Maui on Our Minds

We live on Maui, a unique little volcanic island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Both of us have lived here for over ten years and consider it our home with no desire or intention of leaving. We are very active in the community and this BLog will attempt to share with you many of our experiences in this beautiful place.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Surprise Wine


Several years ago we purchased a collection on wines - some young, some old, and one or two very old - from a neighbors estate sale. In the group was a 1976 Caneros Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon. Some how we lost track of it in our "extensive wine rack" ha, ha.

We painted the wall where the wine rack stood and, in the process of moving it, we re-discovered the Caneros Canyon Cab. It had never been properly stored in a cool place - how do you find a cool place in Hawaii - although it had been on its side, at least for the time we owned it.

In the move Caren found evidence that the cork was leaking ever so slightly. With this, she determined that we should serve it soon.....if it was not vinegar or worse already.

Of course, there was a certain curiosity about what we had........what if we were about to drink a $1000 bottle of wine........but then, too, wouldn't it be great to drink a $1000 bottle of wine on our lanai, the best damn restaurant on Maui.

Caren, the Queen of Google, got on the net to pursue the question.......her answer from the winery was -

Aloha Caren,

I doubt that this wine would bring more than about $75 in today's depressed
auction market. But you might be pleasantly surprised when you pull the
cork for dinner tonight. '76 was a good year for Cabernet in northern
California. It was the first of the two drought years in that area and the
wines tended to be concentrated from the get-go. I would love to hear back
as to how the wine turned out.

Best regards,
Lonnie



Caren prepared two beautiful bacon-wrapped fillet mignon with a baked potato and white asparagus. Holding our breath we opened, decanted and, after a bit, poured the wine with great anticipation.

Welllll, put simply, it was great.. The suspense ended with a great meal and a to-die-for wine that may have cost us $4.00 when factored into the price of the collection......we felt we were winners on "Antiques Roadshow."

1 Comments:

Blogger PeggyInPrague said...

What a wonderful surprise and elegant, romantic dinner for two! Miki has a bottle of wine his father gave him over 17 years ago that we are both afraid to open because we also had no "cool" place to store it and are afraid it went bad or we are just waiting for the right occasion...what ever/when ever that may be?! Loved the story about your wine. P.

Saturday, October 24, 2009  

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