All the table ’twas indeed a stage,
and ’tis true many a player
strutted and fretted its hour upon it,
but at curtain’s culinary closing,
’twas a deuce of thespianic éclat
that in truth reigned supreme …
–
Meaning, of course, that it weren’t one but TWO wines I was most especially diggin’ on T-Day!
–
And in this corner, a new release, the 2008 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Estate Syrah/Grenache!
Still showing youngish, most certainly, but so beguiling in its dark mysteriosity, and the perfect pairing for the various and sundry savories on said T-Day table; most particularly calibrated to all seasonings of the autumnal sort, and most certainly ever-so-slightly charred sage leaves …
And in THIS corner, a veteran, the 2004 Ridge Vineyards Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel!
A designation that, in truth, has come in and out of focus for me across the vintages, but one that is capable of greatness when the viticultural stars align. The 2004 was just such a vintage, and I have long considered it the absolute and utter ace of the decades. This wine was, in fact, and if I am not mistaken, one of the first Ridge wines I ever purchased for my dad, and he and I have long retained a certain affection for it, so it was with no subtle degree of both anticipation and curiosity that we approached said specific offering this very most recently past and holidarily-notable Thursday. Approached, contemplated, and subsequently revered! It was extraordinary! Supple, streamlined, and savory; rustic, earthy, and complex; controlled, elegant, and enticing; dangerously subversive, dirtily sensual, and broodingly beguiling. In short, nothing short of perfection. A small perfection, mind you; this is not a wine that strains for demonstrative greatness and expansivity; meaning, it does not set its heights at the stars. Rather, it is a small, quiet, intense, and excellently combinated concoction of concatenated concentrativeness that coalesces around a core of compendiumed complexicatedness. Meaning, it was perfect with mashed potatoes and peas!
And for those who, in an oeno-equivalent enactment of the boxers-or-briefs paradigm, will ask, “Russets, or Yukons?”, ’twas Russets.
Cheers!
And p.s. what was YOUR Thanksgiving Wine Rock Star?
and double p.s. can you guess how many words in the above post got the red-line when I ran spell-check???
