Sonoma Coast
Sebastopol, CA
Bottle #00319
Not a budget wine. Sorry again. But it was our anniversary. A berry good wine - this is very fruit forward with a hint of minerality and wood. It tasted even better with French goat cheese, smoked gouda and aged cheddar and each tasted equally as good with the wine.
I wanted to go out to eat tonight - we never do that anymore. I didn't want any of the super expensive places, just a place that's worth the money: da Capo - my favorite italian ristorante. But it just wasn't meant to be.
So I went to the local grocery and bought various cheeses I thought would accompany a Pinot Noir well. We had the smoked gouda, aged cheddar, and French goat cheese which I baked for a bit drizzled with olive oil and thyme and spread over heated ciabatta. We also bought Sopresseta and red and green pears. It was a pretty good "at home" feast.
Upon our return, we discovered our house could have burned down. We left our kids home while we went 2 minutes to the store (16, 14 and 10 - old enough to be OK for less than half an hour). When we pulled in the driveway, our eldest was opening windows and doors. I immediately asked what was wrong. She announced that the oven wasn't "acting right" and had smoke billowing from it for no reason. She was correct -I'd turned it OFF before we left. I put pumpkin bread in it to keep it warm from when the oven was previously on an hour before. I walked into the smoke-filled kitchen to find the oven was still OFF but smoke was indeed billowing forth. I opened the door and found the pumpkin bread was BURNED black and smoking. It looked as though it had been on fire. The oven was indeed OFF, yet the temperature setting was registering at 500 degrees!!!! So, it's (4) days before Thanksgiving and I have no choice but to go get a new oven. I just finished getting my SEARS credit card down below $250 and now I have to throw an oven on there! One step forward, two steps behind.
Anyway, the wine was indeed NOT lost on me this evening. I just sucked it up and put together an appetizer plate for me and the Guy and we sat and ate and sipped in the haze of charred pumpkin bread with the distant sound of an upstairs fire alarm still beeping.
This wine was a gift my aunt brought to me from dear and late Uncle Bob's cellar. As Thanksgiving is nearing, and that is the holiday I will always remember him at, I felt it apropos to have on my husband and my eighteenth anniversary. A deeply felt thank you once again to my uncle for providing me with some of my greatest wine experiences - we miss him so incredibly so and can't believe he is no longer in our lives.
8.5 out of 10
$95 / 750 ml bottle
14.1 % alc by vol.
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