Ms. Yoga was taking Charleston by storm with, no prisoners as we were going to make a day of it, until her birthday dinner.  It looked like rain, but as the three of us left the Renaissance Hotel for another adventure, we availed ourselves of some umbrellas from the lobby and under the auspices of the doorman.  We started our adventure to the dinner location and Ms. Yoga wanted to stop at the Charleston Place, but the Grille was not open, so we went to their Thoroughbred Club and we bellied up to the bar and in typical shyness Ms. Yoga announced that it was her birthday. 

Lo and behold, Ms. Yoga was awarded a complimentary glass of Robert Talbott Vineyards Kali Hart Chardonnay Monterey 2021.  Now this winery is near and dear to my heart, as I used to get Christmas Cards from Audrey Talbott for years, because she and her husband back in 1950 moved to Carmel and began making silk ties for men’s stores.  In 1982, the Diamond T Vineyard was planted and it began.  Two of the vineyard’s are named after Robb’s (the son) children and one is Kali Hart.  This estate grown wine was a beautiful golden color and offered notes of nuts and melons.  On the palate Marcona almonds, lemon and soft butter tones in a delightful and well-balanced young white with a short finish of terroir.

My Bride keeping to her tradition had a class of Scarpetta Pinot Grigio Friuli DOC 2021.  Scarpetta wines began in the Friuli-Venezia Giuli region in 2007 and since then has expanded into other regions of Italy as well.  Scarpetta is an old Italian term for that last piece of bread that is used to soak up the last of the sauce on your dinner plate. The fruit is from the Graves (gravel) region of Friuli- Venezia Giuli and thirty percent of the fruit comes from the Colli Orientali steep hillsides.  The fruit is destemmed and fermented in Stainless Steel for twelve hours and then aged on the lees for six months in Stainless Steel.  A rich straw colored wine that offered notes of stone fruit and melon.  On the palate tones of stone fruit and melon, nicely balanced with bright acidity and a medium weight wine with a finish offering some terroir.

I decided to keep with the whites and had a glass of J & H Selbach Riesling Spatlese Mosel 2016 produced by Selbach-Oster in the Mosel Valley.  They have been producing wines in the region for over four-hundred years and they own twenty-four hectares of vineyards in the “golden mile.”  Almost none existent trade notes for such an old winemaker.  The wine had a soft-yellow color with a tinge of pink or salmon to it and it offered notes of white tree fruits and a touch of melon.  On the palate this was an off-dry wine with tones of apples and pears, with a soupcon of honey in a pleasant balanced wine.