Three More Reds with Korbin Ming

Posted on December 24, 2021 by thewineraconteur

It was a beautiful day and I was finishing a wine tasting that Korbin Ming was conducting at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  Korbin Ming is the Associate Winemaker at Korbin Kameron Winery, one of the many hats he wears at the winery and at Moonridge Vineyards all at Mount Veeder.   He next poured the Korbin Kameron Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown Sonoma Valley 2011.  This wine in newer vintages carries the Moon Mountain District AVA of Sonoma Valley.  This wine spent eighteen months of aging in French Oak, of which half of the barrels were new; and there were about six-hundred cases produced of this wine.  The earliest vintage that I have tried from the winery was their 2005 and the 2011 was big and sassy, just like that one.  For a ten-year-old wine, this wine was what a Cabernet Sauvignon can be and it shows what a mountain wine can achieve with those additional hours and days of sunlight, since they are located above the morning fog of the valleys.

We then shifted over to the Korbin Kameron Estate Blend Red Wine Cuvee Kristin Sonoma Valley 2011, and named after Korbin and Kameron’s sister Kristin, who also works for the family business.  The Korbin Kameron Estate Blend Red Wine Cuvée Kristin 2011 was thirty percent Cabernet Sauvignon, twenty percent Petit Verdot, twenty percent Malbec, seventeen percent Merlot and thirteen percent Cabernet Franc.  There were two-hundred cases made of this wine and it was a big chewy red that would stain your teeth and have you wanting more.  In fact, I did have seconds, it was that good, and I knew that I was bending the rules.

The last wine of the tasting was the Korbin Kameron Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Mount Veeder Napa Valley Estate Grown 2016.  As you may notice, that while it is still an Estate Grown wine, this part of their estate has crossed the border and carries the Napa Valley sub-region of Mount Veeder AVA.  This reserve wine was aged for eighteen months, but it is entirely made with new French Oak barrels and about sixty cases were produced.  This wine was stellar, big and chewy, with delightful tannins even five years later and a nice long finish of terroir; a big selling point for me.  While amazing now, if you have the patience, a ten-year rest in the cellar would be well worth the wait. 

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An Encore Tasting with Korbin Ming

Posted on December 22, 2021 by thewineraconteur

I can’t think of a better way to spend an hour or so tasting wines at my favorite wine shop The Fine Wine Shop in Livonia, Michigan.  I know that sometimes I sound like a broken record always mentioning this shop, but I am getting spoiled by all the different wines that I have tasted and many times curated by an owner of a winery.  I mean, there are not that many shops that are interested or can make it happen.   This is now the third time that I have had a tasting conducted by Korbin Ming and he is the Associate Winemaker at Korbin Kameron Winery and he even remembered me (I guess because of my questions and my constant photographing of the wines).  Korbin Kameron wines is the brand for Moonridge Vineyards located on Mount Veeder, a curious location which separates Napa County from Sonoma County and there nineteen acres can be found on both sides of the slope.  Mitchell Ming is the proprietor along with his wife, and the winery is named after his twin children and his other daughter has a vineyard named for her.

We started off with Korbin Kameron Sauvignon Blanc Moon Mountain District 2019 and an Estate Grown wine.  Moon Mountain District is a subregion of Sonoma County.  This wine had initial fermentation in Stainless Steel and then was aged for four months in oak, of which twenty percent was new, and three-hundred cases were made.  This wine had the classic nose of lemongrass and a touch of lime, while on the palate the classic taste of grapefruit and perhaps a touch of honeydew melon, with a nice dry finish.  We then followed up with Korbin Kameron Semillon Moon Mountain District 2018 is an Estate Grown wine. Semillon is probably one of the least known, major varietals in the wine industry.  It makes some of the greatest sweet wines and it also makes some of the greatest dry wines.  Its home is Bordeaux, though it is done extremely well in parts of Australia and among a few wineries in California.  A wine that starts in Stainless Steel and finishes in oak.  There was only one barrel made of this wine or twenty-five cases or three-hundred bottles, so I am glad that we got some, and I consider it a rare coup for us. This organically made wine used native yeasts and had a nose that I would call plush floral and citrus, and it brought notes of citrus and ripe pear with a nice lingering long count finish.

We then had a chance to compare two different vintages of the Korbin Kameron Merlot. Both were Estate Grown, but the 2011 vintage was Sonoma County and the 2015 vintage had the Moon Mountain District AVA. The wines are aged for eighteen months in French Oak, of which half is new.  They make about three hundred cases of the Merlot each vintage.  Once again, I felt like I was out of the mainstream.  Everyone was going for the 2015 which was vibrant with Black Cherry notes both in the nose and on the palate, the concept of big fruit is the norm.  I was enthralled with the 2011 vintage which while still having the notes of Black Cherry had mellowed and was multi-layered with richness and elegance.

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Wine Club Selections – December 2021

Posted on December 20, 2021 by thewineraconteur

With everything going on in the month of December, I went to my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan to pick up our monthly wine club selections and I was going also for another wine tasting conducted by Korbin Ming of Korbin Kameron.  It was a bonus day for me, but there is always something interesting to try and to learn once you cross the threshold of this fine shop.  All for the price of zero, one can join their wine club, (of course you do have to give them permission to invoice you once a month on the charge card of your choice) and they will send you an announcement when to come and pick up the monthly selections.  Every wine in the shop has been curated by the owner and you know that you will find wines that are not carried by every gas station, pharmacy, party store, grocer and big-box wine shop.  They fill a niche, and they do it very well.  The other nice thing is that you automatically get case-discount pricing, even if you just stop and pick up a bottle or two, a beautiful perk that I truly enjoy.  The other great thing is that they are now having tastings conducted by winemakers and wine distributors, as well as their usual personalized tastings, if you are not sure, what you want to pick up. 

The first selection representing the Old World is Domaine de Fontenelles Aude-Coteaux de Miramont IGP 2018.  The Domaine has been family owned for five generations and is forty hectares of Syrah, Grenache Noir, Carignan and Mourvedre in the Corbieres AOC and the Aude-Coteaux de Miramont IGP; and they are committed to the new techniques espoused by ISO-26000.  Aude IGP is considered one of the most productive regions in the country, and is located in the South of France and parts of the region are considered Mediterranean and the other part is considered Maritime.  Coteaux de Miramont is a sub-region of Aude, east of Carcassonne on the banks of the Aude, within the larger Corbieres AOC and generally produces reds and rosés.  Le Poete is a blend of thirty percent Syrah, thirty-five percent Merlot, twenty-five percent Syrah and ten percent Carignan.  Part of the Carignan and part of the Syrah was done in Carbonic Maceration, and part of the Syrah was done with cold pre-fermentation; and the others were done in traditional fermentation methods.  This is wine to be enjoyed in its youth, so maybe four to five years cellaring at the max.  The wine is said to have a nose offering red fruit, spices and the garrigue (the scrublands), with a balance palate of fruit and soft tannins.  The wine is touted to work especially well with Asian dishes and other spicier cuisines.

The wine representing the New World is from Michigan.  Mari Vineyards Simplicissimus Sparkling Riesling Old Mission Peninsula AVA 2017.  We have been to Mari Vineyards in our travels, but alas this wine was not among the wines we tasted, nor is part of the wines that they are offering on their website.  There was a cute story on the back label: “The adventurous Simplicissimus 2017 Sparkling Riesling Old Mission Peninsula.  That is: The singular life story a heedless sparkling wine.  How it was first fermented by a most peculiar yeast/named Torulaspora Delbruckeii.  How the young wine was waylaid early in its journey by a sudden drop in temperature/and left to slumber on a bed of lees/its sweetness still intact.  Who was revived the following spring by two neighboring lads/Who bottled the wine and sequestered it in a cave.  Where it emerged a year later fully effervescent /dry/mature, ready to be riddled and disgorged/ with no want of dosage.  Simply put/a story of Brut Nature.” Even more curious the bottle is sealed with a classic beer cap closure, so instead of a corkscrew or a saber, one only needs a church key.  I think that this will be a fun wine to try in the near future with something different for dinner.  And as an added extra bonus while I was there to pick up the Club Selections, Tom Celani of Celani Family Vineyards walked in as well.       

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Senior, Junior and Chester-Part Two

Posted on December 18, 2021 by thewineraconteur

It was an interesting event, our first dinner, as well as a Christmas dinner in our new dining room, and my poor Bride had to be shuffling about in this “boot” that would allow her to walk, while her bone fracture heals.  The Wine Raconteur Jr. and his family were over and they had no idea of what had happened just a couple of days earlier, but my Bride persevered.  I also have to add that The Wine Raconteur Jr. is not my son, and took that nom de plume when he guest wrote a couple of articles here.   As we left the living room and the appetizers, we moved into the dining room to enjoy our dinner.  My Bride began with her, by now famous, Caesar Salad that she makes from scratch, and instead of croutons, she browns bread crumbs in a skillet.  She braised two pork tenderloins in a Carne Asado sauce that she has discovered and enjoys the spiciness.  She also made Armenian Pilaf, which I may add, everyone was happy about (especially me, since it went lacking on Thanksgiving Day) and she also made another of her newer signature dishes of Fennel and Onion Sauté.

I also wanted to continue the theme of the Korbin Kameron and Moonridge Vineyards theme, as neither The Wine Raconteur Jr. or his charming wife had a chance to taste some stellar wines when Korbin Ming was presenting his wines at a wine tasting at our local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  Korbin Kameron Malbec Moon Mountain District 2016 is an Estate Grown wine.  Malbec tends to be one of the forgotten grapes of Bordeaux, the important grape of Cahoors and Argentina. Here is a wine that was aged for eighteen months in French Oak and half was new. The wine was an inky dark purple, the kind that stains your teeth so easily.  The nose was a mix of dates, plums and some chocolate (which is one of the ethereal notes that I seldom notice).  It was fruit forward with flavors of dark bramble fruit and very concentrated flavors and tannins with a softer finish of terroir. This was a wine that my Bride was gushing over and usually not about a Malbec, and since there was only one barrel of this wine made, I knew that we had to get it to enjoy later with friends.  I have to say that the Malbec paired very well with Carne Asado braising sauce.

After dinner, we cleared off the plates and brought out new plates for dessert and it was a joy to see the eyes light up on the children.  My Bride is not really a baker, so we made it a point to stop at our local Italian Market and we just went crazy buying a big assortment of pastries, above and beyond, but including canolis.  Some were a bit more American in appeal (and I think that was for my Bride.  I did not have any pastries, as I figured that I could have some later, and I almost lucked out, because the pastries were a very big hit, with very little leftover.  Actually, I was enjoying my liquid dessert along with the others as we had Korbin Kameron Late Harvest Semillon “Sweet Isla” Moon Mountain District 2018 and it is Estate Grown. The wine is late harvested Sauvignon Blanc with an addition of fifteen percent Botrytised Semillon. One week of cold soaking and fermented on the skins for an additional two weeks to pick up extra color and flavors, called phenolics, which was a really long and cool fermentation for intense aromatics. The wine was aged for eight months in neutral oak.  A beautiful wine that was just magnificent and reminded me of a French Sauternes with a nose of honeysuckle, a silky texture offering notes of sweet lemons, apricots and marmalade with a nice long count in the finish.  It was a beautiful dinner and hopefully, the boot may be a short-term inconvenience. 

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Senior, Junior and Chester

Posted on December 16, 2021 by thewineraconteur

We finally got the living and dining room in some semblance of order and we were going to have our first Christmas Dinner to celebrate.  It may be a while before we get all the chachkas back on the shelves, along with the China and Crystal pieces (I know that all the fluff pieces written by fifteen-year-old on the home page on my computer poo-poos it; and I guess that they think we should use paper plates and Dixie cups).  The other day my Bride and I were getting ready to go out for our morning 5K walk and as I was locking the front door, she went down the driveway and was going to pick up some twigs, hit a small patch of ice and down she went.  At first, she thought it might have been a sprain, but she decided to call our physician and it was a break, small but a break.  As her consolation prize from the Orthopedic Physicians, she gets to wear a boot that looks like something designed by NASA for the space program.  So, if you didn’t get the Chester clue, you are young and you never saw an episode of Gunsmoke; and I only say it in jest, because after all of these years I still love her, but don’t tell her.  The other two honorees are The Wine Raconteur (Sr.) and The Wine Raconteur Jr. (who also brought his Bride and his two children) for dinner.

We began the evening in the living room where we had appetizers and just to catch up with everything, as they are always on the go.  We also were marveling at how well their two teenagers are doing in school and in their social life.  Even though my Bride was a bit hindered with her stylish foot apparel, she still made a nice table of munchies.  There was a tray of assorted fruits to accommodate the assorted cheese and crackers, though I think the Smoke Horseradish Cheddar may have cleared out the sinuses of the teenagers, as they were not expecting it. There was also Baked Brie with Caramelized Onion Jam topping and Baguette slices.  We also had Armenian Lahmajoon , which for an easy description is a personal size pizza with finely ground lamb, onions, parsley, garlic and crushed pepper flakes.

The Wine Raconteur Jr. also belongs to the same local wine shop, The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, but he and his Bride missed a special wine tasting with Korbin Ming, of Korbin Kameron and Moonridge Vineyards.  So, we decided to give them a modified tasting dinner featuring some great wines that they missed out on. We started off with Korbin Kameron Semillon Moon Mountain District 2018 and is an Estate Grown wine. Semillon is probably one of the least known, major varietals in the wine industry.  It makes some of the greatest sweet wines and it also makes some of the greatest dry wines.  Its home is Bordeaux, though it is done extremely well in parts of Australia and among a few wineries in California.  A wine that starts in Stainless Steel and finishes in oak.  There was only one barrel made of this wine or twenty-five cases or three-hundred bottles, so I am glad that we got some, and I consider it a rare coup for us.  I actually had a chance to try this wine ahead of time before the actual tasting and I reserved some of the wine for my cellar, and I knew that my Bride would love it.  She did. This organically made wine used native yeasts and had a nose that I would call plush floral and citrus, and it brought notes of citrus and ripe pear with a nice lingering long count finish.  In fact, we were having so much fun, that I forgot to take a photo of this first wine, and luckily I have a backup photo in my collection. 

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Celani Family Vineyards The Family and Ardore

Posted on December 14, 2021 by thewineraconteur

Even the best of times at a tasting at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source of Livonia, Michigan has to come to an end. Tom Celani from Celani Family Vineyards was holding court and it was a joy to listen to him talk about the winery and his wines.  We only had four wines left to taste, but there were two different vintages of each wine.  The first two were the Cabernet Sauvignon, and in 2018, the name was changed to “The Family.”  The last two wines were from his “Ardore” collection and I have to smile each time I see a bottle of it, as the label reminds me of a cigar wrapper, another one of Tom Celani’s passions and since his roots are from Detroit, he has a charity event centered on cigars, which I am sure is a great event, as I see some of my former customers listed on the ads, but I gave up cigars, which makes my Bride happy and to finalize that chapter of my life, I just sent my eldest grandson my humidor that I have had from college and he has just started his college days.

We had a chance to try the Celani Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Unfiltered 2016 and the Celani Family Vineyards “The Family” Napa Valley Unfiltered 2018, the ’16 vintage was only available in a Magnum format.  The production notes for these two wines are the same. This wine is made using fruit from two respected Napa Valley AVA districts; Mt. Veeder and Coombsville.  Here is a wine that was aged for twenty months in French Oak, of which ninety percent was new. That wonderful nose of black fruit, especially black cherry and blueberries. There were several spices that were mingling in the taste along with supple tannins that made this wine great fresh from the bottle and will be stellar ten to fifteen years from now.  To be totally honest, this was such an excellent Cabernet Sauvignon, that I could not really discern that much difference between the two vintages, so I opt for the ’16, because I could drink it sooner, though I really think the new name “The Family” is very cool and deserves a couple of slots in the wall.

If Tom Celani was Sam Spade, he would probably refer to the next wines as “The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of.” It was time to taste the Celani Family Vineyards Ardore Napa Valley Unfiltered 2016 and 2018.  Once again, the production notes of these two vintages are the same.  There is a meticulous selection process to secure the finest ten barrels of the Coombsville AVA Cabernet Sauvignon juice.  These ten barrels are then aged in one-hundred percent new French Oak barrels for twenty-two months with no fining or filtering.  The nose was even more concentrated compared to the Cabernet Sauvignon and there were floral tinges as well.   This was a very big, bold wine that was chewy, balanced, with tannins that all contributed to a wine that will probably become a cult wine, since they only make two-hundred-fifty cases and this wine will be great for at least twenty years, if not longer.  The ’18 was a bit more fruit forward and some notes of black tea and violets and the tannins were a bit more velvety and rich.  I didn’t mind getting a second taste.  I am sure that I will be seeing more wines from Tom Celani in the future.  

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Celani Family Vineyards Tenacious

Posted on December 12, 2021 by thewineraconteur

I have to admit that I was not the only person at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan to taste the wines that Tom Celani was pouring.  The shop is not that big, and everyone that was there, was definitely courteous to the others to make sure that we all got a chance to taste the wines, and also to offer opinions.  It was also interesting to watch the buying strategies of some of the regulars.  As a retired merchant, I always enjoy watching customers buy, because for years, we always believed “that buying is contagious” and more fun than any other bug out there.

We started off tasting the Celani Family Vineyards Tenacious Estate Grown Proprietary Red Wine Napa Valley 2018 and they were taking pre-orders on this wine, as they were getting more from the winery. Tenacious is Tom Celani’s homage to Chateau Petrus and Le Pin, as he said that he fell in love with those wines, well he started learning and assembling his wine collection before he had the winery.  Very lofty and ambitious goals, and I have never had either of those two wines, but I am still young.  This wine is all Estate Grown since 2011 and is seventy percent Merlot and thirty percent Cabernet Franc.  It is aged for twenty-two months in new French Oak and is “unfiltered” and that word scares the first-time taster, until they realize how much more vibrant and alive the wine is. The wine offered notes of black fruits, with tastes of black cherries and plums, with traces of mocha and tobacco, with beautiful tannins and a delightful long finish of terroir.  This wine was stunning straight from the bottle and another five or ten years in the cellar would be awesome.

We then had the Celani Family Vineyards Tenacious Estate Napa Valley Red Wine Unfiltered 2019 which at the moment was only being offered in magnums.  This wine was produced exactly like the 2018 and I thought it was lighter, but the majority around me were all going for the 2019 vintage, while I was enraptured by the 2018.  I went and looked at my notes from when I tasted the 2012 and I was excited by this wine as well, but I also noted that I thought ten years in the cellar would be spectacular.  I was relating that we just recently had a bottle of the 2012 and to me it was sublime, and Tom’s face kind of beamed and he said that year was rather legendary.  Tenacious is their affordable signature wine.       

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Celani Robusto 2019

Posted on December 10, 2021 by thewineraconteur

I do enjoy tasting wines at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and it is a bonus when they have a guest host, such as having Tom Celani of Celani Family Wines.  We have had the good fortune to have some of the 2017 and 2018 Robusto wines in our cellar, as well as knowing that it is a great wine to have at a restaurant.  Not only did we get to taste the new wine, I had a great Robusto story to share with him, that he may be able to use at another tasting.

Celani Family Vineyards was established in 2005 at the foot of the Vaca Mountains.  Seventeen acres of vineyards planted on twenty acres of land, originally planted in the Nineties with Merlot and Chardonnay.  The original Robusto was a Proprietary Red Wine, but it now is pure Merlot and aged for nine months in a mix of French Oak barrels.  I have never denied that Merlot is one of my first loves, back in the Sixties and Seventies when I first started learning about wine.  This estate wine is just a deep inky wine with notes of red and purple fruits, strawberries, cherries and some pepper.  A nice wine with balanced tannins and a nice medium finish.  I drink Robusto before meals, as well as during meals, it is great with appetizers and conversations, and I like it with pizza, as well as fancy elaborate meals.

Being the Raconteur that I am, I had to relate a story during a slight lull, while we were tasting the Robusto ’19, I had a story about the Robusto ’17.  During one of my dinner club meetings, one of the men, that I usually share a bottle of wine with dinner, instead of ordering “well” wines, and he is a Pinot Noir man.  The wine he wanted to order was sold out that evening and I knew that he would enjoy this wine, if I could get him to relent about the Pinot Noir.  He said he was not partial to blends, and I finally told him, that if he didn’t like the wine, I would pay for the bottle; and that won him over.  He wasl very impressed and gushing over the Celani Family Vineyards Robusto Proprietary Red Bend Napa Valley 2017, At this time, I think that the wine was a Proprietary Red, as their website did not go beyond that description, and some of the wineries treat their Proprietary Blends, as if they are part of the Manhattan Project. Oh, by the way, he agreed to split the price of the bottle with me, and he was very happy; he is also a mutual friend of the owner of The Fine Wine Source.  I know that this story made Tom Celani smile.        

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Another Tasting Session with Tom Celani

Posted on December 8, 2021 by thewineraconteur

I was told and then I also got a follow-up test message that Tom Celani was going to visit my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  The last time he was here for a tasting was 19 December 2019 when the world was fair and innocent, at least from a certain bug that seems to get mentioned in the papers quite a bit. Since my earliest days as a clothier, I had stopped listening to music on the radio and listened to the top news radio station in the Detroit area, so that I, as a clothier could speak rather intelligently with the customers, a trait that has been lost, I have noticed among the clerks that I now encounter.  I lead in with this introduction, because for years I had heard Tom Celani and all the philanthropic work he has done in the Detroit area, long before he had a winery.  Tom Celani is lauded in the Detroit area for his largesse for charitable organizations that he helps in a grand manner.  He and his father ended up creating one of the largest Miller distribution companies in the United States along with other beers and wines.  Tom Celani fell in love with wines, first as a drinker and a collector and finally acquiring a Tuscan-style estate with seventeen acres of grapes and one-hundred-twenty olive trees in the foot hills of the Vaca Mountain range in Napa Valley.  As the proprietor of the Celani Family Vineyards he has chosen to bottle wine without costs becoming a consideration, to him wine is about quality and not quantity.  In fact, he was joking that he is not sure if the winery, will ever truly show a profit, because of his concern about getting the best wine each and every time.

We started off tasting the Celani Family Vineyards Napa Valley Rose 2019 made from Cabernet Sauvignon.  This wine was aged on the lees for nine months in neutral French Oak barrels. The wine was an estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé that was mouthwatering with its refreshing taste.  Strawberries and rose petals wafted up to tempt the nose, after studying the deep pink color of the wine, and the wine delivered in spades, essences of strawberries, cranberries and red fruits with a layer of mineral terroir to make this wine an excellent dry finish and so satisfying.  It was a great way to start the tasting off, and I do think that the other tasters are getting used to my lame photography sessions and my questions directed to our guest host.

The next wine that we had was a new wine for me, from the Celani Family Vineyards.  We were tasting a Celani Family Vineyards Estate Chardonnay Napa Valley 2020 from the Oak Knoll District.  The Chardonnay was whole-cluster pressed and fermented on its lees using forty percent new French Oak and sixty percent in self-stirring egg-shaped concrete fermenters. To maintain the natural acidity of the Chardonnay, malolactic fermentation was inhibited.  The nose on this wine was excellent with notes of apple, pear, tropical flowers and brioche and some soft notes of spices and jasmine. The taste was a crisp balance of fruit and floral flavors with a very decent length finish of oak and roasted nuts.  And to think, we had just begun.         

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The Annual Ladies’ Party 2021

Posted on December 6, 2021 by thewineraconteur

Long before I was on the scene, there was an Annual Ladies’ Party that my Bride has hosted and I am sure that if I ask, she could produce the first year and all the pertinent information.  In fact, it has been going on for so long, one of the participants plans a trip up from Florida, to coincide with this event that has always occurred on the First Friday of December.  We had a Herculean endeavor to get the house ready for this party, as after this past Thanksgiving, all the furniture had to be moved out, so that we could have the new flooring installed and then we had move as much stuff back to have a functioning living and dining room for the event. 

She is even fortunate, that there are some younger participants to replace some of the older participants through various means of attrition.  She keeps a log of everyone there, and if they were there last year, she puts them on the spot, as she reads what there last year goals were, and if they were attained.  They are also assigned a number when they enter, which later on will coincide with the annual Christmas gift selection.  The numbers are random, so the first to arrive, may not be the first to make a selection.  I know all about this, by osmosis, as nowadays, I conveniently go upstairs and hide in my office, which is probably the safest place to be.

The one benefit is that I usually get to start the food portion of the evening going and after I fill a couple of plates, I disappear to enjoy my reward.  The women bring beverages, appetizers, food and desserts.  There were several cheeses, crackers, vegetables and fruit to start off the evening.  There was a tossed salad, Armenian Pilaf, Sauteed Lamb and Mushrooms and Hummus.  There was also a huge assortment of cakes and pies, because I did make a sneaky return to take advantage of the desserts.  The ladies had the industrial size magnum of Mezzacorona Forte Alto Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie DOC 2020.   Mezzacorona is a group of co-operative wineries and brands, established in 1904 in Trentino.  The winery is known as the “Citadella del Vino” and they recently built a state-of-the-art facility to better serve their fifteen-hundred growers.  Mezzacorona claims to produce more Pino Grigio and Chardonnay than any other Italian winery.  With the wine being produced by so many small vineyards, the fruit is hand harvested to this day.  There is no production information, but I sure that I may surmise that the fruit is aged in Stainless Steel for a short period.  I say this, because the wine is green and flinty, crisp with a light floral nose and a soft finish.  A perfect wine for food and lots of talking and merriment.  I know that my Bride is already thinking about the next party. 

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