Mother’s Day for those that are fortunate to still have their mothers is a great way to get together for a dinner and a celebration.  This was the first one, for my Bride to do without her mother and I knew that she was feeling anxious and upset, a normal emotion.  She is a rather take charge individual and she wanted to have her immediate family, and I found several options for locations between us and our son and his family that lives in the Detroit area.  She then worked out the arrangements and only two of the local grandchildren could not make it, because of work or school.

We ended up at a restaurant that we have eaten at before, but our son and his family hadn’t and that is good.  We met for a late brunch or an early dinner and just about everyone needed a doggie-bag, as there was so much food (I actually had another dinner and the following day the balance for lunch).  My Bride had the Sesame Seared Ahi Tuna with an Asian Slaw Salad and Rice Pilaf.  I had their Louisiana Creole Pasta Truffle Mac & Tenderloin with Sautéed Shrimp, Chicken and Andouille Sausage with Red, Green Peppers and Red Onions; tossed with a creamy Creole Sauce and Linguini.  We both agreed that my Bride had the better choice.  We decided to have Mimosas and a bottle of bubbly and a carafe of orange juice was our choice.  Well, it is a drink that doesn’t require top tier Champagne.  We had a bottle of Mezza di Mezzacorona Italian Glacial Bubbly Extra Dry Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT NV.  Mezzacorona is a group of co-operative wineries and brands based in Trentino.  The winery, is known as the “Citadella del Vino” and they built a state-of-the-art facility of their 1,600 members.  Vigneti delle Dolomit IGT for the far norther reaches of alpine Italy and named after the Dolomite Mountains.  The title was introduced in 1997, and it covers red, white, rosé, varietal or blend, still, sparkling, or sweet.  This wine is sixty percent Chardonnay, thirty percent Pinot Bianco and ten percent Muller Thurgau. After harvest, sorting, destemming and crushed by a soft press, the wine undergoes Initial Fermentation in a controlled environment for ten to eleven days, then the wine matures on the lees.  After filtration the wine is processed using the Charmat Method. I had to try the wine first and it has a nice golden color with consistent, medium size bubbles and offered notes of white fruits, melon, pineapple, and a whiff of roses.  On the palate, apple and pears with a slight mousse finish and pleasant acidity.  It would have been fine without the orange juice, but for proprietary sake.

When we got home, my wife had recently tried making one of her favorite dishes, Broiled Whitefish and I suggested that she make it for dinner, just the two of us.  What I didn’t tell her was that I had found a wine during one of my tastings, that I knew she would love, as the regular wine from the winery is one of our to-go wines in our cellar.   I first wrote about the 2015 vintage of this wine, but I had to have her try the Otella “Molceo” Lugano Riserva 2019 from Azienda Agricola Otella.  Lugana is a white wine specific region that straddles Lombardy and Veneto, but is considered part of Lombardy.  There are a couple of different designations for Lugano, but it seems that the wine has to be ninety percent of a locally known varietal known as Turbiana.  I have seen this wine listed as being Verdicchio, and I have seen it listed as Trebbiano di Lugano.  I have also seen where some that study the grapes scientifically have crossed off the possibility of Verdicchio, so I will call it Turbiana.  The Montresor family has been running Ottella for four generation, and it has been attested that the Montresor family was the only ones to produce Lugana in the province of Verona in 1905.  In 1964 the family began delineating the lands and they began working to get a DOC designation.  This particular wine spent eighteen months aging in a combination of Stainless Steel and oak barrels.  A golden-yellow wine offering notes of citrus and white flowers.  On the palate tones of peaches, lemon drops, salinity, and a trace of hazelnuts with bright acidity and a nice lingering finish of terroir.  What was interesting to me, when I first tasted this wine, it reminded me of some of our Sauvignon Blanc wines and I poured the wine for my Bride, without letting her see the label and she thought the same thing, and then I showed her the label, along with a bottle of our regular Ottella Lugana, she was very pleased.