Food, Wine & Friends Page 143
PAUL OBESTER & HENRY! MOORE
The Birthday Boys
January 2008
Alexia hosted the annual Paul & Henry
celebration, opening a bottle of 1995 Pommery Brut Champagne when we all
arrived...
These little avocado and tomato breads were
exceptional!
Paul was a bit somber at the prospect of being 67 years old
in a few days...
Henry! then opened a second bottle of bubbly, a Charles
Heidsieck Brut Reserve...
The table was set and we were ready...
Jonathan and Lucy brought a wonderful wild mushroom soup...
Alexia paired this with a Preston wine from Sonoma and a David Girard
"Rhone" blend from the Sierras...
We toasted the birthday boys...
And we toasted our hostess...
We decanted the red wines for the main course and the
decanters made their way around the table...
Two 1980 vintage Cabernets from the Santa Cruz Mountains...
Alexia prepared Lamb Shanks with White Beans and some Kale...
The Ridge started out with a bright, vegetal, green-bean fragrance. The
Kathryn Kennedy was more ripe and jammy.
After a few minutes in the glass, the Ridge began to really blossom, taking on a
cedary tone. It was elegant and refined and still full of life. The
Kennedy wine was a bit more mature and quite "Californian" in style.
Bob provided an amazing array of cheeses to go with the
Pinot Noirs and Jonathan's fantabulous breads.
Two wines from 1995...Domaine Drouhin's special "Laurene" bottling
from Oregon and Dehlinger's Pinot Noir from Sonoma's Russian River Valley.
I found both wines to be quite good, but this match was won by the
Dehlinger. Both had lovely Pinot Noir, cherry fruit notes and they were
mature and still youthful.
Tolmach breads...
We then opened a third Pinot...Adam Tolmach's 2000 vintage of Pisoni Vineyard
Pinot Noir.
While it certainly had "gobs o' fruit," this was quite different from
the two, somewhat more "Burgundian" bottlings.
I'm not sure I heard what he was saying, but judging by the looks of things,
Paul was greatly exaggerating.
After the Cheese-a-thon, it was time for Sandy's gooey
Birthday Cake.
Before Paul could catch his breath, Henry blew out the
candles...
The cake was paired with an old bottle of Verduzzo...
And then it was time for some birthday presents.
Three elderly gentlemen were
sitting on a park bench discussing the problems of growing old. The first man
says " MY problem is that I wake up at 7:00 and it takes me forever to pee.
The second man then says. MY problem is that I wake up at 7:00, and by 8:00, I
still can't poop. Then the third man says HUH!....At 7:00 I pee like a race
horse. At 8:00, I poop like a goose. .....MY problem is that I don't wake up
until 9:00!!
"Gin me!"
As we were at the conclusion of the festivities, I usually
catch Bob nodding off...but not this time.
Oh well! Thanks to Alexia for hosting and for Lucy, Jonathan, Sandy and
Bob for chipping in!
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