Two years ago, I bought a half case of La Fiorita’s riserva brunello di Montalcino. Last year we spaced those bottles out, two over the course of the year, one spring lamb meal paired with the 2001, and one late summer meal of venison and blackberries paired with the 2003. The idea being for a special wine, there must be a special meal!

Most of this year went by, and then bam! I landed some wild boar and venison shanks at the same time. Game pairs amazingly with this wine, and I couldn’t really imagine having anything else with these two meats. So within the course of a month, we enjoyed a wild boar pappardelle, again with the 2003, and then this meal. And this meal may be the hands down best wine pairing I’ve done yet. (more…)

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Dinner by Courtney

I’ve long wanted to make this recipe, which is in on of my favorite cookbooks, the Food of France. After my first dinner paired with La Fiorita’s Brunello di Montalcino, I decided this might be the perfect wine to accompany the dinner. After all, if I’m going to the trouble of locating venison here in the Bay area, I’m going to make this a special meal! Plus, the brunello has a somewhat fruity flavor, with more than a hint of berries that I wanted to see if I could coax out more by pairing with blackberries. (more…)

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Dinner, Gourmet, Sunday Suppers, Wine pairings by Courtney