From the Cellar

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Category: Uncorked Tonight

(October 13, 2014) ... I love my neighbors, and I think we've been pretty damn lucky.  I have heard horror stories about neighbours that at times put me off ever having any ... But one of my best friend's growing up was my next door neighbour, so they can't be all bad, right?  When we moved to St. Catharines I found out we hit the jackpot with some awesome ones (you just know you'll get along when the first time you see them one is cleaning out the eaves with a hockey stick - it don't get much more Canadian than that - the other notices you're there without a car and offers theirs if you need it ... Definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto).  My hockey-loving neighbours invited us over for our second Thanksgiving of the season ... the first was to my brother's the night before ... So of course I had to bring some wine along.  

Taking into account that he is Italian I thought I'd bring over something I found delicious the last time I tasted it, Caldora 2008 Yume, Montelpulciano D'Abruzzo, this hit all the right notes for him: aromas of blackberry, cassis, black cherry, with elements of sweet black licorice lingering in the background ... Palate showed considerably less fruit but also held our interest with black cherry, white pepper, cinnamon and touch of toasted vanilla.  Maybe not an exact turkey match but a delicious wine nonetheless.  My next Thanksgiving offering came from France, and a region I had introduced my neighbour to with great success a couple of years back, Plan de Dieu in the Rhone Valley, alas in my haste to leave the house I grabbed the wrong bottle and instead grabbed a Cave de Monterail 2009 Seguret, Cote de Rhone Villages ... This proved not to be a very successful selection with a nose that screamed sour cherry and a palate that's most prominent feature was a bitter finish showing off a little too much oak - you can't win them all, I'm just hoping this was a flawed bottle as I have another sitting in the cellar.

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