Wine Without Numbers: Carol's Birthday

About this Blog

The blog focuses on the essence of wine and food, not how many points or stars it receives. The opinions are mine and should be taken only as that, an opinion not gospel.

Like many collectors, initially I was very much influenced by wine ratings. I purchased wines based on points, even if I had never tasted the wine. And it was much worse than that. I would drink a wine with a high rating, not like it, yet since it was highly rated I’d rationalize that I did not yet appreciate the wine, or that my palate was not sophisticated enough to understand the wine. How’s that for lunacy? As a result my cellar grew in all directions while my palate narrowed. By the time I realized the style of wine that I enjoyed, my cellar abounded with wines whose styles I did not enjoy. All of these wines were very highly rated, just not my cup of tea, or glass of wine to be more accurate. Fortunately I was able to sell many of these wines to those who either enjoyed them or wanted highly rated wines. Don’t misunderstand, I am not against wines with high ratings, in fact I own many. It is just that I now purchase wines based on the producer, the style and my palate, not the rating. Nor do I shun reading reviews. I very much respect Antonio Galloni, Alan Meadows, Eric Asimov and John Gilman and read their reviews routinely. I pay attention to what they write, not the points they award.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

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.