More Surprises

Surprise #1 - We're starting off with a shot of Absolut - both literally and photographically. It's not like I'm adding a bottle of vodka to The List of our 2001 wines, but this man does not live by wine alone - and it was a good shot. It was also a way to celebrate the three gold medals that Sweden has won at the Games so far. I'm pretty darned sure that I'm not going to run across one of the few bottles of wine actually produced in Sweden, so this may be our only means of taking a hit in our Olympic quest for the Swedes.

Before I started this blog, martinis probably played a much bigger role in our libationary habits and Elzee has helped taste test more than a couple of our forays to discover yet another path to martini perfection.

Surprise #2 - Elzee likely needed a stiffer drink than a glass of wine when we shocked her with the appearance of Merlot Boy. MB had asked us to keep his arrival a surprise from her as well as Daveyboi - until he could surprise her in person. We just hadn't been able to fit in a visit with her over the past weekend. We invited her to join us for dinner and a drink with Merlot Boy's visiting buddy, Adam, and she definitely gave us the biggest whoop when "Adam" came down the stairs.

We ventured off to try a new restaurant in our our end of town that was getting a good bit of buzz - The Poor Italian Trattoria. Surprise #3 - We're drinking a BC wine at an Italian restaurant. In fact, it was the only BC red on their wine list - a list that was almost completely Italian. Don't get me wrong, I didn't have any qualms about the wine list - when eating Italian, I'd generally look to a good Italian red. It's just that I've got this little Olympic gold medal theme to deal with and the Italians simply haven't been holding up their end of the bargain. Three bronze and a silver but no gold. Since Canada won another gold in Figure Skating - Ice Dance yesterday, we'll just have enjoy another one from the home team.

374. 2007 CedarCreek Pinot Noir (VQA Okanagan Valley)

CedarCreek is well known for its Pinot Noir. It's been one of the pioneers of the varietal in the Okanagan for many a year now. When Boo and I turn to CedarCreek for Pinot though, we usually look at splurging at their Platinum label Pinot. We had a memorable bottle of that almost a decade ago and it became one of those bottles that simply resonated with us and became a priority choice. I'll have to think about grabbing their "entry" level wine a little more often as this we had no problem finishing off this bottle and the $10 price difference ($20 vs. $30) on a regular basis would allow us to buy even more.

As for being a regular at The Poor Italian, I definitely wouldn't say that I won't return. It was a great evening. The food was plenty. The service was attentive for the most part (if perhaps a bit over familiar). But it lacked any wow factor that would have won Italy its first gold medal.

Neither the dinner, nor the wine, and not even Elzee could coax a sip of wine from Merlot Boy though. We're going to have to look at changing his blog name.