Another Grand Aioli

So Sunday night was The Wine Country’s annual Grand Aioli party, hosted by the owners of The Wine Country, Dale and Randy Kemner. Dale cooks all the food, Randy picks the wines and all we have to do is show up, eat and drink until we can do neither anymore, and have a great time…kinda cool no? This year was especially fun for me as my son is home from college and was able to attend, eat some brilliant food, laugh and drink wine with us.



Now the last party I attended at the Kemner’s I arrived in a, “state” that is to say I had been hanging out with Amy and Sexy Bitch all day, drinking and eating way too much, I walked in, handed them the peanuts and ShamWow that I brought as hostess gifts, (seriously had been drinking all day) and told them flat out, “Hi…I’m drunk” as if the gifts were not an indicator of my condition, thankfully they have a bit of the party monster in them too, so they just laughed at me, and poured me some wine…yeah, that’ll fix it. So I made sure to walk the straight and narrow before this event, okay I may have had one glass of wine but other than that..straight and narrow, besides I had no time to shop for a, “sorry I showed up drunk to your party” gift that could top the ShamWow…where would one find a Snuggie at such short notice?!



Our little threesome was the second group to arrive and I made my way outside to find not one, but two giant buckets, filled with ice and a veritable smorgasbord of Rose and white wine, that and a hunk o lamb spinning on the rotisserie…elation. We were handed glasses of 2008 Le Saint Andre Vin de Pays du Var Rose, ($10.99) I let the fresh watermelon, lime juice and minerals wash down my throat while checking out the rest of the menu:

Roasted Potatoes
Roasted Beets, Red and Golden
Roasted Carrots
Roasted Chicken
Roasted Cauliflower
(Shit load of roasting going on over at Casa de la Kemner Sunday afternoon)
Fresh From The Garden Tomatoes
White Beans Cooked In Some Unholy Broth, (salty, herby, tomatoey…)
Lamb
And A Vat Of Aioli, aka Garlic Goo



As always the food was amazing, Dale is a fantastic cook and we so had our way with her offerings, even raiding the fridge for any extra aioli there might be…savages, we were eating and drinking savages. Now many of the Roses we had I have already featured here, (Like the Joguet Chinon…still my favorite) so rather than be redundant, over and over again…I’ll skip those and focus on the ones I haven’t written about yet. Oh and one thing, red wine…even French red wine just is not suited for this kind of meal. Sure with the lamb and maybe even the chicken but once you slather the garlic goo on…totally inappropriate, I tasted a few things that night and it just aint right. Some of the whites were okay but there was nothing that sang with that food, made the food taste even better and kept you reaching for the glass like the Roses….so all you “Big flavor, garlic lovers” time to drink some girlie pink shit.



2007 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rose Magnum, (N/A) Okay, yes I have written about Tempier Rose before but not the 2007…well, in a while anyway. This was my sons favorite wine of the night, little bastard has good taste. This wine has had time to settle so it is nowhere near as racy as the 2008, but what it has lost in acidity it has gained in texture…so silky and round in the mouth. Still plenty of minerals and tart melon but the silkiness reminds me of me of the way legs feel in pantyhose, just sexy as hell.



2008 Domaine Bagnol Cassis Rose, ($22.99) Bone dry, tangy, deep core of fierce minerals but again a rather sexy weight in the mouth but this wine has that smack of acidity that keeps everything in check. Spendy but complex and worth it.



2008 Mourgues du Gres Costieres de Nimes Rose, ($13.99) A much meatier wine here, deeper almost tart berry like flavor with cracked pepper and cured meat..kinda gamey but in a good way. Plump on the palate with a richness that you don’t get with the leaner, Provence Rose. Went so well with the lamb and would be rockin with a grilled burger.



2008 Clos de la Briderie Touraine Rose, ($13.99) And we’re back to tangy! I must confess this wine has a bit of that banana thing that I don’t dig so much…not a lot, but it’s there but in saying that this wine reminded me of a fruit salad…with bananas, melon, strawberries and bright, crisp, refreshing acidity.



2008 Domaine Bastide Blanche Blanc, ($25.99) Now I will say Provence whites are not for everyone, I’ve even poured them for people that love French wine only to have them pucker up and look at me like I must be nuts. While it was just okay with the aioli it was with the cheese course that I grabbed this wine and after one sip of the racy, stony, herb laden wine with those fatty, salty rich cheeses…well, I finished the night, (and the bottle) with this wine. When you taste as much wine as I do and have, a wine like this, full of flavors so unlike those you come across daily, well they steal my attention and my heart. I love it.

So that was Sunday...the night went on for hours, we laughed, drank, ate and ended the night with slurred speech, and pinked cheeked conversations...perfect.