Monday dinners with Dave
Most Monday evenings we are home enjoying a meal with our friend, Dave. Dave is super into wine. Red wine. He’s not a fan of white wine and isn’t persuaded by bubbles. We know better than to pour a rosé. So Mondays have become a red wine day in our house which, of course, is a good thing because we […]
Wines from Portugal? Yes, please! With more than 200 indigenous grape varieties and a wide variety of growing conditions, Portugal has plenty to offer the adventurous wine drinker. We recently had the opportunity to sample four wines from the Tejo (pronounced te-zhoo) wine region of Portugal. Until 2009 this region was know as Ribatejo.
This is a varietal we were introduced to by our good friend, Dave. One Monday night, a couple of years ago, he brought a bottle of 2008 Pasos Vineyards (1) Tannat. It was inky dark, had complex dark fruit flavors with eucalyptus and perfumed scents. The tannins were substantial, but well integrated. We loved the combination of fruit flavors and big tannins. This experience with Tannat was enough to prompt us to look for it on wine lists and in wine stores.
It all began with an e-mail in the mid-November from one of Pete’s sisters. She had drawn Pete’s name in our family Christmas gift exchange and wanted to run an idea by me. “Would he enjoy a copy of Randall Grahm’s book Been Doon So Long? I can get an autographed copy.”
Birthdays are a very good reason to celebrate with good food and wine.
Pete and I had a great introduction to the wines the Languedoc region of France during the Wine Bloggers Conference in August. This made us curious about the region, its climate and food as well. We decided to build a wine and food tasting from this experience.
Dave brought over a 2000 Beaulieu Vineyards Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon the other night for us to have with dinner.
Malbec from Argentina and a Bordeaux from St. Emilion in France taste off.
2004 Sterling Vineyards SVR Reserve tasting notes.
2009 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel tasting notes.
We enjoy wine, food and travel. Pull That Cork is a chronicle of our wine adventures, the food and wine pairings we create and our travels which are increasingly organized around wine.
