We hosted the immediate wine gang at Vino last night to celebrate the passing of another year on the personal calendar of life. And as time silently marches on, another year is less and less of a given. Both classmates and relatives alike have passed on this year so I'm thankful to notch another year in my calendar...
And since celebrations usually require Champagne, I brought my only bottle of 1988 Krug... Citrus curd with hints of toasted coconut and a touch of freshly baked pie dough... too bad it was my only bottle...
I also provided these Schott Zwiesel Fortessa Champagne flutes for our guests as a "party" favor. It's because while doing web searches, I discovered that the house of Krug "commissioned" Riedel to create specific stemware for their non-vintage (or multi-vintage is the actual process) Champagne that's only available as a boxed gift set - you can't simply purchase these "Le Joseph" (named after the founder) Champagne flutes from retailers and the Schott Zwiesel glasses sorta' were shaped like the exclusive "Le Joseph" glasses.
And my "younger" brother was gracious enough to uncork a Jacques Selosse Initial...
We then sampled some oysters on the half shell...
Along mushroom pasta...
And uovo...
Along with an Abbatucci...
A 2000 Girardin Clos de la Roche Grand Cru...
And it's domestic sibling, a 2004 Sine Qua Non Covert Fingers Pinot Noir...
For some of our mains including the steak sandwich...
The Vintage steak...
And the Mary's roasted chicken...
Along with my favorite red... a 1986 Verset Cornas...
Ending the evening with a 2001 Gunderloch Nackheim Rothenberg Riesling Auslese... unfortunately, owner Fritz Hasselbach passed on earlier this year and this was Chuck's last bottle...
And a birthday apple tarte...
So I'm thankful that I sampled my three favorite wines - Champagne, Pinot Noir and Verset Cornas - and most importantly, spent the evening with the Mrs and great friends...
Our time on this little orb is never guaranteed so make the most of it...
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