Chronic Negress

Every journey starts with a single bottle. The Negress and her sister descended on her cousins in DC to renew an annual tradition of dining and catching up. Thanks to a fortuitous set of circumstances, we had cooking by Chef Charley two nights in a row. Here’s our chef and his fiancee:

Two of the happiest people I know

Christmas night, standing rib roast with cheesy potatoes and Brussels sprouts plus mocha torte for dessert. Up until that we powered down an intensely rustic Malbec, a 2005 Chateau Reignac White Bordeaux, a 2005 Chateau Picampeau right bank red Bordeaux and some Il Bastardo, one of what I have come to call over-crush wines. These are wines made in California from all the juice the major producers have left over. Two Buck Chuck is probably the best known, but there are others that are good for evenings like this one, where talk and wine flow freely. The next night with pork loin, grilled portobello mushrooms with Gorgonzola and some mashed sweet potatoes and yams, another Picampeau , a 2005 Haut Mazerac Bordeaux and another Bastardo were killed as was a Pinotage from South Africa which was kind of odd. Occasionally, you do get an old tire nose with this crossing, but this wine had after-notes of Equal. Very weird. Not corked, but not good.

As for the wine sweaters, these are what your teeth wear to bed if you don’t brush and floss before retiring. Think of mohair on your teeth. With better wines, maybe angora but still a fuzzy feeling all around.