New Years Eve

Graney's house in Dana Point, CA
Tasted Friday, December 31, 2010 by brigcampbell with 257 views

Introduction

The theme was Spain for this years gathering and it did not disappoint. Tonights group included Chris, Brig, Bill, Roula, Dave, Lucy, Bill and Illene. There were lots of cheeses with a butter honey dip, Chris' baked lump crab dip with grilled red peppers, toasted bread and crackers, nuts, and a grilled sausage Bill found at the spanish market in Harbour City, where ever that is... Ilene made an amazing paella of clams, mussels, shrimp, chicken, and chorizo. Might be the best I've had. Bill and Roula were in charge of the salad which was very simple yet incredibly tasty. Dessert was Lucy's homemade flan and brownies. Everything was really very good but when you're at Bill and Ilene's that's just par for the course.

Although there was lots of wine served (Rioja, Albarino, Champagne, and Mouvedre) I didn't take any serious tasting notes so I just took a couple of pictures as reminders of great pairings. Throughout the night we all played "name that tune" as Bill flipped through his playlist of Rolling Stone Magazine Top500 rock songs of all time but that was just the warm up for the after dinner gala event Bill had planned for everyone. I'm not sure how much time he spent setting the game up, must have been a week or more, but Bill created a music trivia game on the PC with powerpoint and showed it on the flat screen. It covered "People that died in 2010", "One Hit Wonders", "60's", "70's", "80s", "You know the group, what's the song" and many others. All really fun end to a great evening with entertaining people, incredible food, and lots of wine.

OMG - What have you done to my kitchen!
image

What's left of the cheese plate
image

The Honored Guest - Paella ala Ilene
image

The other Honored Guests
image

Not much leftovers for Bill's lunch tomorrow...
image
image
image
image
image
image

imageimage

Flight 1 (1 Note)

  • 2008 Bodegas Juan Gil Monastrell Jumilla 88 Points

    Spain, Murcia, Jumilla

    Do yourself a favor, decant this wine for 3-4 hours and you will be rewarded. I took a taste when I decanted this initially and the backend was very disjointed and rough.

    Really dark colored purple.
    Great nose of gamey mourvedre, violet, and some perfume.
    Mouthfeel was silky but tannins show on the finish. Was noticably less astringent after decanting.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

×
×