Friends invited me over for a quite nice repast-Veal Shanks slow cooked in her new brazing pot with onions, carrots, wine, and lovely risotto with saffron and vermouth and chicken stock. An amazing dinner!
I brought two wines:
2004 Borra (Lodi, CA) Barbera-Not true to the variety, perhaps, but I quite enjoyed this very smooth, fruit forward (dark red fruits) and very, very smokey wine. Went very well with the slow cooked veal. My friend's wife and I both enjoyed this wine; my friend found it almost too smokey. Good QPR ($24) solid ***.
2001 Whitehall Lane Reserve cabernet Sauvignon. Both my friends like Whityehall Lane, and since she slaved over the stove for quite a long time to fix the beautiful meal, I thought it deserved a special wine.
Very rich and smooth and fruit forward in the classic ripe Napa style. But, although my tastes are evolving towards the more herbal, savory, austere "Old World" style, I cannot deny that this was a lovely wine that very much matched the amazingly rich food. Rich red and black fruit with a smooth undertone of sweet leather and just a whiff of savory notes. There is oak here, but unlike the Saint Superey which disappointed me last month, it is well integrated and balanced, serving to smooth everything out nicely. Painfully pricey ($80 when purchased as part of a vertical), so I can't say I will be/should be buying more soon. I am curious, however, how this very rich wine woudl evolve over 10 years or so??? ****