Christmas Eve

Tuesday, December 24, 2008

I was invited by friends to their home for dinner on Christmas Eve. Lots of appetizers and a buffet dinner of ham and turkey with all the trimmings was served.

The real highlight of this evening was the wine that was being poured. They own a winery and all their events are great opportunities for drinking great wine. Since this was a very social event I had no paper or pencil to take notes But I do remember that a 1974 Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon was poured and it was unbelievable. Vibrant color, great fruit, soft tannins after all these years and showing very well. It was hard to imagine that this wine was 34 years old. There was several older bottles of wine opened along with some very big named wines. I did not taste a wine that was not "very" good. I took a bottle of 2005 AP Vin Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir. I assume it was acceptable as the bottle was emptied quickly.

I do not have "great" bottles of wine. I have "good" bottles but nothing on the scale that was being poured tonight.

Since I had an hour drive home and the rain was about to begin I did leave about 10:00. They were still pulling out "special" bottles of wine from the cellar. I was told I could "crash" at their place for the night but seeing as it was Christmas Eve and that would entail me getting up Christmas morning to go home I declined the invitation. If it had been any other day I would have accepted and stayed around to what else would magically appear on the wine table.