at our home with our immediate family and two of our best friends and their wives. Mother Nature cooperated so we got to enjoy the day in an around the pool and enjoy food catered by Divina Ristorante and pizza from Frank Anthony’s. I have lauded the food from Divina in numerous previous posts and it was once again terrific. Frank Anthony's is a small Italian Deli/Restaurant in Verona, NJ. serving great Italian sandwiches and traditional Italian entrées. The pizza is like grandma used to make. A spot well worth checking out.

Happy Birthday Grandma

The wines we had included:

NV Equipo Navazos - La Bota de Fino 35 Sherry. Dry sherry, served chilled always works well on warm days. Alas this particular one, my first encounter with this producer, left a lot to be desired. It was completely flat palate. The wine was devoid of flavor and had no soul whatsoever. At $55, a waste of money.

2010 Clos Sainte Magdeleine Cassis Blanc. Kermit Lynch, importer of the wines, calls Cassis an “earthy paradise, and the vineyards of Clos Sainte Magdeleine are particularly stunning. They jut out on a private cape to meet majestic limestone cliffs, poised spectacularly above the sparkling, azure Mediterranean. The wine is available at 56º Wine, Bernardsville for $30.

Clos Sainte Magdeleine

Now we were talking, as this was a delight to drink. This is a fresh, clean, crisp, round and delicious wine from a remarkable producer. While I have had the Rosé on numerous occasions (a mainstay in my cellar) this was my first experience with this wine.

1996 Roagna Barolo Riserva la Rocca E la Pira from magnum. A great vintage plus a great winemaker and the wine was as you would expect, great. It possessed that intoxicating and earthy Piedmont bouquet, soft tannins, balance, complexity and elegance. Probably not a lot of this vintage around, but current vintages are available at reasonable prices at Wine Legend, Livingson, NJ and 56º Wine.

The food we enjoyed with the wines was great. Served family style we enjoyed Pizza Margharita; Assorted Antipasti; Manicotti w/ Meatballs; Penne Marinara; Chicken with mixed vegetables, Veal Parmigiano and Primavera Salad.