If A Blog Falls in the Forest...

The intervening month has been brought to you by a two week vacation and a two week cold. Most of the former was embellished with drinking astonishingly good scotch with a scot.  Glenmorangie's Quinta Ruban is a gift from the gods.

This week, though, now that I can drink wine without coughing my lungs out has seen the return of some gorgeous offerings.  Earlier in the summer, I shared a bottle of 2000 Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia with a close group of friends and it b-l-e-w m-e a-w-a-y!    A ten year old white rioja that was among the finest beverages I have ever consumed. So, I sought out a sequel (I can't believe this wine is still around) and it was equally astonishing.  100% viura grapes...mystical, strange spices, reminded me of retsina in spice profile (KT agreed). Just an extraordinary wine of amazing depth and I didn't find it oxidized or showing any deleterious signs of age.  I wish I could drink it weekly.

Later in the week, we had a great bar-b-que burger fest (the Oregon fall is devine) and I opened a 2000 Perrin Cote du Rhone Reserve. It too was tasting at its peak, with a profound cinnamon nose and delightful  balanced dark fruit (plum, fig, prune) taste and a very, very long finish. The full flavor that I always associate with CDR (wild herbs and spice) but with an elegance that I've not known in a generic rhone.

Tonight I'm back at a wine that I bought a case of and it is tasting so much better than when we first opened a few bottles.  It restores my faith in the wine seller who tempted me into a case.  The 2005 Domaine du Prieure Bourgogne is a delightful unpretentious great food wine.  Pork and pasta were the guests and monsieur Prieure was a perfect companion.  Light bodied, but full of classic pinot elegance, sour cherries, cloves and a blood/iron flavor that speaks of the dirt. The fruit is so much more apparent tonight. In previous openings it had mostly seemed like tart cherries and little else.  Nice to know that it, like we, is/are evolving.

The Moody Blues Got Nothing On Me

Tuesday afternoon and the weather has given notice that the glorious days of fall are here.  As with most seasons in Oregon, they begin and end with rain which works for me!  Simple home cooking tonight. Tried my hand at spaghetti carbonara (primo chef KT was occupied with work) and produced a plausible facsimile. The encyclopedic tome for the recipe, "Italian Cooking", suggested a light red to accompany. Lacking the time and energy to scare up a lighter italian wine from our cellar, I settled, instead, on a half bottle of Pinot from Willakensie; their 2007 estate cuvee.  Bought a case of these from Vino a while back and they are perfect for just such occasions.

The wine worked well with my gringo version of italian pasta; dried cranberries, dusty spices (cinnamon, nutmeg) and fading roses a serviceable companion.  Meanwhile, KT arrives from her fifteen feet after work commute and whips up a red curry dish with eggplant (yikes!). I opened a bottle of Penner Ash riesling for her enjoyment, sticking with the 2007 vintage. Never one to pass up an open bottle, I sampled a bit and am anxious to dive back in soon. It was delightfully dry, with petroleum hints that make a riesling so unique. As my palate was somewhat jaded by the pinot/pasta combo, I expect my next tasting of this riesling will show the real stuff.  We shall see.