So I got Jill this nice Wine Lover's Cookbook for her birthday and she decided to make the Grilled Leg of Lamb recipe from it tonight. She also decided to make the Flageolet "Baked Beans" from the Second Helpings Union Square Cafe Cookbook as the side dish. The Wine Lover's Cookbook suggested a pairing of Zinfandel and Jill asked me to get something appropriate.For some reason, I thought of my college (go Gauchos!) room-mate's Marian's Vineyard Old Vine Zin (2007) from his family winery. This was the first bottle of his we have opened since I purchased a mixed case. Well, it was a tremendous match. The zin showed blackberry and smokiness and the fruit really held up to the 15.5% alcohol of the zin. For some reason, when I heard we were having lamb, I thought, "excellent - another Rhône style wine evening" which I always enjoy. It was good to mix it up. We drink a lot of Rhone style wine ;-)
Stu's St. Amant Winery is in the Lodi appellation of California. When we were in college, he would bring some port wines from the winery for us to try. It may have been sophisticated for university students, but it was a welcome change from cheap beer. I now love port and I am sure that part of that is from my introduction many years back.Thank you Stuart (Stu, Stu-Baby, Captain Stubing, Merrill, etc)!