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Dinner With Friends in Baltimore County

A casual dinner with good friends included tasty, homemade gnocchi stuffed with spinach and cheese.

The wines included a fine bottle of non-vintage brut from Billecart Salmon, one of my favorite Champagne houses. That was followed by an exquisite bottle of the exotic 2002 SQN Whisperin' E ... from magnum no less. This blend of Chardonnay, Roussanne, and Viognier boasted wonderful litchi nut and honeyed tropical fruits with excellent acidity. It could have easily passed for a top vintage of Guigal Condrieu La Doriane. Next came an ethereal Châteauneuf du Pape, the blueberry, garrigue , peppery, incredibly perfumed and intense 2003 Pierre Usseglio Mon Aïeul. It is hard to resist this soft, opulent, extravagantly rich Châteauneuf, but I suspect it will evolve for 15 or more years. We finished with the appropriately named 2005 Mollydooker The Boxer, a 100% Shiraz cuvée from Sarah and Sparky Marquis. Dense, rich, and full-bodied with abundant notes of blackberry liqueur intermixed with notions of charcoal and flowers, this super-rich red was a huge hit with our friends.

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