11.29.05
Bill’s visit
Christina’s parents, Linda and Rick with Eliza.
Yesterday we went to have dinner with Greg and Chris and Christina’s parents, Linda and Rick who were visiting for a few days. Earlier in the day we went to Rhode Island to visit with Judy and Len and for me to help them set up their new computers. It was a lovely afternoon, a day of good company, lobster and shrimp with pasta, a Cakebread cuvee that drank very nicely and was perfect with the meal and the company. The wine was different than Cakebread I’ve had. Rather than the rich Cab flavors this was lighter, more the taste of ripe cherries and minerals in the nose and an explosion at the back of the throat.
Thanksgiving weekend is never a time to be driving anywhere but the traffic was fine and everyone was eager to get home so it moved easily.
Linda with the baby
Tonight Bill Harley came over to visit and have dinner. Jon came for a short visit as well and we spent time eating and drinking and talking about many things, listening to music and watching dvd’s and the time seemed to fly by.
Is Jon giving instruction to Bill?
What a little bit of wine will bring out in people.
We had a roasted chicken and black beans and rice and I opened up a bottle of Saintsbury Garnet 1997 Pinot Noir to start with that is drinking beautifully right now. This Pinot is very well made and has developed over the years to have a rich burgundy like taste, a hint of chocolate and plum.
After that we drank a Chateau Chassee-Spleen 1979 that I’ve had in the cellar for many years. At first this wine tasted hard and almost astringent without much happening but after a few hours it started to open to be a big and full wine, a nose of earth and soil, minerals and tobacco. This wine has a good structure but needed even more time to open. It is the plight of many old wines that are not left to breathe long enough and their true nature is lost. By the end it was tasting the way it should.
We ended with the Mark West Pinot, 1994. This wine by comparison is frisky and light but with a lovely flavor that was perfect to end with.
Its always a pleasure to have time with Bill and we never seem to have enough time to get through the things we want to explore.
