Since the earliest days when I first met my Bride, Thanksgiving was her holiday, plus whatever other holidays she could get, being one of five sisters.  She always thrived making dinner plans and she was prepared, as she had dishes for twenty-four before I even showed up.  I grew up, where holidays were already brokered among the family, the adults ate in the dining room and the kids ate in the kitchen.  It was kind of a rite-of-passage when we slowly joined the ranks in the dining room.  Of course, back in those days, the food took the prominent position, and we grew up with beer and cocktails as the beverage of choice.  I just remember that everyone thought that I had hollow legs, because I could eat, walk away from the table for a minute and then I was ready to start again.  Back then, all the food would be on platters in the middle of the two tables.  Now, we have all of the food and it is placed on an island and it is like a buffet line, and you hope the kids don’t spill their plates.  I kind of prefer the old way, because it didn’t seem like you were eating that much, and you could keep nibbling, because the food was there in front of you. 

Of course, it would not be Thanksgiving without a turkey.  Evidently this was not a good year for turkeys, because they were all anorexic and the largest turkey, my Bride could find was fourteen pounds, as we usually get one around twenty-four pounds, so she also bought a turkey breast as well.  Then there was a question about stuffing, so we ended up with two; one based on Ritz crackers and the other using bread.  We also had Armenian Pilaf, which was a basic requirement for me, but I think now, they would be an uproar if it was not part of the meal, not to mention that it is one of the hotly debated topics of who is taking the leftover Pilaf.  We started off with a Pinot Noir, as one of the guests, brought one, even though there are plenty downstairs.  We had a Samuel Robert Winery Pinot Noir Vineyard Reserve Willamette Valley, Oregon 2021.  Samuel Coelho was born in Modesto, California and moved to Oregon as a young boy with his family during the early growth years of the Oregon wine industry.  He grew up with hands-on knowledge and went to school for business management.  He helped his family grow Coelho by 400% in five years; during this same period, he began a negociant wine business named Plush Wine Company, and 99% of Plush’s production was sent to the emerging wine market of China.  In 2011 Samuel and his wife Bryn created Samuel Robert Winery, along the same lines as Plush, but by 2014, he realized that he had to purchase his own vineyard, because of the demand for wines of Willamette Valley.  In 2018, the growth was over 500% and he bought additional vineyards, and started another winery Conscious Wines highlighting environmental awareness.  A purple wine with dark pink accents that offered notes of red fruits and a touch of vanilla.  On the palate, a light Pinot Noir with tones of red cherry, strawberry, a hint of vanilla, very smooth with soft tannins and a dry finish. 

We also had Roast Tenderloin with a light marinade of lemon and garlic.  There was also many assorted sides of vegetables and salads.  After dinner we also had about eight cakes and pies for dessert, as we also celebrated three birthdays along with the Thanksgiving festivities.  I went down to the cellar to find something interesting and returned with a St. Supery Merlot Napa Valley 2001, this wine was still one of their main offerings, before they really got into the single vineyard wines.  St. Supery was one of the first wineries that we visited and they are located in Rutherford where they have an estate and they also own another much larger estate in Napa Valley as well.  The original proprietor Robert Skalli came to Napa Valley from Corsica, where his grandparents founded the winery, Terra Vecchi. In 1982, he purchased the Dollarhide estate, a 1500-acre cattle ranch in the northeast corner of Napa Valley. He also purchased 56 acres in Rutherford, where the winery was built and still stands today. The first vintage of wine was produced in 1989 and the wines began to gain acclaim.  The Skalli family sold the winery to the large fashion corporation Chanel in 2015; which makes me wonder if my “Lifetime Pass” will still be honored, but I haven’t thrown it away.  I am glad to report that this wine was far from being over the hill, it was very mellow and drank like a Grand Cru, so no complaints from my Bride or myself or anyone else that tried the wine.  I have always had a soft spot for Merlot from my student days.  This wine was a rich purple with tinges of red and no browning or foxing at all and it offered notes of dark fruits, tobacco, and a trace of anise.  For a twenty-two-year-old this wine was still bright and lively and not ready to roll over, with tones of black cherry, blueberry and still very supple tannins with a nice decent count finish of fruit and terroir.