by John Treder » Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:58 pm
It was cold today, and I haven't had raviolis for a while, so I went over to Canevari's today and got a box.
Needed good wine with good ravs. Got it.
Russian River Valley, Joseph Swan, Mancini Ranch Zinfandel 2006 $23.40 club price 14.9% alcohol
This bottle was a "Joe's Buddies" club selection in October 2011, and I have a few more that I squirreled away because they tasted good near the corner of River and Laguna roads.
Good Zin. A bit on the sharp (acidic) side, which actually brings out the cherries and blackberries earlier in the mouth. I'm happy to have a few more. I think it'll hold for several years. Classic style.
Edit: Ok, lemme confess. I had half a glass of a bottle of Limerick Lane Syrah '08 left over, and I had that with the first part of the raviolis, and i finished off with the Zin.
I liked the Syrah. It was a good RRV Syrah, a bit sweet for Syrah, but a good bottle. When I switched to the Zin, it was like night and day. The Zin was much more astringent, more smoke and dried autumn leaves on the nose. It brought out the earthiness of the "Old fashioned" Canevari raviolis, with their politely euphemised "specialty meats" in them. What Ravs Ought To Have!!
And I continued the bottle tonight with a rather scratch dinner of a piece of ham steak, a potato pancake, and an oven-broiled Japanese eggplant with the usual crumbs, olive oil, garlic and cheese. (OOTD, I'll try again to do it like I had it in Japan. And probably fail again.)
I had a couple of ounces left over after I'd wolfed down the food, and I wandered around the kitchen sipping and saying, "Damn! That's good!"
Which I guess is about the only compliment a wine really needs.
John in the wine county