Somehow, I can’t see this new decade surpassing “The Roaring Twenties” of the last century.  New Year’s Eve is one of those holidays that my Bride prefers to have at the house.  I mean periodically I think of how nice it might be to go out, but then I remember those nights of yore, where the menu is truncated to facilitate the potential rotation of an extra turn or maybe two of tables; not only is the menu truncated, but it normally does not have the classic dishes that you admire from that restaurant.  The service suffers, because of the extra crowd and the hustling of the people, and perhaps the worst part of the evening, it is one of those nights where people think they have to go out.  I feel sorry for those that go to a place that has an allocated price for drinks for the evening.  There is nothing worse, than those that never go out, try to get their “money” worth of drinks for the evening.  They make a fool of themselves and are a pain for all concerned. 

My Bride would rather have everyone come over for the evening and she fusses even more, because she gets upset with those that decide to waste their money for the evening.  I have to admit that the majority of the clan comes for the evening, including the Louisville group.  She was making quite a dinner, and because of the night, we were not going to dine in the afternoon, but everyone could rest and hopefully sleep in that morning.  We had a charcuterie platter, and of course several hard cheeses, she also baked Brie in a pastry shell, one with savory accent and one with a fruit accent.  I think she said that she bought thirty pounds of jumbo shrimp and a good fresh horseradish cocktail sauce to clear the sinus cavities.  She made a whole slab of Salmon in a Bourbon Sauce.  There was a roasted ham and a perfectly roasted pork tenderloin carved into medallions.  She made sides, and more sides were brought by the guests.  She made desserts and plenty more desserts were brought in as well. 

We have wine, but some wine was brought in by my Brother-in-Law from Louisville and he wanted to see how one of his wines was holding on and he brought another one as well, and rather than discuss some of the earlier wines that we opened, I will center on the two that he graciously supplied.  The second wine was opened first and decanted, while we enjoyed his first selection for the dinner.  We started our dinner reds that night with a bottle of Terralsole Brunello de Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2007, which was founded by Mario Bollag and his wife in 1996.   Terralsole has twelve hectares combining two distinctive terroirs in Montalcino.  One vineyard is at 1,200 feet on the slope, while the other vineyard sits at 750 feet.  All of his wines are estate grown, hand harvested and bottled.  Brunello is a prized appellation in Tuscany and received it DOCG in 1980.  This wine is made purely from Sangiovese Grosso which is known locally in Montalcino as Brunello.  The rules for making Brunello state that the wine must be pure Sangiovese and aged for at least four years (five for Riserva) and bottled for four months before selling.  Traditional method for making this wine is to use large vats and the “Modernists” are shortening the times and using smaller barrels for a more fruit forward wine.  This wine after fermentation was aged for eighteen months in large French vats and then an additional fifteen months in smaller barrel, with an additional six months in the bottle in a climate-controlled facility.  This wine may have been at the perfect time for tasting, as the winery suggested cellaring up to 2025 and it was a beautiful garnet toned wine, totally balanced with beautiful notes of black cherry and a long lingering finish.  It would have been sad when this wine was finished, but we were waiting to try the other wine that I had decanted earlier.  We had a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild Pauillac 1986, the year of my In-Laws wedding, and he stocked up on that vintage for years to come to celebrate.  Chateau Lafite Rothschild does not mention it on the label, but they are the first of the Premier Crus or First Growths of the Medoc, a very lofty position.  The first recording of the property was in 1234, and in the 17^th Century, the Lafite and Latour families became entwined by marriage.  Chateau Lafite was regarded even back then as the King’s wine.  The property covers one-hundred-twelve hectares of gravel and sand over limestone, with an additional four and half hectares that is technically in Saint-Estephe, but is allowed to be listed as Pauillac for the estate.  Each year the blend of grapes can change according to the winemaker, but the estate is planted with seventy percent Cabernet Sauvignon, twenty-five percent Merlot, three percent Cabernet Franc and two percent Petit Verdot.  The wine is aged for up to twenty months in new oak barrels.  This wine had a beautiful deep color and had a great nose, it was very mellow and the tannins had softened and it was very velvety and lush, and yet still very regal.  I find it hard to express in words, as it was very unique and only a couple of us were drinking it.  The dinner time for New Year’s Eve was complete and now to ring in the new year and decade.