Dinner with The Family

Sara's Aunt, Uncle and Cousin were in the area and they stopped in Palo Alto to visit us for a day. They were kind enough to take us to dinner. That, combined with Sara's Uncle's love of wine and extensive wine knowledge inspired me to pull out a bottle that I expected he (a) had never heard of and (b) would love.



The 2004 Mith is a stunning wine, one of the best Washington wines I have ever had. Sara described it as "like drinking candy." I'm sure that will evoke different images for different people, but it is not inaccurate. The wine has no hint of alcohol in the taste but has plenty of beautiful yet subtle fruit.

Of course, since we went to an Italian restaurant, Sara's Uncle also wanted to try one of the wines off their list. He chose a 2004 Amarone.



I'm not an expert on Amarone, in fact, this was only the second one I have ever had, but I enjoyed it. It was sort of a brownish color, compared to the vivid purple of the Mith. It has a very unique taste, not unlike a nutty-raisiny taste. It was a bit hot, but went nicely with the food. I couldn't finish my glass though, because I had too much to drink and too much rich food by that point.

2001 Sagramoso Amarone Della Valpolicella Pasqua

Most of my readers have probably never heard of, much less tasted an Amarone. So, quickly, Amarone della Valpolicella is a unique style of Italian wine. It's really rich, lots of flavors, but very dry at the same time.

This particular Amarone, the Pasqua, was $36 from Nabil. I've never had one before, so I can't really rate it relative to it's peers, but I can say I really enjoyed the wine. Not enough to buy it again for $36, but certainly enough to consider drinking some if I happen across it. There are those, Sara among them, who could probably love this wine enough to pay big prices for it. It's that kind of wine. I don't love it, but I respect it. It was really earth, dry and rich. If you weren't from Earth, you might not realize it was made out of grapes.

We drank it with home-made Gnocchi that Sara made, with a red sauce. The wine went perfectly. What can I say; it was meant to go with Italian foods.