This past weekend, my wife and I made a full court press to do spring gardening and prepare the tomato beds for the plants we will purchase at Forni Brown in a couple weeks. Spring is here, the tulips and daffodils are in full bloom, and we keep waiting for the baby bluebirds to hatch from the bird nursery in the plum tree out front.
We deliberately planned a small guest list for Easter dinner and a casual menu since we knew we were going to be pretty wiped out after spending hours in the warm Calistoga sun weeding and fixing everything that got broken during the winter. To make the dinner of lamb roast, fingerling potatos, asparagus and green beans a little more festive, We popped several wines that were around the house or brought by guests. Here were two that were the most memorable.
2006 Zepaltas Pinot Noir Suacci Vineyard: This wine is really beginning to come into its own. All of the components I wrote about originally are still there, but the lavender and black berry aromas seem more integrated and the palate has gained some dimension as well. I will be updating my score on this wine to a VF 94 as it was a special way to start the dinner. This wine is available on the Vinfolio website at $50.00 a bottle.
2002 Buccella: A very lush wine upon release, the years have not been unkind to it. The color is still a dark purple-black with copious amounts of chocolate, blackberry, cassis and violet showing throughout. The surprising thing was the amount of sediment the bottle was throwing. If you have this wine. I would recommend to decant. VF 94 Drink 2008 -2010 I can't wait to try the 2005, currently available on the Vinfolio website at $125.00 a bottle.
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