A Little Caribbean Sugar

Following our post-snorkel nap, there was just enough time for a cocktail prior to joining Jeaux and Matinder for dinner.

At the suggestion of our local hosts, we revelled in two-for-one steak night at at near-by luxury resort Sugar Ridge. Built on the hillside next to a sugar cane field, everything about this resort screamed out to me, "You want to stay here if you come back to Antigua!" Okay, it's not on the beach - but I think I might be able to suffer. It's not all that much farther of a walk to the beach than from where we're currently staying - and the distance to the "wine shop" is about the same. With that in mind, who cares if the view of the water is from on high? Despite the view during cocktails seen above, it's not like our current accommodation was the be all and end all of vacation hide-aways.

For now, however, we're content to sip and visit.

1561.  N.V. La Marca Prosecco (Prosecco D.O.C. - Italy)

Upon Googling La Marca after our return home, I was surprised to see that this wine is available in Vancouver. I thought I'd be pretty safe, choosing a bottle 5700 miles from home, that I'd be able to add it to The List. Seeing as how Prosecco is invariably non-vintage and how I set my own rule that I can't add the same bottle (vintage-wise) to The List, I had to check that La Marca hadn't been already added. There are plenty of Proseccos on The List - and a number of duplicate corks have been popped - but, luckily, this was the first time La Marca has made its mark.

Bubbles and coconut shrimp. If that's not a prime objective of any Caribbean vacation, I don't know what is.

1562.  2012 Mont-Redon Réserve (Côtes du Rhône A.O.C. - France)

I've mentioned a couple times on the blog that the prevailing Caribbean heat hasn't lent itself to big reds so much. This was our one notable exception - steak night and al fresco dining. As hard as it might be to believe, we had no trouble finishing off the bottle. Indeed, I think the Côtes du Rhône was polished off before we poured the last of the Prosecco. Grenache - and its fruity ways - can have a way with folks that way, I suppose.

I don't know if it was the wine or the brilliant company that brought the big smiles to Jeaux and Matinder's faces - likely both - but it could just as easily been the fact that the restaurant actually delivered their steaks exactly as ordered - blue. Jeaux is rarely served her steak that rare; so, she was one happy girl for the entire evening. Not that a little premium sipping rum and a moonlit walk home didn't help flesh out the evening as well.

With an island cruise and a visit to the Love Beach on the morrow's schedule, we shuffled off to bed and to dreams of perfectly blue steaks and luxurious accommodations. And, naturally, adding a few more bottles to The List.