Christmas Recap

This Christmas was filled with even more good wine than the last, ranging from the familiar Altare and Vietti wines to less familiar Comte Lafon and Lechenaut. They all range in quality and price, and of course some were better than others.

I love decorating the table in the dining room. We rarely sit there, which makes eating there special. For christmas it's always silver, white and a little bit of green, as you see in the picture above. 

  

 Larigi is one of my favorites. Altare is always a good choice. And Christmas is about family, and I consider them part of mine. Elio, Lucia, Silvia, Leone and Polpetta!

Christmas Eve

In Norway it's tradition to eat what we call "stick meat" which is lamb, and it does not really go with any wine. But we chose Bartolo Mascarello's Barbera, because of all the wines, Barbera is one of the ones that goes best with "stick meat", but most importantly, it's because Maria Teresa likes Lamb.

The wine was amazing as always, smooth and easy to drink, yet complex, and you can tell it was made with love and passion.
More winemakers should make wine like this, and if you ever have the pleasure of meeting Miss Barolo Mascarello, she will blow you away with her enthusiasm for her work and her passion for the grapes and her wine. And if you don't get to meet her, Alan will probably show you around, and he is also wonderful, sharing Maria Teresa's passion and enthusiasm for the wine.

La Morra - Brookline

I found La Morra - in Brookline.

Looking for restaurant choices on Open Table, La Morra came up. Since I frequent the city of La Morra, and love Italian food,  I thought it would be interesting to check it out. As soon as I got in the door, I was greeted by a giant Vietti poster. The funny thing is, I spent a few hours rolling those posters together, so it brought back fond memories.

We had to ask about their connection with Vietti, and it turned out the owners, Josh and Jennifer Ziskin, have lived in La Morra in Piemonte, and worked at a restaurant there. What are the chances?! They are also familiar with the Vietti family and their wines, and have most of their wines on their wine list. It was nice to be surrounded by people familiar with La Morra, the people of Barolo and of course, the wine.

The food was good, the staff was friendly and the wine amazing. It's nice to know a little piece of La Morra is close by. 

Check out the website here.
Their wine list online is not comprehensive, but the wine list in the restaurant is quite impressive. 

Burlotto

This was my first visit to Burlotto, and it was a great one. The wines were of excellent quality, the wine maker was wonderful and the visit was fun.
Burlotto has been making wine for about 6 generations, and to this day, they still stomp their grapes by feet. As seen in the movies. 
Tradition is a huge part of the wine making, as you can also see in the labels. 
I will definitely be going back here. 

Pizza Wine with Friday Pizza

Friday Pizza is served @Cantina Granveien. 

We try to serve Pizza every Friday, always home made, with fresh mozarella and prosciutto. With the wine, we usually serve a Dolcetto or Barbera-- a strange combination maybe, Pizza and Wine, but PizzaWine has become a well know term in Cantina Granveien and it's guests.

 (For those of you who don't know, Cantina Granveien is our house) 

Today's Pizza Wine: Bartolo Mascarello's Dolcetto. Divine. Superb. Wonderful.