Our evening on the town may have been late by many a month but our big night out to celebrate my youngest niece, Melmo's, 16th birthday finally arrived. Melmo's passion in school is theatre. So, I figured tickets to the touring company's production of The Book of Mormon would be right up her alley.
And, boy, was it!
Of course, it didn't hurt that I've been dying to see the show for years as well.
Melmo's present included dinner out as well and she chose (wisely, I might add) to partake in some designer, Neapolitan pizza at one of our favourite hangouts - Via Tevere. To augment our festivities, I brought along a celebratory Chianti - not that Melmo partook in that. She was, however, particularly pleased that the waitress asked if she'd be joining us in a glass of wine. What 16 year old doesn't like to think that she or he might be able to pass for the legal drinking age.
I can't say that I knew much about Castello di Monsanto but this bottle somehow made it into our cellar - and I gathered it was on the higher end of Chianti. Little did I know that the winery "is widely considered one of the top dozen Chianti Classico estates of today" according to a number of sites online. Rather than recite information that others have researched far more extensively than I have, I'll just set up a link to an article where noted reviewer of Italian wines, Antonio Galloni, recounts some of the winery's history.
Il Poggio is Castello di Monsanto's flagship wine and, as a classic Chianti, it is predominantly made from the Sangiovese grape. The Sangiovese, however, is blended - to a small extent - with two other local grapes that are permitted to be added to Chianti wines: Canaiolo and Colorino. I've never been the biggest fan of Chianti - maybe because the lower end bottlings that tend to proliferate in our market don't tend to turn my crank - but this was definitely a bigger, earthier and more intense version than I'm used to. With my predilection for robust fruit, I still don't think this would be my go to wine for higher end Italian fare but it was a nice addition to our special evening.
There was no question or hesitation about our enjoyment of The Book of Mormon though. Melmo, Boo and I all laughed uproariously and thoroughly loved the musical. Of course, I shouldn't have expected anything less considering the sacrilegious content came from the warped minds behind South Park. Funnily enough, we ran into Baby Mama and Nature Boy at the theatre and they were equally enthralled with the show. I wish the show hadn't taken so long to finally arrive in Vancouver but I can't wait for it to come back again.
In retrospect, I suppose it would have been better for me to know what that "Hasa Diga Eebowai" t-shirt I bought for Melmo meant before I added it to her birthday present. At least I could say though, after learning of its F-bomb connotations during the show, that it was a joyful tune.
Chianti Classico, gourmet pizza and Broadway. Pretty darned decent, if I do say so myself.
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