It was a wonderful relaxing Sunday afternoon, we had gone to the cinema and had started to enjoy some wine and appetizers.  When Ms. Yoga is in town, it tends to be an event, and of course she is instrumental in all of the planning.  While ostensibly in town to do business and make more business contacts, she also wants to see as many friends and family that she can squeeze in during a trip.  The Casa Raconteur is her home base on this trip and we were having as much fun as she was.  Her friends that she had invited for dinner finally showed up, and we enjoy their company immensely.

There was now six of us, sitting in the breakfast nook at the moment, and everyone was catching up since the last time we had gotten together.  The last couple also came with some wine and a big tray of jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce, so we sat and munched some more.  I have to admit that I have been a fan of shrimp since I was a toddler, since it was always something that was at the house growing up.  My Bride had to maneuver herself away from the breakfast nook to begin making the dinner and it was my job to make sure that the wine in the glasses didn’t evaporate from a lack of interest.  My Bride was making filets for dinner and everyone seemed to agree on Medium Rare, so the cooking time was made a bit easier on her.  She was also making a roaster of sliced potatoes covered in Parmesan and she was at the sauté pan preparing fresh asparagus.  For dessert she was serving Angel Food Cake with sugared strawberries and whipped cream, which everyone knows is very low-cal.  For dinner we actually moved into the dining room, since it was already set up for the dinner earlier.

After having a couple of bottles of white wine, I guess it was time to have some red wine, especially with the filets.  We started of with some wine from Paoletti Winery in Calistoga, Napa Valley.   Paoletti Winery has thirty-six acres in Calistoga and their first release was in 1994, so the wine we were enjoying was from their Twentieth Anniversary.  Their Piccolo Cru 2014 was all fruit from their own estate and it was a Bordeaux blend with half of the wine being Cabernet Sauvignon and then Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.  The total time for the production of this wine was about sixteen months and it was delightful, with all the qualities that I expect from a Claret.  The second wine was from across the pond from Frecciarossa in the Lombardy region of Italy.  This winery has been in production since 1919 and they were one of the earliest wineries to ship to the United States after Prohibition, as their Export Permit is #19.  The Giorgio Odero Oltrepo Pavese DOC Pinot Noir 2010 was excellent.  The Oltrepo Pavese region borders on the Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna and Pinot Noir is considered the King of this region.  The wine begins with two weeks in Stainless Steel for the maceration process after being hand-harvested, then twelve months in once-used barrels, then an additional six months in Stainless Steel and finally twelve months in the bottle before being released.  This was a great bottle of wine and hopefully I can get some more.  On to next adventure with Ms. Yoga.