Our Anniversary - What we uncorked

Friday, October 9th was my 21st wedding anniversary. Yup..Paul and I have been married for 21 years. Where does the time go? It feels like it was just yesterday! What we uncorked to celebrate were some wonderful wines.

We decided to open a bottle of wine before heading out to dinner to celebrate. Paul went rummaging through the wine cellar and came up with a bottle of 2000 Chappellet Cab Franc. He poured each of us a glass and the rest in the decanter. The first sip of this wine was WOW...alcohol, we should have decanted this an hour age. As this wine opened it was a beautiful. Very well balanced, loaded with black cherry and a very long finish of spice.

After some wine and cheese we headed out to dinner with our daughter, a product of our marriage. We went to Charlotte's in Millbrook. The last time we ate there was years ago when it was Allen's and the only 5 star restaurant in the area. (Boy, time has changed that)

When we pulled into the parking lot, it was very crowded. Good thing we made reservations. We entered what we thought was the restaurant and were greeted with a wonderful HELLO from Brad's mother. I liked Brad's mother, she was very non judgmental, considering Paul and Melanie had jeans on and everyone else around was dressed in evening wear. However, it was the two other women there giving us the look. Brad's mother welcomed us into her party without even looking at what we were wearing, most likely thinking we were the brides part of the family. We could have crashed this party, as Brad's mother was very welcoming, but we questioned where we were. We chose the wrong door and had to go around the building. No problem. We wished Brad well, he was getting married on Saturday. Never did meet Brad or his bride.

We entered door #2 and were greeted with a hostess with no personality. Deciding what to eat and drink, oh the choices. It was going to be the Millbrook Pinot Noir until we spotted the 1998 Kings Estate Pinot Noir. We decided to go with Oregon (sorry Millbrook).

The 1998 Kings Estate Pinot Noir was a beautiful ruby color. The nose was complex with hints of cherry and strawberry. Thewine was very well balanced with bright cherry dominating and spice on the end. The wine had a nice creamy texture.

We picked the wine before we picked our meal. I had Osso Bucco alle Verdure Veal Shank and Paul and Melanie had Rib Eye. I probably would have gone with a heavier red, but Paul was going to get fish before changing his mind to beef. The wine was wonderful, and so was the evening.