Christmas Lunch Notes

Did as lunch today as a planning session for a possible vacation next
Fall.

Lanson Black Label Brut Champagne – this is a few years old, but
despite being an NV wine, it had great mousse, and decent complexity.

Served with roasted chestnuts, in honour of the season, a combination
I thought would work – and it did!

2004 Mastroberardino Greco di Tufo Riserve Nova Serra – nice complex
forward nose with some cheesiness, good acidity, slightly hollow right
off the bat, but it opened up and filled out with time.

Served with Kubocha squash soup done up as faux cappuccino (whipped
cream piped on top and dusted with fresh ground nutmeg in a teacup).

2001 Cedar Creek Pinto Noir, Platinum series – lost of wood (whisky
cask?) and citrus in the nose, smooth in the mouth, with decent
length, but ultimately a bit unsatisfying due to the simplicity of the
wine.

Served with stuffed mushroom caps and pea shoot slald.

2000 Piaggia Carmignano Riserva – this Tuscan wine continues to baffle
me. Every time I taste it blind it fools me into thinking it is a new
world wine. Dark, big fruit nose, less fruit on palate, tight tannic.
This is a ‘quo vadis’ wine – whenever I taste it, I wonder where the
heck it is going!

With mushroom pasta and pear and asiago pasta, sauced simp0y with
butter and EVOO dressing with black pepper and sea salt.

1995 Les Cailloux CNduP – at a great point right now, lightening in
colour a bit, with a lovely nose with pepper and fruit, on palate
slightly hot and more pepper at the end, long and good.

With cheese.

Afters:

Tignanello Grappa – killer grappa with lovely fruity nose, not too hot
and white pepper at the end.

Aquavitta di Venaccia Grappa di Prosecco Riserva – quite a contrast –
oily marzipan and pear notes, soft in mouth, but not satisfying.