When I picked these wines I had no idea I had gone with a complete California theme for Christmas, thankfully I added a little Spain in for a little outside sourcing for dessert. These days Christmas Eve is spent with my in-laws while Christmas Day is spent with my brother and his family - sure we do a fair amount of driving, but it's worth it to see everybody. My in-laws are more beer oriented, but I'm glad to see some of them coming over to the dark side of wine; my brother is also a beer guy but when it comes to dinner wine is his drink of choice, and he seems to like 'em big and bold. Hopefully you've read what Eve brought to the palate (3 Cabs) - now it's time to see what Day brings.
We started with a bottle of Mumm Napa Brut Prestige, cause everything goes better with bubbles: mac apple sweetness with hints of lemonade and fresh bread, very tasty and so easy drinking - truly a wonderful start to the evening. I know many are going to give me flack when I call this a Pinot Noir, because it is hard to distinguish this wine as Pinot from say Zinfandel or Shiraz, but I like the Belle Glos 2011 Meiomi, it just has its place and with all that black cherry, plum, and chocolate it's hard not to like it ... some will say "it aint Pinot", but it sure is tasty. I dug a little deeper into the cellar for this next one, Bonny Doon Vineyard 2005 Le Cigar Volant, this is a Rhone Valley style blend made in the US of A (50% Grenache, 24% Mourvedre, 22% Syrah, 3% Carignane, 1% cinsault) and with 7 years on it the Rhone pedigree really come through in the form of smoky notes and touches of pepper on the nose; the palate has pencil shavings, cassis, wood smoke, and peppered-raspberry. I really liked the complexity without the over indulgence of too much fruit. For dessert I pulled out a bottle of Miguel Torres Moscatel Oro Floralis, this is a decadent wine that one should sip on slowly for full enjoyment, but one feels like they should sip quickly because the next glass could be your last, as everyone else does the same - it's just so decadent and delicious: caramel-spiced-orange on the palate while floral and citrus hit the olfactories, the finish is long, lingering and sensuous with its orange blossom note. Quite an array of wines, and all delicious in their own right.
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