The wine of the night...

So if you were to ask me what the oldest/longest aged wine I have been cellaring out of my own personal stash was, I'd tell you that it wasn't the 1982 Chateau Cos d'Estournel, not the 1985 Graham's Vintage Port, not the 1994 Harlan, the 1992 Maya, the 1983 Chateau Margaux, orrrrrr a myriad of other things.

My day started by waking up with a crick in my neck from an awkward laying position in my super-luxurious bed at my parents winery in Bluff Dale, Texas. I came here for the weekend to cram for my Certified Specialist of Spirits (C.S.S.) exam. My mother was out of town visiting HER mother in Los Angeles and I thought...PERFECT! The pain in my neck was QUITE substantial but I trudged on reading about "congeners" in Vodka (ethyl palmitate aparently takes on a mild waxy component), and how for Tequila, the Amatitan region provides a more spicy/herbal note than the Los Altos(flora, sweet) profile. The day was perfect as I was laying out on the upper-balcony, listening to the various travelers down below comment on the view (which is quite wonderful).

Once the winery closed it was time to grill a steak, and boil some okra. After we finished a bottle of my father's 2007 Cabernet he asked me to fetch another bottle. I thought how rare an occassion it was these days that my dad and I get to enjoy dinner with such a view and how these days will soon come to an end. I returned with a 1975 Bertani Amarone Recioto della Valpolicella that I have been cellaring for almost 11 years. This wine I attained in my very callow wine years because it was my birth year and one of the few wines I believed to be able to last. My father was floored that I chose tonight to share this bottle with him (albeit presumptuous that I would share it at all ha!).

Now for the always nervous part, opening this wine, wondering if it were still good, or even cellared properly. Well using a waiter's corkscrew I made the attempt at opening it...and well I broke the cork in half. The cork would not budge (which was a good sign). Out came the second half of the cork and it was in beautiful condition. A smile came when I could smell the effusive earthy/sweet fruit notes rise from the bottle...not dead at all! A silent tear was shed as we drank this wine over the next two hours talking about the house I was born in, my dad's government work around that same time, what was to become of our own mortality, and things I had never really thought to ask or he to share.

The bouquet of this wine had an incredibly pronounced balsamic, soy sauce note that one could JUST smell for hours, along with kalamatta olives and a salty meat characteristic. The palate had figs wrapped in prosciutto. The longer you kept the wine in your mouth the more pronounced the fig, and less the salt. The reward came right on the cusp of swallowing where the sweet fruits get overtaken by the balsamic notes and olive components yet again. Even after cleansing one's palate with either water, cheese, olives, or crackers, the balsamic notes lingered on for probably a mere five minutes. This wine was as old as I was and many of those who contributed to this wine had probably passed on. As an understatement, this was the wine of the night.