The logistics of getting us, our children and the grandchildren is an almost impossible task, in fact it was.  While we were on holidays, our children were working, and our grandchildren were students and part-time workers as well.  Our first night was the best as we only were missing one college student.  We all ended up at Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria; after all, who doesn’t like pizza?  Grimaldi’s has become of our traditional spots for dinner, and one of the times that we were there, I took a great photo of real snow on the palm trees in the middle of the dessert.   It was funny, I was showing the group photo to my older cousin and he immediately zeroed in on the Old School pizzas and called them mouthwatering.  And, we could walk over there from our hotel. 

Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria began with their first location under the Brooklyn Bridge over a hundred years ago.  The kids all got excited watching the pizza dough being tossed up in the air to stretch, as this is not a conveyer belt, hot lamp pizza franchise.  Since, there were so many of us, we ordered a couple of large Antipasto Salads, and a couple of Caesar Salads for the table.  We had a Margherita for the cheese lovers, and then a couple of extra-large Pies with an assortment of meats and veggies that we sent down to the end where all the kids were sitting.  And then one extra large Pie with pepperoni, mushrooms, green olives, ham and anchovies at my end with my Bride.  Everyone thought I had gone overboard on the ordering, but as I said “who doesn’t like pizza?” There was one little to go box of mixed salads, and I think three slices of pizza left for leftovers.

I had to try their new house wine Rocca delle Macie Mille Gradiº Rosso Toscana IGT Sangiovese 2019.  The Grimaldi’s Food and Beverage team returned to Italy to select a new vintage of their house wine. The name of the wine means “one-thousand degrees” in Italian as a complement to the brick-ovens in their pizzerias.  The wine was created at Rocca delle Macie estate in collaboration with the owner Sergio Zingarelli in Castellina in Chianti. The wine is pure Sangiovese.  Rocca delle Macie was founded by Italo Zingarelli, a television and film producer in 1973 when he purchased La Macie Estate and their two hectares.  La Macie Estate is still the heart of the company, but they now have several additional estates and forty-two hectares of vineyards. The wine is vinified the entire time in temperature control vats and is bottled in the Spring after harvest.  The ruby red wine offered notes of red fruits, and on the palate tones of red cherries and soft tannins with a moderate finish.  It was a very easy drinking red from Tuscany and perfect with the pies.