A Return of the Skipper

We had a nice chance to have dinner and spend an evening catching up with our buddy Skipper and his man GQ.  Skip was one of our original Wine Boyz but he had to leave us for love and move to the Centre of the (Love) Universe, Toronto.  Seems that, as much as GQ was a man of dreams, he was a tad GU (geographically undesirable) when they first started dating.  

A bundle of airline points is a wonderful thing, but bi-coastal living and loving will eventually take its toll - and the chance to slog back a few bottles with us isn't necessarily enough to keep anyone in Vancity.

Truth be known, Skipper might be more of a gin man than a wino, but he's an equal opportunity drinker and we managed to open a couple of bottles - after we'd finished off that first classic martini.

67.  2005 Salvalai Monile Ripasso (Valpolicella DOC Superiore - Italy)

The hunt for a "go to" ripasso continued with this bottle.  It went over well with our guests and the lasagna but I'm not sure that it was such that I couldn't go on without another glass.  The packaging is smart though and I wouldn't say "no" if someone were to bring along another bottle for dinner.

68.  NV Saturna Estate Vinsera (Gulf Islands - BC)

Most of the BC wines we drink are from the Okanagan or Similkameen but we have run across a number of nice wines from Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands over the years.  We picked up some of this "port-style" fortified wine last summer when we were invited to spend a weekend on Saturna Island with friends.  I'm a total sucker for fortifieds, stickies, dessert wines, etc., and this one didn't disappoint.  It's a non-vintage wine but it's a fairly new addition to the winery's portfolio since 2007 was the first year that they started producing the wine.  

It's made with 100% Island grown pinot noir and pinot meunier and had some niceof the caramel and toffee flavours that I like.  Too bad that it was only a 375ml bottle.

It was great to catch up with Skipper and GQ and equally nice to know that we're still going to get the odd opportunity to add them as drinking buddies on The List.