Tis The Season!

December Wine Night was all about comfort...winter wine, cozy cocktails and special snacks. And boy did we deliver!

Brandi made delicious fondue and everyone else brought meats and bread to pair with it.

Our first drink of the night was a delicious sparkling:
Chateau de L'Aulee - $17.00
Cremant de Loire Brut
Chenin Blanc is a principal grape with others that could include chardonnay, pinot noir, and cab franc. We thought this was delicious! Juicy and creamy with citrus, apple & yeast expected from a Loire bubbly.

Next up:
Astoria Prosecco - $11.00
We shouldn't have followed the Cremant with the prosecco but it arrived later than the others and we knew what we were going to taste later in the evening so we snuck this in the lineup. It didn't do the prosecco any favors. It was light and dry like you want a prosecco with peaches and pears with dry acidity and light body. but it was hard to taste after the creaminess of the first.



I can't continue with out commenting on our ambience.

Thanks to Eileen, we had a crackling fire complete with carols. Thanks for helping to set the perfect mood!


Our third sparkling was a rose:
Simmonet-Febvre $18.95
Cremant De Bourgogne Brut Rose
A sparkling wine from Chablis made of 100% pinot noir grapes. We found it fruity, crisp, dry, acidic, tart, citrus, cranberry, gooseberry, yeast with a creamy mouth feel.

Then we moved very smoothly to Beaujolais:
Domaine Berrod 18.99
2009 Beaujolais Villages
Delicious, light and fruity. A perfect beaujolais. It was a nice light red color with a skunky nose of ash, powdered white pepper. Blueberries, smoky, leather.

After decanting we tasted:
Travaglini $29
2004 Gattinara
This was absolutely delicious! perfectly balanced Nebbiolo with a bit funk, barn yard, earth, mold. Full bodied with cherry fruit.





And finally it came time for dessert!
i forgot to mention our 1970's theme. It started with talk of fondue and cozy father sweaters... so i decided to make the dessert i grew up eating. And my mom was kind enough to send the cups and spoons she's collected over the years for serving.
Pot de Cremes!




Which paired perfectly with Brandi's Rum Cocktail!
Homemade almond milk, vanilla, simple syrup, maple syrup, bitters, nutmeg with aged rum garnished with star anise and a cinnamon stick. It was delicious and belly warming.

And since the party was still going i went ahead and opened one more bottle of wine...
Gassier Nostre Pais Rouge $15
2007 Southern Rhone
A Blend of grenache, carignan, mourvedre, cinsalt, syrah. Nose of truffles, earth, blackberries, full-body and soft tannins.

We had a wonderful evening. It was great to be together with new and old friends and to be surprised by an out of town guest. Here's a little slideshow of our evening.

Happy Holidays!
See you 2011 where we'll start by exploring Austria!