A Night of Comfort - Lamb and Red Wine

Well, it is that time of year again...winter. That chill, it makes us want to stay indoors and enjoy the warmth. There are many things that are comforting to me, food and wine are definitely near the top of that list. On this particular cold Sunday night, lamb and merlot were to be the stars of this show!

The lamb, a fresh Manitoba rack of lamb and some lamb sausages with fennel. These were sourced from a local market, La Grotta Mediterranean Market. This is one of the greatest sources I have found in this city for fine meats, sausages and seafood. Yes, I said it...seafood...from diver scallops to live dungeness crab, the selection is amazing. Meat, groceries, seafood, prepared foods and desserts...coffee, might as well throw a wine store in there too for good measure. Without sounding too much like an advertisement, I love this place. The quality is always top notch which is important to me, I will pay more for it!

The merlot, a bottle of Provenance Vineyards Merlot Carneros Beckstoffer Las Amigas Vineyard 02. First, let me say a little about Andy Beckstoffer and Las Amigas Vineyard. Founder of Beckstoffer Vineyards, Andy Beckstoffer is one of the Napa Valley's premier grape growers. He provides grapes to the likes of Acacia Vineyard, Paul Hobbs Winery and Schrader Cellars just to name a few. Las Amigas vineyard was acquired by Beckstoffer Vineyards in 1992/93 and is located in in the Los Carneros AVA. For those unfamiliar with Los Carneros(also known just as Carneros), it is in the southern tip of Napa and is generally the coolest part of Napa Valley. As far as I am aware, Las Amigas Vineyard only produces merlot, pinot noir and chardonnay...all well suited to a cooler climate.

Supporting our lamb and merlot were garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed veggies. The veggies were a delicious combination of sautéed garlic, mushroom, snap peas, spinach and zucchini.

This is comfort food at it's finest. The sausage, delicious and tender with a hint of fennel. The lamb was delicious and tender, very easy to eat...like little meaty lollipops, they do not last long.

Well, back to the wine. So Andy Beckstoffer provides these wonderful grapes from his Las Amigas Vineyard in Carneros to Tom Rinaldi, winemaker at Provenance Vineyards. A little about Tom, he makes some pretty outstanding merlot. He helped start Duckhorn Vineyards in the late 70's as their first winemaker. After helping to put Duckhorn on the map he made his way over to Provenance Vineyards in 2000 where he and Chris Cooney make some unbelievable wines from sauvignon blanc, cabernet franc to malbec...and many more!

There were beautiful notes of dried cherry and apple with a hint of vanilla, very soft and elegant. The tannins were softer than silk...who would have thought that was possible! The flavours were still quite pronounced, even after almost 10 years!

Dinner was great, company was great and the wine was great. What more could you ask for from an evening? What is comfort food to you?