Visiting with a friend of mine at a Christmas party last week, we got to talking about some good wines and the friends we enjoyed them with over the past twelve months. As I was driving around town yesterday and started thinking about the places and people that were a part of my wine experiences this past year, the first thing that came to mind was how fortunate I am to have such a great group of friends and co-workers that share my love of food and wine. I was invited to a few memorable wine dinners and traveled to a number of beautiful wine regions for work, though it didn’t always feel like work.

 I had dinner with a couple of dear friends, Vince & Holly, in March. Anytime we get together it is always fun and the wines we enjoyed this year with the roast tenderloin were very good: wines like the 1989 La Mission Haut Brion and ’89 Lynch-Bages. Vince has always been of the mind that great wine is meant to drink and share with his friends and has always been extremely generous.

 I had an opportunity to travel with Bill Stobbs, a contributor to this blog, and a few others to Tuscany in the spring and visited the properties owned by Bruna Baroncini, a very fascinating woman who is producing some incredible Rosso, Brunello and Reserva wines from her Poggio Castellare property in Tuscany. While there, we had a chance to do something one morning in the tasting room at Castellare that doesn’t happen too often: we were able to taste through the last six vintages of Bruna’s Reserva, 2004 through 2009, with the winemaker. To see the difference each year made on the character of the wine was a real treat. After that we sat outside in a courtyard under a linen canopy and had a lunch of Italian meats, cheeses, olives, wonderful tomatoes, and bread that you dream about, all washed down with delicious Tuscan Rose. The sun was shining, a gentle breeze was blowing and we were surrounded by the sights and sounds of Tuscany. A great lunch!

These were a couple of the terrific wine and food experiences for 2010 and hope to have some more in 2011. If you have any to share, feel free to post them in the comments section.

Ken Amendola, Wine Supervisor, North Florida