After a lengthy layoff, incredible how much time a relocation takes,
my New Year's resolution was to get back to writing about some of the
wines, good and bad, that I've come across. Now that I live amongst the
many vineyards of Northern Virginia, yes, Virginia has vineyards, I'm
motivated to share some of my discoveries, as well as some of the duds
I've come across. All that being said let's get busy.
Over the Christmas holidays I found myself back in Arkansas visiting relatives and had the opportunity to dine at Ristorante Capeo
in the Argenta section of North Little Rock, Arkansas. Yes, North
Little Rock actually has sections! There were four in our party and
much good food was consumed. If you ever find yourself in North Little
Rock/Little Rock, they are two separate cities, stop by and try their
Lamb Shank, Double Cut Pork Chop, Chilean Sea Bass or their Halibut, all
of which are excellent. I personally had the Pork Chop which was
finished with a brandy and parsley butter that just made the dish. Of
course the chop was man-sized which is not a bad thing. My only
complaint about this restaurant is that their pacing is just a little
off. There was enough time between the appetizers and the main courses
that we ended up buying a second bottle of the 2007 Schug Carneros Pinot
Noir and then a third about half way through our entrees. Come to
think of it, their slow pacing may be by design? An excellent,
excellent Pinot Noir that I highly recommend. A full nose of cherries
and oak greeted me followed by flavors of blackberry, a little currant
and a smoothy, is that a word?, oak flavored spicy kind of thing and a
simply wonderful finish. Not sure what this cost in the restaurant as
the uncle-in-law treated on this night but shows availability at the
winery website at $24.00 which is outside my day-t0-day price point but
fits nicely in my "special occasion" range. Right out of the box I gave
this one 5 Corkscrews, which was a huge increase in my rating of the
2005 Schug Pinot Noir. Evidently the grapes that went into the 2007
bottling had a much better growing life than the 2005's. Sit Long, Talk
Much, Laugh Often, and Find the 2007 Schug Pinot Noir somewhere!
