On a random winter Saturday, we decided to open a big bottle of wine. B-I-G big! We brought two up from the cellar to decide. Both bottles were gifts from our Wine, Wit and Wisdom Shower, an engagement party-slash-Jack and Jill shower that Sarah and the girls threw for us with the Chisholms oh-so-long ago.
Each guest brought a bottle to the party, with the idea that they were stocking our cellar. Included in the invitation was a little card with a string on it. Guests were asked to write a bit of wit or wisdom on the card, and attach it to the wine.
The bottles have been a source of great pleasure through the years — this was 14 years ago now! — often as much if not more for the wit and wisdom over the wine.
Some of the cards have been lost, alas, but we know the source of these two wines. The Penfolds, a cab from Australia, was gifted by our great friend Karen, who is from Oz. The Lynch-Bages, a super-fancy and quite expensive Bordeaux, was a gift from Kelli and Patrick. Both have grown considerably in value since we laid them down in 2001. The Penfolds is going for about $250. The Bordeaux, about $175.
This evening, we decided to go with the Penfolds. Friends in the know — aka my wine geek friends — said that the Bordeaux wouldn’t play nicely with the tomatoes in the Bolonese sauce we were planning to serve.
We also discovered that the Bordeaux might have quite a bit of life left. Some people say it will drink well for another 10 or 15 years.
Well, we’ll just have to wait for a random winter Saturday in 2025, then.
