Thanksgiving feast and wine flight
We gathered for customary Thanksgiving dinner feast with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, brussel sprouts, cranberry salad and fresh baked crescent dinner roles. We served an accompanying wine flight.
From the cellar I pulled a classic
Champagne, then a white Bordeaux blend, a California
Zinfandel, then friend Jared stopped by and opened a
Barbaresco Nebbiolo. Jared Gelband is wine director at the legendary Italian Village restaurant. When he stops by, we can often count on him to bring an interesting label to share and compare.
Bertrand Senecourt Beau Joie Special Cuvee 'Sugar King' Demi-Sec NV Champagne
A blend of 50% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, & 20% Pinot Meunier for the sweetest of champagnes.
This Beau Joie Champagne is distinctive in it's packaging with the bottle 'wrapped' in a basket-like shroud of 100% copper — Triple Black Limited-Edition Bottle. The 'Suit of Armor' is inspired by the Armor worn by the knights that protected the Kingdom.
From their website:
The copper scrap in transformed into artwork – In order to avoid the unnecessary waste of valuable copper, Beau's encasing is uniquely created from 100% second-generation copper scrap and turned into a functional piece of artwork.
Functionality – Beau's innovation-driven, functional design was specifically designed for the hospitality industry. No one knows more about serving the finest products and creating an experience than the industry itself.
Beau’s suit of armor keeps the champagne colder longer, reducing the amount of energy required to bring the bottle to serving temperature and eliminating the need for ice bucket storage during consumption. It also provides improved grip when opening and serving, while the bottle’s rubber punt ensures enhanced stability when pouring.
The bottle’s patented design also allows for decorative enhancements such as flowers or plumes to complement the distinct design aesthetic of individual venues.
Light golden straw colored, light, refreshing, clean, crisp, flavorful, nicely integrated and balanced fruits. Delicious.
RM 92 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/barcode.asp?iWine=1762719
http://www.beaujoiechampagne.com/
Château Picque Caillou Blanc, Pessac Leognan,
Graves, Bordeaux 2011
We recently pulled from the cellar this white Bordeaux and took it
BYOB to local seafood eatery Chinn's 34th Street Fishery in Lisle (IL). As I wrote that night, we hold a half dozen bottles of this White Bordeaux Blanc, too oft
overlooked in the cellar, passed over for something more exiting as
we're Red Bordeaux drinkers. That night, we pulled this to try and actually
brought a back-up wine in case it wasn't up to the call. The gals liked
it a lot.
This was a nice accompaniment to turkey, dressing and the potatoes and veggies.
Golden colored with slight brownish hues, nose of citrus and stone,
notes of mineral melon with a layer of slightly grassy undertones, yet
pleasant with nice balance and acidity. A nice match for the seafood
entrees.
Time to drink.
RM 88 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/notes.asp?iWine=1372699
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2019/11/chinns-34th-street-fishery.html
Carlisle Sonoma County Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2014
They say Zinfandel is ideal with turkey, the balanced forward full bodied fruit goes well with the dry white meat. It sounds awkward when it is also ideal for BBQ, but it seems to be so. This zinfandel is supplemented with 11% Petite Sirah.
This wine was highly rated getting
92-94 points from
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate and Vinous, 93 points
from Wine Spectator, and 92 points
from Wine Enthusiast. I don't necessarily share their enthusiasm although it was tasty, easy drinking and a nice compliment to our holiday dinner.
Dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, bright, expressive forward complex black berry and black raspberry fruits, notes of anise, pepper, hints of vanilla and oak.
RM 91 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2291450
Friend and wine buddy Jared stopped by and brought this Barbaresco Nebbiolo to share. Readers of this blog will know
Jared Gelband as the Wine Director at Italian Village, whom we visit often for wine dinners.
Pertinace (Cantina Vignaioli) Barbaresco Vigneto Marcarini Nebbiolo 2013
This producer
Cantina Pertinace is a winegrowers' cooperative which identifies with its territory, the region and DOCG appellation of
Barbaresco. The label is named after a great historic local personality, Elvio Pertinace, who was born in
Alba, in the hamlet in which the winery is located.
The winery is located in Pertinace in
Treiso,
Piedmont, one of the four
villages in the Langhe famous for the production of
Barbaresco DOCG. The coop and Vignaioli winery was founded in 1973
and is comprised of thirteen
members. They all shared a tie with the Langhe
hills and the same objective, to build a business and brand based on the best wines possible, produced from the
Nebbiolo grape from Barbaresco.
The started to bottle their wine the late 70's, expanded their facilities in the 80's,
upgrading to the latest state-of-the-art technologies, and added their own bottling in 1990.
Today,
the coop consists of fifteen members including the original historic
founders, the winery producing 700.000 kg of grapes, totaling
around 450 thousand bottles in the name of Barbaresco. Their
distribution now reaches globally with presence in the United States,
Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Poland, South Korea and Hong
Kong.
The wine, 100% Nebbiolo spends 18 months in Slavonian oak casks.
Bright Ruby red color, medium-full bodied, bright black cherry and red berry fruits with notes of plum, prune
and black tea with hints of nutmeg, clove and cinnamon with round velvety tannins on a fruit filled finish.
RM 90 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2456929
https://www.pertinace.com/en/ 
