A family dinner; an amazing wine cellar

Last night Suzanne and I had another amazing experience; our good friends Joseph and Elizabeth from The Villages invited us to a family dinner at his nephew Joe’s house in Sherman Oaks. Joe has a passion for fine wines, and after serving us a glass of incredible champagne, gave us a tour of his wine cellar. I have been in one or two private homes with wine cellars that had maybe 50-60 bottles of wine, but this was like stepping into the wine cellar of a French castle. Over the past 30 years, Joe has collected about 3,500 bottles of fine wine, mostly French, but some Italian, German and American wines as well. We were absolutely stunned by the sight of so many wines, some of which represented vintages of only a few hundred bottles.    

Joe also showed us around their beautiful home, which was damaged by the Northridge earthquake in 1994. Fortunately, no one in the house was injured, and all the damage was repaired. After our tour, we set up our portable movie screen, sound system, and projector and gave a private showing of the Messages of Hope documentary. Then we sat down to a fabulous gourmet dinner, including a 200 year old family recipe for a layered dish of pork, potatoes, kale, rosemary, sage and other ingredients I’ve already forgotten. 

Joe’s son Anthony was the mastermind behind dinner; he’s a professional photographer and college professor, but he should think about opening a gourmet Italian restaurant. Anthony and his mother, Grace (Grace's daughter) are showing off the dinner creation above. Joe brought out five different wines for dinner, each one more impressive than you can imagine. Suzanne was particularly impressed by the dessert wine, which was a 1927 vintage; that’s the year her mother Ruth was born! For our wine-loving friends, here are the wines served last night:

Gloria Ferrer  Royal Cuvee 2001

Chateau de Beaucastel 1988

M. Chapoutier Monier De La Sizeranne Hermitage 1990

Chateau Pontet Canet 1952  - Suzanne's first time to drink a wine older than she is!

Alvear Solera 1927 Pedro Ximenez

The dinner was held in honor of Joe’s mother Grace, who was celebrating her 87^th birthday. It was a very special moment when everyone sang Happy Birthday to Grace and she blew out the candle on a delicious cheesecake. All of her relatives and a few friends (especially us!) were very happy to be there to help her celebrate. It was a uniquely memorable evening.

On Monday morning, we got up early to prepare for a long day’s drive; we just arr1ived in Sequoia National Park, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I solo backpacked here in the 70’s, and again for a week in 2010, and loved it. Suzanne has never seen the Sequoias; she is in for another treat on Tuesday morning when we get out hiking. But tonight may be rough; the temp is supposed to dive to 39F; today’s high was only 61. Break out the jeans and the fleece! Also, Internet connectivity here is very hard to find, so emails and blogs may be unavoidably delayed for the next 4 days. Please bear with us...