January 28, 2016 Lunch – The Shed, Reserve Wine Tasting at Taos Winter Wine Festival

January 28, 2016 Lunch – The Shed, Reserve Wine Tasting at Taos Winter Wine Festival

After a lovely bowl of fresh blueberries and yogurt Suzette and I drove to town for my 9:00 hearing.  I was called to the lectern three times so it was important that I attend the hearing.  The most interesting thing said was when Judge Weschsler asked Lead attorney for the State Laurie Knowles, “when do you anticipate this adjudication being completed?” When she answered, “Optimistically by 2045,.” You could almost hear all the attorneys internal career retirements clocks turning in their heads. Mine stopped at 98.  I almost wanted to go to the lectern and say, “My fondest hope is we all are in attendance together on the day the completion of this case is celebrated.”

When the hearing ended at 11:10 I walked to The Shed on Palace and found all seven of the group already seated at the table for eight in the large main dining room and ordering.  I quickly gave my order, No. 5 with extra onions and beef with red sauce and double Posole.  That is an order I have been giving for the last forty-five years I the same location.  My first introduction to New Mexican food was at the Shed, so I have imprinted it as the most authentic form of New Mexican food and always feel good returning to The Shed to eat it.  I guess you could say it is now part of my cultural DNA.

Suzette then drove us to Taos as I napped.  When we arrived we drove to the rental house off Witt Rd.  It was a lovely four bedroom house with living room , kitchen/dining room and atrium.  

At 4:00 we drove to Monte Sagrado for the Reserve tasting that began at 4:30.  We went in at 4:30, grabbed our glasses, hung our coats, and started drinking and eating.  This year both the wine and food was good,  among the foods stand outs was a pork lettuce wrap, tuna tartare and beef tartare.  There was also a seafood ceviche and lots of other delicious dishes.  The wines were almost all superb.  We started with an Archer’s Summit and things did not go down much from there.  Here are some off the bottles I liked:

The best syrah was Jaffur. My here were lots of great pinots, but two in particular were Archer’s Summit from the Willamette Valley, a huge complex fruity pinot and at the other extreme, Calera’s Ryan Vineyard pinot, spare and chalky with strong tannins.  Strangely, I liked the Merryvale a Cab a lot.  We all agreed the best white was the Sancerre.

At 7:00 we drove home and were in bed soon after

Bon Appetit