(October 13, 2014) … I love my neighbors, and I think we’ve been pretty damn lucky. I have heard horror stories about neighbours that at times put me off ever having any … But one of my best friend’s growing up was my next door neighbour, so they can’t be all bad, right? When we moved to St. Catharines I found out we hit the jackpot with some awesome ones (you just know you’ll get along when the first time you see them one is cleaning out the eaves with a hockey stick – it don’t get much more Canadian than that – the other notices you’re there without a car and offers theirs if you need it … Definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto). My hockey-loving neighbours invited us over for our second Thanksgiving of the season … the first was to my brother’s the night before … So of course I had to bring some wine along.
Taking into account that he is Italian I thought I’d bring over something I found delicious the last time I tasted it, Caldora 2008 Yume, Montelpulciano D’Abruzzo, this hit all the right notes for him: aromas of blackberry, cassis, black cherry, with elements of sweet black licorice lingering in the background … Palate showed considerably less fruit but also held our interest with black cherry, white pepper, cinnamon and touch of toasted vanilla. Maybe not an exact turkey match but a delicious wine nonetheless. My next Thanksgiving offering came from France, and a region I had introduced my neighbour to with great success a couple of years back, Plan de Dieu in the Rhone Valley, alas in my haste to leave the house I grabbed the wrong bottle and instead grabbed a Cave de Monterail 2009 Seguret, Cote de Rhone Villages … This proved not to be a very successful selection with a nose that screamed sour cherry and a palate that’s most prominent feature was a bitter finish showing off a little too much oak – you can’t win them all, I’m just hoping this was a flawed bottle as I have another sitting in the cellar.