Sunday, August 17, 2014

Family Celebration Dinner - Favorite Wines & Foods

Family Celebration Dinner - Favorite Wines & Foods

For a anniversary celebration family dinner we dined at Angeli's, our favorite neighborhood trattoria and enjoyed our favorite wines BYOB with family. Erin and Johnnie brought the special 40th Anniversary bottling by notable Napa Valley Cabernet producer Caymus Estate to honor the occasion.

Ryan and Michelle brought a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Champagne to accompany the starter courses of  grilled calimari with capers and tomatoes in a lemon butter sauce, caprese salad and their butternut squash gnocchi served in a decadent brown sugar creme sauce. We added a favorite bottle from the cellar, Lewis Cellars Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon with its signature 'L' label, a whimsical tribute to wife Linda.

The celebrants wore Ruby Red to honor the Ruby anniversary occasion. From the four dozen roses I bought for home, we brought roses for each of the ladies, Linda, Erin, Michelle, Lucy and Marleigh. The perfect summer evening weather accommodated dining al fresco on the front patio.

Before dinner, we also enjoyed two of our favorites of Angeli's signature features, their awesome Clam Chowder and Angeli's Special Salad with candied walnuts, apple and pear slices, blue cheese and raspberry vinaigrette.

For entree's we had veal and eggplant Parmigiana, Veal Piccata, their Shrimp Diavolo and their incredible mussels preparation.

After dinner we had a celebration white cake with chocolate icing. 

The wines were superb and perfect accompaniment to each course. As featured in this blog several times already, the Caymus is remarkably approachable even in its youth. The Lewis Reserve Cabernet 2003 was a perfect pairing and was striking in its tenth year since release.

Caymus Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 - Special 40th Anniversary Bottling

As featured in my recent earlier blog journal tasting reports on this wine, this is the 40th release of this legendary label and it features a special 40th Anniversary release label for the occasion. The 2012 vintage release also  shows the classic characteristics of Caymus Estate Cabernet at its best - early approachability and drinkability as a young wine.

Typical Caymus Cab style - dark ruby/garnet colored, medium to full bodied, nicely structured, complex but smooth, well balanced and polished, it opens with sweet ripe blackberry and raspberry flavors highlighted by layers of milk chocolate, subtle tones of cinnamon, vanilla and hints of caramel, giving way to a smooth lingering modest tannin finish.

RM 94 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1805868

http://www.caymus.com


Lewis Cellars Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

This is the flagship of Lewis Cellars lineup which includes several Estate Cabernets and blends. The 2003 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc and 2% Merlot. The fruit if sourced from vineyards up on Pritchard Hill, in Rutherford and Oakville hillside vineyards.

Dark garnet colored, full bodied, intense complex concentrated currant, berry and ripe plum fruits accented by a layer of cognac essence of oak, vanilla, and caramel with hints of spicy mocha, turning to firm supple spicy tangy lingering tannins.

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=182754

http://www.lewiscellars.com/




http://www.veuve-clicquot.com/

http://www.angeliscatering.com/