We were trying to get everything together, before my procedure, and our one son and his wife wanted to see us, since we missed the big family get-together, unfortunately their children had to work that evening.

We started the morning off, with a leisurely breakfast of poached eggs and bacon, probably my favorite simple breakfast of all.  We were going to have Mimosas, since we were going to be fancy and my Bride surprised me with something new.  My Bride is an avid Costco USA member and shopper, and she enjoys the opportunity to buy some items in bulk, which creates logistics problems at home, but that is another story.  She also likes to try some of their singular items as well.  Kirkland Signature is their house brand and they offer a range of wines and spirits with that label.   There are also unproven rumors that these products are made by famous houses.  She bought a bottle of Kirkland Signature Mimosa by Julio Cabrera Italy NV.  This is a premixed drink of half Glera grape Sparkling wine (Charmat Method) and half Sicilian Blonde Oranges with no pulp, under the guidance of bartender Julio Cabrera.  I must admit that it was perhaps the best tasting orange juice I have ever had, but I didn’t think of it as a Mimosa. Perhaps in the future using it as the base juice with a bottle of Sparkling Wine.

For dinner that evening my Bride started with her now de riguer Charcuterie boards, followed by a Caesar Salad.  Then we had a tenderloin with Armenian Pilaf and Broccoli. I opened up a bottle of Bibi Graetz Testamatta Rosso Toscana IGT 2020 made by the artist and winemaker.  This was the wine that got people to stand up and take notice of Bibi Graetz’s work and he named it after the sobriquet that was given to him in this youth, which is “Crazy Head.”  A pure Sangiovese wine, a Super Tuscan displaying old vines from soils rich in stones and plenty of minerality.  According to Bibi Graetz the entire growing season was perfect and peak of quality since his first vintage.  It took almost three weeks of hand-harvesting, some parcels required eight times to pick the grapes at the perfect point of ripening.  The fruit was selected from the best five vineyards of the winery in different areas of Tuscany; Lamole Vineyard at 600 meters altitude, Montefili Vineyard at 400 meters altitude and both in the heart of Chianti Classico, Vincigliata Vineyard at 280 meters altitude in Firenze, Londa Vineyard north of Firenze towards the Rufina valley, and Siena Vineyard pressed.  The Initial Fermentations are conducted using natural and indigenous yeasts, in open top barriques for the smaller parcels of vineyards, and the larger vineyards were in barrels or Stainless-Steel with six manual punch-downs and pump overs each day. After about ten days of maceration, the different parcels are moved into old barriques and barrels for twenty months.  A nice garnet-ruby red wine that offered notes of black cherries, red berries, anise, sous bois, and vanilla.  On the palate a medium-bodied wine featuring cherries and strawberries, and plums balanced with velvety tannins and great mineral terroir.

After dinner we exchanged gifts, and my son said that he went to The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and they pretended that they didn’t know who I was, but just handed him a bottle and said this is the wine that they had been waiting to get and they said that I had no knowledge of this wine. The bottle was Remirez de Ganuza Rioja Blanco Reserva 2022.  Remirez de Ganuza was founded by former wine-broker Fernando Remirez de Ganuza in 1989 when he acquired some plots in Rioja Alavesa and by today, he now has eighty hectares in six different locations in Rioja; the average age of the vines is sixty years. The Blanco Reserva was first produced in 2009 and is a blend of Viura, Malvasia, Garnacha Blanca and small amounts of other white grapes.  The fruit is manually harvested, manually sorted, and kept cool and only free-running juice is used for this wine.  It ferments in new French Oak barrels, where it remains on its lees for about twelve months.  The wine is now sold in a quota system to enable a somewhat equitable distribution. I had to get some outside tasting notes, as I haven’t tried the wine yet.  It is described as an intense yellow hue that offers notes of white fruits, jasmine, brioche, almonds, spices and lemon curd and lime.  On the palate this full-bodied, well-balanced wine displays tones of pears, peaches, spices in a complex blend of mouthwatering freshness, bright acidity, creaminess and minerality ending with a long-count fruit, vanilla, pepper and terroir.