We had a fairly simple meal tonight–pan fried salmon; spinach, garlic, and pine nuts sauteed in olive oil; and potato/celeraic mash. Opened the ’05 Sine Qua Non Over & Out (their last Pinot Noir) due to the salmon. What a great combination. The salmon was good by itself, and the SQN was good by itself, but together they were amazing. In particular, the salmon really elevated the Pinot. Without the food, the wine was a relatively typical New World Pinot Noir–rich, lush, plenty of fruit and extraction. With the salmon, however, it showed more elegant and more complex. It doesn’t happen very often (either we don’t try hard enough or I just suck at pairing), but boy–when a food and wine match works it’s awesome.
Archive for October, 2008
Lamb and aged Cabernet
October 4, 2008Made rack of lamb tonight, and opened a ’95 Whitehall Lane Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was amazingly young tasting, with loads of black currant left, and it paired quite well with the lamb. There’s something about lamb and Cab that just works, no matter how many times I have it or how much of a wine “no duh” it is.
October?
October 3, 2008I can’t believe it’s already the 3rd of October. I know, I know, the 3rd always comes after the 2nd, and October always follows September, so how can I be surprised? Well, each year just seems to go by faster than the year before. I think it’s because our perspective (we’re always in the “now”) changes relative to how much history we have. My 3-year old is just barely starting to grasp the concept of time (like last night when we got home from dinner and I peeked in on her and she said “is it time for breakfast, Daddy?” Uh, no–it’s 10 p.m. Go to sleep.). I remember when I was young how long an hour seemed, and today a week or even a month can pass by without hardly realizing it.
I’ve been to Italy since the last post, and we had a bottle of the 2002 Benanti Lamoremio, on the recommendation of the waiter at Victoria Pizzeria. This little joint, just off the Duomo in Milan, is one of my favorite pizza places anywhere. Maybe not as good as Baffetta in Rome, but pretty close. And the wine was very nice–I’m not a huge fan of Italian wines, but this is one that I’d seek out and purchase if I didn’t already have so much wine as it is.
