I received the best stocking stuffer ever this year for Christmas…..a bottle of 2005 *Gaja Barbaresco! Who would do that? Who would put such a pretigious gift in with miscellaneous crackers, m&m’s and magazines? I tell you who…..my awesome husband, that’s who!
Christmas dinner was quiet at our house this year. We had an intimate family setting of just me, my husband and our daughter (i.e. only 2 drinking age adults! 😉 ). It was as if I had planned for this gift well in advance. The menu was simple – grilled filet mignon, sauteed green beans and oven roasted potatoes. My husband is a grill master so the steaks were cooked to carnivorous perfection. And somehow, the garlic splashed, sauteed green beans and roasted potatoes seemed to turn out perfectly as well.
About an hour before dinner, we opened and decanted this lovely red. Of course, I probably should admit that we couldn’t help but have a teeny taste right away. When we sat down to dinner, we thanked God for our many blessings, poured, looked, swished, smelled and sipped. This barbaresco was young when we drank it but it lived up to the Gaja name as usual with a beautiful ruby red color. I can see where more aging would greatly enhance it. It had medium body with berry, licorice and spicy notes. The tannins delicately sliced through the steak and the finish was long.
As I write this, I believe I’ve come down with a case of the flu. Regrettably, that means I won’t be having any gourmet food or wine for a little while. In the meantime, I’ll have to live vicariously through the memory of our great Christmas dinner and the best stocking stuffer ever!
*If you’d like to know more about Gaja wines, click on the June 2009 archives.
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