With an amazing homemade tomato sauce and the fluffiest pork-beef-ricotta meatballs I have ever tasted:
2008 Da Vero Dry Creek "Hawk Mountain" Sangiovese. Dark red in color. Still some oak on the nose...the later vintages they have dialed back the oak I recall. Not obnoxious in any way on the palate, though. Juicy dark cherry fruit, medium body, zero alcholic burn, nice acidity still pretty primary....with the acidity I wonder if I should hold the remaining bottle for a while to see if bottle bouquet develops? But there were already some very nice tobacco notes developing. The important thing is that with the tomato sauce this wine was perfect..it really complemented the fruity tomato sauce and the meatballs in a lovely way! da Vero makes one of the few California Sangioveses I enjoy, and the later vintages are earthier and more savory...and I enjoy them as well!
Donkey and Goat 2013 Old Vines (Mendocino) Carrignan). We drank this after the meal as the Giants finished shutting down the vaunted Royals
, and I think that was a good choice as the Da Vero's fruityness complemented the tomato sauce a little better. Dark plum and plum skin fruit with lovely nose. A hint of funk, but not too much. Acidity was definitely there but in balance. I know some here have found Donkey and Goat too acidic, but this wine was lovely in its balance. Some meaty and earthy notes as well, with any herbal Carrignan character balanced out. A very nice wine.
Broc Cellars had also released a Carrignan produced through Carbonic Maceration. A little more funkyness and a nice soft, plum fruit character. Broc also released a Counoise and a Syrah blend that were slurpable!
...(Humans) are unique in our capacity to construct realities at utter odds with reality. Dogs dream and dolphins imagine, but only humans are deluded. –Jacob Bacharach
