2007
California
No pictures as my camera is, once again, broken. It got dropped and it's not worth the cost of fixing. :(
Christmas was a bit of a bust as The Bro had to leave rather than stay the weekend. Unfortunately, his pipes froze and burst back home in upstate NY and, as a result, the entire place where he lives was knocked out of water on Christmas Eve. So we had all this wine we shopped for and thought we could take our time enjoying, and he had to leave. :( He left me with much of the wine and I intend to comment on a few soon.
In addition, I will be posting my top five wines for 2008 in the next few days.
Tonight I went to a cozy little tavern for a church meeting with two other church members. Only they both didn't show, and when I called I got answering machines. At this point, the waitress had already poured (3) glasses of water and brought out olives and olive oil and bread. So, I felt I needed to order and stay anyway. Luckily, I had paper and pen and kept myself occupied.
I had difficulty deciding on scallops with portabella mushroom, fried breaded tomato and spinach, and a rich Chardonnay, or Ahi pan-seared sesame-encrusted tuna over a bed of seaweed salad, and Mr. Mondavi's Private Selection Pinot Noir. I chose the latter based on my diet lately (no meat, dairy, fried foods, sugar, white flour, etc.).
I am not a fan of Mondavi wines. I don't even give them a second glance. However, I thought the Private Selection might not be so ordinary, and I thought a Pinot would accompany my tuna better than a heavier Merlot or Cab. I chose wisely. The tuna tasted like a steak following a swallow of wine. It was a nice pairing. On it's own, the wine probably would have been passable. But it worked up to the dimension of "good" with the tuna.
Big cherry scent and flavor, with a hint of vanilla. A bit weak in taste on its own, but I didn't expect a big flavor from a Pinot Noir. Good match with tuna.
For another take on this wine, visit:
mikethewineguy.blogspot.com/2007/01/tn-robert-mondavi-private-selection.html
7.75 out of 10
$10 / 750 ml. bottle
Alcohol content unknown
