Part of our Easter meal tradition, is the Adelsheim Pinot Noir. We may not plan our menu until the last minute, but we always know what wine. Priorities ... people. It all started when Scott and I were first dating and he said he enjoyed Pinot Noirs. We tried out quite a few in those first couple of months of dating, but the Adelsheim was our favorite. Because we drink wine daily, after a couple of months, the budget showed that we couldn't do $30+ bottles "daily." We also broadened our horizons a bit, and found some great value blends, etc. We had one bottle of this particular pinot left at that point, and being that it was our favorite, decided to save it for Easter. Somehow, that transformed into getting it again the next year. When it came to planning our Easter dinner this year, one thing we knew for sure, the wine would be Adelsheim.
I was looking forward to it all weekend. I opened it in the afternoon, and let it breathe while I took the photo. Later, when I started to pull ingredients out of the refrigerator and begin cooking, I took my first taste. Then another. I kept having a few little sips, because I thought maybe my taste buds were off. Sadly, the 2006 vintage wasn't nearly as good as past years. I little more tannic and acid on the palatte. Not terrible, just not nearly as good as I remembered. I even saved one small glass to try the next day to see if it made any difference. Not so much. It still seemed a bit "green." This is exactly what makes wine so intriguing to me, it is rarely ever the same. New favorites replace old favorites, etc. I'm sure we will try the 2007 next Easter...but until then, I'm less enthused.
Onto my latest toy. Being that we love to make homemade pizza, and since my pizza stone is ancient, I had to get this new one at Crate and Barrel today. It is designed to be used in the oven or on the BBQ. I can't wait to try it out on the grill, as we love to do grilled pizza in the summer to save the house (and ourselves) from extra oven heat. Stay tuned!
2 comments:
Wine is fickle. My husband and I are big wine drinkers as well and attend lots of wine tasting events and wine makers dinners. Wine is a great topic of discussion. Best of all there is no right or wrong, its subjective.
In the past we have purchased a few bottles of a wine that we loved only to find that as time goes by either our taste or the wine changes. I'm betting it's our taste :) As you know, wine can taste dramatically different depending on the food you are serving with it so that always plays a roll.
We are lucky enough to have a local wine shop who's owners are "wine gods", truly knowledgeable about wine. To make things interesting each one (there are two partners, a woman and a man) has a different palate then the other but they are both excellent at honing in on our specific taste. I defer to them often to choose a wine for us.
Think of the fun you will have searching out your "new" favorite Pinot Noir!
It's hard when an old fav dies hard. Regretfully climate and things change with wine. However, it would be interesting to see if the winery had a change of ownership or winemakers and are no longer making wine like they did. That is so the norm these days. If that's the case your beloved wine may never be the same and you could save the $30. ongrtas on your new stone...I can't leave Crate & Barrel without a bagillion things.
Post a Comment