whit

And our rhymes is tight.

I just went there. It happened.

The Terroni lady sommeliers (and a few other lovely friends) met up last week for a little “ripping and sipping”. And eating. And laughing. Christine hosted and made a fantastic meal for us. The rest of us contributed booze.

Remember way back in the Fall of 2010 when the Proof guys gave me these bottles of ’79, ’80 and ’81 Sanford & Benedict Pinot? Well, I FINALLY got around to opening them. I wasn’t expecting much as the boys already told me they were pretty dead.

I thought it would still be fun to open them and see what was inside. It was like some kind of archaeological dig/science experiment; uncovering mold, debris, sediment, effed up corks…I even had to improvise and use a coffee filter to decant what basically looked like Coca Cola.

The ’79 was completely mold-infested and smelled disgusting. The ’80 wasn’t much better, but I at least put that one in my mouth. It was almost like a Marsala meets Chinato by way of root beer- pretty far gone. The ’81 (my birth year- hollerrr!) was surprisingly not horrible.

It still had some acidity and nothing incredibly offensive about it. Special bottles I’m sure, but not anymore. I wish I could’ve tried them back in the day.

So. Food! Sally brought some awesome cheeses from The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, one of which was a walnut studded beauty rolled in semolina. Loved. It. Francesca made some chicken liver pâté with lavender (!) and it was really delicious and so subtly floral. She explained how easy it was to make, but I’m still skeptical. She’s Italian and I’m not. She’s just always gonna be better than me at effortless cooking.

The main event was the lamb pie Christine made- a recipe from her mother and a traditional South African dish. She served it over rice seasoned with caraway seeds. I had seconds, possibly thirds. No one knows for sure.

This is when the wine situation greatly improved. One of my favorite food and wine pairings anywhere ever is lamb and Sagrantino. It’s never a bad idea. I dare you to tell me that it’s not amazing.

Francesca brought this lovely bottle of Antonelli for us to enjoy!

I also schlepped another wine that was given to me as a gift- 1995 Felsina Berardenga Rancia Chianti Classico Riserva.

It was good, nothing life changing. The wine that I poured myself more of was the Sagrantino. Fun to try some older bottles though! Every time I do, I always think about what I was doing that year. In 1995, I was a freshman in high school and I had a crazy crush on a guy named Ali (or was it Muhammad?) that I never spoke a single word to. I lived for the J. Crew catalog, really wanted to be in West Side Story and ate french toast sticks for breakfast.

The end.

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