Friday's Hedonistic Feast

Last Friday we had friends & family over to enjoy great food, great drink & great company. Memories were forged, bonds were strengthened, we satisfied our carnal thirst for blood & fire & drank a lot of wine.


We started the evening with a 2002 Renwood Zinfandel that Daniel brought over. This was my first taste of good Zin. I liked it a lot & it is worth exploring more. It had a nose of ripe red & black berries with a touch of clove. On the palate it was intense following the nose more clove though & some nice meatiness. 3/5

Next up was trip around the globe to Bordeaux. This was one of Zach's pick, 2002 Barton and Guestier Saint Emillion. This one sat in the decanter for an hour, I think that might have been too long, I am not sure. The reason I say that is that it kind of fell flat. Thinking back I have to wonder if drinking the Zin first, just zapped my palate or if it was just too young. I dont know but there wasn't much there. What I did pick up on was a charred bellpepper & some new leather with only a hint of blackberries on the palate. The nose left much to be desired. 2/5

While we were sipping on the Bordeaux the Lamb was finishing up on the smoker. I put it on at 12:00 & pulled it off at 6:00pm. The rest of the spread consisted of lentil salad with parsley & onions, some kick-ass potato salad that Tony & Kimberley brought over, roasted veggies cooked by Zach, which consisted of 2 of everything at Easy-Way.

With the Lamb we cracked open the 2002 Polissena Sangiovese. This was the wine of the night. Zach hit a home run with this bad-boy. It was a perfect match to the lamb. The nose was dense, with spruce, white pepper, tobacco, black currants & black berries. On the palate, the intense, but not over the top, the smoky blackberries & black currant notes hugged every part of my mouth. This wine is a meat blade with a medium-heavy mouth-feel
& nice supple tannins. The finish was nice & lingering with lots of licorice notes. Perfect harmony.
The meal was topped off with cheese, accidental toffee, carmamlized grapes & two more bottles of wine. A 2001 Schmitt Sohne Riesling Auslese & a 2001 Schramsberg Cremant Demi-Sac. Both were outstanding & really dont remember much more than that. ;)
At one point I think someone broke out the Cuervo & there was talk of doing shots with fleur de sel but I stashed out of sight before the travesty was comitted. I have more pics posted in my Flickr account so check them out if you want.


*I keep having posts dissapear I am going to have to contact blogspot & see what is going on. I will re-post everything that has been lost as soon as the problem is resolved.