12 Days of Christmas
NYC, Vermont, Boston
Tasted Thursday, December 21, 2017 - Monday, January 1, 2018 by retired_and_roving with 503 views
Introduction
Lots of celebrating going on this holiday season, so I thought I would gather all the notes in one long tasting story that I will add to over the course of the next twelve days. Happy Holidays everyone!!
Flight 1 - On the First day of Christmas (2 Notes)
Kicking off the holiday celebrations with Mexican takeout and some wine from the home cellar. Another Italian white for our new found interest and a long lost pinot from a case that had been lost at our offsite for years. This festive season is going to last for a full twelve days so we got to ease in slowly.
Flight 2 - On the Second day of Christmas (6 Notes)
Pre-christmas tradition with good friends - affectionately referred to as "boozy lunch" this year rescheduled from the Christmas Eve lunch slot to Friday night dinner. Trying a new restaurant Don Angie in Greenwich Village and the food was terrific! We did corkage on the Krug and Pegau and ordered the rest of the wine from their list.
We paired our wines with the following shared dishes:
Stuffed Garlic Flatbread - amazing!
Chrysanthemum Salad - modern take on Caesar
Tonnato Vitello - tuna carpaccio over spicy veal tartare
BBQ Calamari
Buffalo Milk Caramelle - two toned pasta stuffed with buffalo milk mozzarella - delicious!
Prime Rib Braciole for 2
Chicken Scarpariello
Orata alla Griglia
All the food was really delicious, a warm casual cozy atmosphere with friendly service. Highly recommend
Flight 3 - On the Third day of Christmas (6 Notes)
Had some fellow CTers over to celebrate the season, share some food and pop some bottles. A lovely relaxing evening with lots of nice wine and a mix of food:
Maguro and Avocado with black sesame seeds
Lobster cocktail
Order in pizzas from Co. (margarita, prosciutto & cheese, meatball and brosciolo)
WOTN for me was a 3-way tie between the Krug 164eme, '79 Lynch Bages, and the '09 Quintarelli Rosso de Bepe
Flight 4 - On the fourth day of Christmas (2 Notes)
Annual tradition on Christmas Eve to go for oysters and champagne/burgundy at the best oyster bar in NYC (IMHO) Aquagrill. Today the oysters and seafood, friendly service and convivial atmosphere were outstanding as always but the wine was a bit of a disappointment. Wanted the bottle of Dom, but the splurge seemed excessive so went with the recommended Aubry which while not bad was just meh! Then moving on to burgundy got some help with from the somm who steered us quite wrong into a wine that was not at all enjoyable. Oh well - we had a beautiful and merry meal non the less and enjoyed the spirit of the season!
Menu Included:
Oysters sampled:
Blue Point, Race Rock, Lady Chatterly, Potters Moon, Quonset, La St. Simon, Moonstone, Wiley Point, Blackberry Point, East Beach Blond, Raspberry Point and Fire Lake
Tuna Tartar with soy truffle emulsion
Chilean Sea Bass over kimchee with miso glaze
Warm ginger bread cake with vanilla ice cream
Flight 5 - On the fifth and actual day of Christmas (2 Notes)
Christmas Day in NYC before the madness of our family celebration ensues on the 26th - we opt for a favorite and very non-traditional Christmas dinner of Omakase sashimi and sushi tasting at Sushi of Gari. Seated at the bar with chef taking special care of us for an early dinner this was the perfect meal.q. We paired dinner with a bottle of ‘04 Pol Roger. Then back at home we shared an 2000 Chateau Rayas while packing for the rest of the week
Flight 6 - On the 6th day of Christmas (3 Notes)
Traveling up to Vermont for the large family gathering and kicking off the festivities with a dinner party at the brother and sister-in-laws house. Buffet style honey baked ham, scalloped potatoes, etc.... the wines were not the focus but the company was terrific.
Flight 7 - On the 7th day of Christmas
This is the day the party train derailed as I woke up with a violent case of stomach flu. The family party continued on with annual pot luck feast and wine tasting competition but I was out for the count.
Flight 8 - On the 8the day of Christmas
The party train remained in a derailed status:-(
Flight 9 - On the 9the day of Christmas (1 Note)
Signs of life reappear - family celebration over and a transition to Boston for continued celebration with friends. Dipping toe back in the water of food and wine very slowly.
Flight 10 - On the 10th day of Christmas (3 Notes)
Fully back in action. Dim Sum Lunch with friends at Myers & Chang in Boston which is awesome! We paired our dumplings and noodles with and old school scorpion bowl - bringing back long ago memories from college days in Boston. So fun!!
Lunch is followed by a long walk across the frozen tundra of the south end, back bay, public garden and Boston commons. We celebrated our accomplishment with a nice bottle of Krug 164eme.
Then onto to dinner at Townsman with a much larger group of old friends. Lots of fun!
Flight 11 - On the 11th day of Christmas (3 Notes)
The day kicked off with a great workout at the gym followed by lunch with friends at Select Oyster Bar. Can’t recommend this place highly enough - warm friendly staff, terrific food, great wine list and tip inclusive pricing. We decided to splurge for New Years and paired the Chave Hermitage Blanc with our lobster salad. Delicious on all counts.
Braving the single digit weather we headed out to our friends party at Haley Henry wine bar - another really fun Boston spot. A very fun night- Happy New Year!
Flight 12 - On the 12th and final day of Christmas! (4 Notes)
Last day of celebrations and over indulgence - time to get back to sensible eating and hitting the gym - but before that one last day to ring in the new year with great friends in Boston.
We met up at Bar Mezzana for their annual Magnum PI New Years Brunch - a really fun time. Starting out with Bloody Mary's and Miami Vice (a mix of frozen daiquiri and pina colada) then moving on to some Italian white wine. On the menu - to share house made donuts that are insane (Funfetti, Cinnamon Bun and Somoa), then on to bodega style egg sandwiches with fries - yum!
After time for an afternoon nap - we gathered in the evening for one more meal - take out pizza and some nice wine while hanging out and watching the Rose Bowl.
All in all great holiday celebration sharing time with family and friends - despite the stomach flu interlude in the middle.
2016 Giuseppe Quintarelli Bianco Secco Cà del Merlo
Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT
(12/21/2017)
PnP - timely opening as the Envoyer offer on this came through that day and I was trying to decide whether to bite on more. Verdict for me is that while this was good, not sure it is worth the tariff. This a lighter style Italian white with some pretty floral notes on the nose and palate. Bright with tons of minerals, surprisingly paired very nicely with chicken quesadillas. I would be happy to drink this any time, just think there are many other italian white choices delivering equal taste at half the price.
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2010 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
(12/21/2017)
After years of suspecting this case was lost by offsite storage - low and behold it was located so decided it was time to drink up before it got lost again. First time with the R-M pinot as this was a list I got on in early days of collecting and never got to taste since it was "lost". My tastes have moved on from new world pinot so was not sure whether I would like it. PnP - lots of dark cherry aromatics, but more balanced on the palate than the nose and color would predict. Yes there is a lot of bright dark cherry flavors, but also a strong hint of orange/tangerine zest, earth and good acidity. No cherry cola flavors which is a good thing for me. While still not my preferred style of pinot this is pretty tasty.
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