Wannabe Wino

Matt and I stuck around after the wine club gtg because it was late and we hadn't eaten yet. Also, it would have taken us a while to get home and actually cook something, plus I was feeling lazy. So dinner at David Greggory it was. Matt had the braised lamb shank over mashed potatoes and I had the cheese tortellini in a red cream sauce with Italian ham. Yum, I finished up the leftovers for lunch today and my whole office was jealous of my excellent smelling meal. We also tried one of the desserts, an excellent S'more in Greek's Clothing, which was a gooey, chocolately concoction all wrapped up in phyllo dough. Quite decadent. The service was excellent and the food was well prepared. We both enjoyed our meals quite a bit.

We also ordered a bottle of wine. Not the best call I've ever made, since I had to be to work at 6am, but eh, I can't say it was the worst idea I've ever had. I was a bit dissapointed in the wine menu, I have to say. Apparently they are in the midst of switching out their wine list, and are just selling down what they have left rather than restocking. But they haven't made any notations of what is there or not. So I attempted to follow the advice of the readers who have suggested I explore some European regions. I first ordered a 2003 Dr. Wagner Ockfener Bocksteint Kabinett Riesling for $34. No dice, the were sold out. When the server came back to tell me, I went for a 2002 Zellenberg Marc Tempe Pinot Blanc for $35. Again, sold out. Finally, I decided to follow Barrld of Barreled's advice and explore a bit more into New Zealand for a Sauvignon Blanc.

Apparently I'm Goldilocks (sort of fitting with my shiny new haircolor) because the third bottle was just right. I ordered a 2005 Seresin Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough for $38. It was 13.5% alcohol by volume and had a screw-cap closure. This was an incredibly light and and crisp wine, with a great light citrus flavor. I found gooseberries (yes, I finally got around to learning what they smelled like), lime, grass and hay in the nose. The citrus stood out in the mouth more than anything else, along with mineral traces. It had a nice, long finish and matched really well with out diverse dinners. I found it online for $19 and change.

Leah of DC Gastronome told me a few weeks ago that she and some friends were hosting a wine happy hour today. I had said I could probably make it, and Matt and I made plans to attend. Now, come to find out, Leah is the new co-host of Meetup DC's Wine Group! (I was slightly confused when the second invite showed up in my non-blog email, but quickly figured it out.) And, tonight's activity is her happy hour.

I have yet to attend a Meetup event, so this will be my first. And it looks good. It will be held at David Greggory in DC, with I gather is on the corner of 21st and M. Happy hour starts at 4:30pm and goes until 10:00pm. The Meetup group is scheduled to gather at 6ish. I'll be there, with Matt in tow and I'd love to meet some new people in the area...I just moved here in September and don't know a lot of folks yet (especially any that really enjoy wine!).

Looks like the specials are $4.75 wines by the glass (doesn't say which wines though), $4.25 Microbrew Drafts, Smirnoff vodka drinks $5.00 and Sangira for $3.75. Some good looking appetizer specials, all at $5.00 and a small but tasty looking regular menu. Fairly decent wine menu, though a bit lacking in bottles under the $30 mark....oh well, hopefully the wine by the glass specials will be interesting!

So come on out! I'll be the one in a gray suit and I now have kind of blonde hair (my picture up in the corner was taken in October when I decided to be auburn for the fall/winter until I got bored of it last week.) Hope to see you there!