What We Drank: V-Day 2024

When you’ve got a toddler, date nights don’t come easy. Come to think of it,m when you’ve got a toddler, most things don’t come easy. Not that we don’t love the irrepressible little tyke, but some alone adult time helps recharge the parenting batteries, right?

Last month for Valentine’s Day, Shannon and I somehow made a date night outing work, getting a dinner alone at one of our favorite local stops, Terrain Cafe. So I raided the media sample pool to see what might be appropriate options to sip along with our finely plated vittles that evening.

Here’s a quick-hit post to highlight what we choose to drink that night: two selections, one affordable and one not-so-much…

NV Piper Sonoma Blanc de Blancs, Sonoma County, $23

First, the affordable selection. A Méthode Traditionnelle bubbly that blends 75% Chardonnay and 25% Pinot Blanc, Piper Sonoma’s Blanc de Blancs is one of those wines that proves why it never pays to write off something in the wine world at first blush. This label has gotten steadily and steadily better and better over the years, and it is now sitting at its peak overachieving performance (so far, anyway). Floral, fragrant, fun, and as crisp as the green apples it evokes, this is the most excellent offering of their BdB to date.

2019 La Jota Vineyard Merlot, Howell Mountain, $115

Just over 1,000 cases of this Merlot (which includes a bit of Petit Verdot and Tannat as well) were made, sourced from two remarkable, higher elevation (about 1,700 feet asl) Howell Mountain sites: La Jota Vineyard and W.S. Keyes Vineyard. It spends 21 months in 63% new French oak, and is most definitely still on the young side. Having said that… winemaker Chris Carpenter and his team are just masters of the Napa Valley game at this point, able to tease out rounded edges from all of that burly mountain fruit, making this delicious right at release while also fantastically structured. They just nailed it on this one. Violets, black olives, graphite, dried herbs, plums, cocoa nib, raspberries; while all of that mix is entertaining and enthralling now, there’s excellent structure on the palate for a longer haul here. Fantastic.

Cheers!

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