My family has been going to Colonial Beach since before I was born, since before my mom was born and when the only way to get there was by boat! Yes, you would be right to say we've been going to that little redneck town on the Potomac River for a LONG time. My grandparents had a cottage on 7th Street first and then in 1981, they sold that cottage and bought a new one on 4th Street.
Now, when I say cottage I mean cottage - paper thin walls, accordian doors on the rooms, no A/C, no heat, beds on the back porch which also served as the dining room and a bathroom with absolutely no privacy. "Camping with a roof" is what my mom would often say. However, some of the best memories of my life have been in that cottage!
Last year, when my dear ladybug left the cottage to my mom, my parents finally decided to "do the right thing" and say "goodbye" to the cottage and "hello" to a "real house" on that same property. No doubt, I'm not the only one proud of them; so are my grandparents.
In the past, summer would begin when we opened the cottage for the first time on Memorial Day weekend. My parents have already been going down and staying at the new house but Memorial Day weekend was the first weekend that I went down to stay. After spending two days and nights there, I am still in awe and so incredibly happy for them!
Enjoying the simple pleasures are so easy to do in that town!
The Memorial Day weekend line-up!
Some fantastic, some good and some tolerable!
While I have had this Pinot Gris before (see blog post in April 2014), Dad had not and I knew he would enjoy it. It was also a wine of month in our happy place membership and I knew he still had the bottle. All of us love the Kerrygold Irish Cheddar cheese and I knew this wine would be fantastic paired with the cheese. Dad wants wine. Mom wants cheese. I aim to please!
2012 Laurel Grove Pinot Gris
Columbia Valley, Washington
Look how photogenic it is!
Yes, I was walking around the entire house and outdoors to find perfect photo ops for this Pinot Gris.
The most fun photo was when I found a honeysuckle bush right off of the backyard of our property. Guess what the back of the label says this wine tastes like? Yep, honeysuckle!
How could I not take advantage of this opportinity!
How could I not take advantage of this opportinity!
Who doesn't love tasting honeysuckle? Out of the bloom itself was much sweeter than the wine, that is for sure. Dad and I agreed that the wine was full of minerality with apricot and lemongrass.
The cheese took away the tart which made it more enjoyable for me.
Mom even tried it with the cheese and didn't make the "ewww it tastes like wine" face.
Progress!!
For dinner Saturday night, our good friend, Betty, wanted to make dinner. Dad grilled the steak she had marinated and it was paired with a garden salad, fresh green beans and cheesy potatoes.
Knowing steak was on the menu for dinner, I knew exactly what wine I was going to pull out of the cellar. I don't eat much steak and if I do, it's at a restaurant. However, last fall, I found a big red that I had always heard of but never tried at Trio Wine Bar in the Outer Banks. I got it for a steal at $36.99 and laid it in the cellar for a special occasion.
Well, the time had come to open this baby up!!
2010 Franciscan Estate
Magnificat
Napa Valley
78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot On the nose I get berries, tobacco, cocoa and chocolate with a bit of a burntness. On the palette, I get berries, cocoa and toffee. This wine is very tannic meaning you could feel and taste the dryness and it had a lingering aftertaste. As a result, I decided to then aerate a glass for comparison purposes. As you would expect, it became much softer and as Dad said, "not as in your face"! The "bite" disappeared and notes of chocolate became more prominent. As I had hoped, it was a perfect marriage with the grilled marinated sirloin steaks.
Magnificat is one of the original Meritage blends in California which Franciscan Estate has produced since 1985. It is named for J.S. Bach's masterpiece and "crafted to be as seamless and harmonious as its musical namesake". I definitely agree!
“Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost; united and well matched they are as body and soul, living partners.”
-Andrew Simon (1877-1970)
During the winter, Mom and I were watching the Rachael Ray show and Bobby Flay happened to be her guest. Now, Mom is not one who likes to go out of her comfort zone when it comes to food so I was pleasantly surprised when she said that she would love to try the dish that Bobby had made on the show! What better time to try it then my first meal in the new house! I also knew the perfect wine to pair with it - Failla Chardonnay!
"She lived frugally, but her meals were the only things on which she deliberately spent her money. She never compromised on the quality of her groceries, and drank only good-quality wines.”
― Haruki Murakami
The pictures don't do it justice. Bobby Flay may be a gastronomical genius, but he sure doesn't have easy-to-follow recipes!! Instead of including the recipe here, I'll provide a link. For those who have a lot of time on your hands, I challenge you to make this dish! I switched up a few things but everyone was beyond pleased and I was actually pretty proud of myself for not only taking on such a huge feat but being successful!
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/recipe/17653_Bobby_Flays_Blistered_Tarragon_Chicken_with_Crispy_Potatoes/index.html
Last Christmas, Dad received a bottle of 2010 Hudson Vineyard Failla Chardonnay from a friend. He knew it was an expensive wine and decided to save it. I told him this would be a perfect time to open it because it should pair perfectly with the chicken dish I was making. I was only guessing by research that I had done but I was very pleased with how well it did actually pair! Some people would think I may actually know what I'm talking about. Silly people!
With aromas of ripe pear and light peach, this wine is crisp with hints of vanilla and bananas with just enough light oak to make me smile. Dad and I both agreed that the colder it is the better it is. I found that I enjoyed it more with the chicken than by itself.
It also goes well with goat cheese fingers!! Yes, I love goat cheese and had it all over my fingers from crumbling it over the potatoes. So, why not lick a finger and then take a sip of wine? I had Mom and Dad do the same - lick my finger, take a sip of wine. Hey, we're all family here! Even if we're not, it's all in the name of good wine!
After dinner, we sat on the front porch relaxing. Simple pleasures of small town life. Chatting with neighbors across the street from porch to porch, maybe seeing one car go down the street once an hour, sipping wine, listening to the singing birds, watching the bunny in the field, smiling because you're happy and thankful to have such a wonderful life and family.....
A recap of the wines so far.....
A decent Pinot Gris that is phenomenal with cheese, a top notch amazing Meritage from Napa that you savor with every sip and a food-friendly well-balanced Chardonnay.
"For a gourmet, wine is not a drink but a condiment, provided that your host has chosen correctly."
-Edouard De Pomaine, French author
To end the evening, we tried a cheap bottle of Cab I grabbed from the bargain cart at Harris Teeter and Gail, my cousin, brought a Malbec from Argentina. The 2011 Main Street Cab was extremely cherry and tasted like you'd expect from an $8 bottle of wine. We even tried it with chocolate cheesecake and it was still very mediocre. We opened the 2012 Trivento Malbec from Argentina and while it was better than the Cab, it still was just drinkable to me. Neither warrant anymore discussion in this post.
“Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more."
Proverbs 31:6-7
It's just the beginning of many wine and food simple pleasures at this new house! Stay tuned.....
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