One From Gaja

“…this is a pleasure to drink right now, but its best days are still ahead of it…”

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My hopes were higher than my expectations for the big game, but in the end, there was only disappointment to be had either way. There’s been a lot of “armchair quarterbacking” going on around the Motor City since Sunday evening’s NFC Championship game, but all I will say is that it was a game the Detroit Lions could have very well won, which makes the outcome even crappier.

We did have some good wine to drink, however. I wanted something special for such an important game, and again, I figured a 20-year old wine should do the trick, especially one from a winery no less iconic than Gaja, located in Piedmont in northwestern Italy. It was just the “regular” Gaja Barbaresco, and not one of the even more prestigious (not to mention pricey) single vineyard selections, but it did the trick all right, with one timely qualification. Continue reading

Got Chave?

“Red Rhônes and… Detroit Lions?!”

OK, I admit it, I jumped back on the bandwagon just like hundreds of thousands of win-starved football fans around the Motor City and beyond. The Lions finally put together a good team and made the NFL playoffs for the first time in how many years? I’m old enough to (vaguely) remember watching the Lions on a black and white TV the last time they won a league championship back in 1957. I have even clearer memories of those great early ‘60s Lions, who would have been the best team in pro football, had it not been for the damned Lombardi-Starr Green Bay Packers. Since then, it’s mostly been tough times for the guys wearing the Honolulu Blue jerseys.

I was geeked up for the Lions-Rams game, and I wanted a good bottle of something to open, so, considering its age, I figured this one was a safe bet. JL Chave Hermitage is one of THE great wines of the world, vintage after vintage. At its best, it is among the very finest expressions of Syrah to be found anywhere. We’ve had a lot of wonderful experiences with Chave Hermitage, and this had been in our cellar for a number of years, so I decided its time had come. As it happens, it isn’t quite as “mature” as I expected it might be. Continue reading