Thanksgiving 2004
(Getting Old and Boring)
Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. We must be getting old as there were no unusual events this year, at least what passes for unusual for the WinoMike Clan unless you count Sister–In-Law taking a header at the Air and Space Museum. Of course she had her hands stuffed in her pockets up to her elbows so she did a nice nose skid down the pedestrian ramp, nothing broken but lots of stuff skinned and bruised, the most severely bruised item was her ego. With her nose hitting the ground first it was the perfect 3-point landing.
We are also are elated to announce that there were no trips to the emergency room this year. In 2003 we had a doubleheader, a record, one from each side of the family. VinoWife’s side on Saturday and my side on Sunday, both at the Prince William County Hospital located in beautiful downtown Manassas, VA just a cow chip toss from the battlefield. You always feel like they are playing “Deliverance“ in the background in that place. And what a place it is. Old ladies with no teeth fawning over Garth Books on the Country Channel, and don’t you dare suggest the channel be changed, but then again you are already in the Emergency Room. They got more CAT and John Deere ball caps than you can shake a shotgun at. And lots of spitting brown ooze into a 7-11 coffee cup or Pepsi bottle, thank god for Skoal and Copenhagen.
Just for those who have been waiting all year to find out, I won the bet (see Thanksgiving 2003). Brother’s turkey was smaller than last year’s. You will be happy to know it weighed in at a mere 26 pounds, a capon when you consider you’re feeding 8 people, considerably lighter than the 29 plus pounds of last year’s model. It is really not his fault, you see, he is oven-challenged. I think that is the PC term, small oven and big bird. Noooo… on second thought we won’t go there.
Before we get too far a field we will discuss wine, this is the first year Brother soloed on the wine, which is nice because he also paid for it. In past years providing the wine was my job, and of course again this year we had to endure guests celebrating the annual fortified grape juice festival that the Frogs are so proud, the arrival of the 2004 Beaujolais Nouveau brought to us by the same friends who accompanied us to Napa a couple of years ago, remember “California Trip (or stumble)”? Why people are in a hurry to pay extra to have that stuff air freighted in I will never understand. I think that stuff is in the same general category as white zinfandel and wine-in-a-box.
Anyway some of the interesting wine consumed this year other that the Beaujolais Nouveau were Pinot Noirs from California and Oregon, Riojas and Ribera del Dueros from Spain, and some stuff that was unidentifiable. In all, Brother did a fine job. Food was great and plentiful as was the wine.
After the Welch’s grape juice, we got serious and imbibed in a just maturing 1997 Montecillo Rioja Reseva that spent 18 months in French oak showing good fruit, some cherry, but does not exhibit any of the “oaky” taste or tannins that can be found in some other riojas. The Montecillo was a wonderful set-up for things to come.
Next up was a 2002 Argyle Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley in Oregon that displayed plum and cherry flavors and belied the fact that it comes equipped with a screw top, so much for your pricey cork puller. Some imbibers are taken back at the idea but the flavor and value (about $15.00) overcomes the snobbery and best of all it goes well with turkey.
One of the best wines of the day was an Estate Grown 2002 Monticello Vineyard Pinot Noir from Napa Valley. This young wine with berry and cherry flavors complimented the artfully roasted turkey to perfection. It was not overpowered by the custom stuffing concocted by Brother which is made with five kinds of bread (Italian, rye, pumpernickel, wheat, and marble), three types of sausage (Italian, country, and kielbasa) and a dash of Tabasco.
After the Pinot was drained we switched to one of my favorites from Ribera del Duero, a 1995 Condado de Haza. This wine is from Alejandro Fernández who also produces the wonderful Pesquera which will be discussed more in a later article. This deep purple wine shows good ripe black fruit with a hint of spices. It is mature at this point and can accompany any type of grilled or roasted flesh and in this case did the turkey fine.
The evening culminated with all playing Winopoly served up with a plethora of liqueurs, cordials, gas attacks, port, and a few belches. For the uninitiated, Winopoly is the enological equivalent of Monopoly. It is no small wonder my 10-year old nephew always wins-the rest of us have sampled at least one or two wines and he is the banker. He would have made a great S&L owner in the 80’s; he’s got the embezzlement technique down cold. He also is really good at commingling of funds-you pay the rent, he pockets the rent.
So much for Thanksgiving 2004. Next week WinoWife and I host our club’s monthly wine dinner which shall be my next report.
WinoMike
Northern Virginia
February 2005