Della's Birthday - January 4, 2007

Della was born January 4, 1999. As daughters go, she's as wonderful as any father could hope. Every year, her birthday party culimates all of the festivities surrounding the holidays. In addition to Christmas and New Year's, these festivities also include Anne's birthday (on the 27th) and my parent's anniversary (on the 28th). Of course the restaurant is as busy as it could possibly be for the weeks leading up to and during the holidays. By the time January 4th rolls around, I'm ready for some relief.

Some years ago, I had the idea to find some wine of note that I would buy a fair quantity of so as to open one bottle each year on Della's birthday. To commemorate her birth year, the wine's vintage needed to be 1999 and it needed to be age worthy so that we had something to enjoy for years to come. In October I found what I was looking for. Two cases of 1999 Chateau Montelena "Estate" Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley were delivered to my office from the Montana distributor. It's a good thing that we had a great summer as the wine cost me $93.34 per bottle. Nothing's to good for my daughter!

Here's the plan... each year on Della's birthday we'll open one of the bottles, sharing it with those who may be celebrating with us. (I'm filled with thoughts that Della's birthday party will become one of the most coveted invitations of the year.) As Della grows older I'm sure she'll start to partake in tasting her "birthday wine," but on her 21st birthday she'll be presented with the unopened bottles. Here's hoping they continue to get better with time.

Together with Anne, Anne's folks and my folks, I opened the first bottle of the birthday wine. It was just the family at our house for spaghetti dinner, ice cream birthday cake and presents. I decanted the wine about one hour before serving. As expected it was tighter than a nut. The fruit shows promise and put a smile of relief on my face as we drank it. This is going to be a fun few years. This was Della's 8th birthday so, by my calculations, we'll do this 13 more times before handing over the remaining 10 bottles to Della.

As far as the wine goes, there's nothing more to say other that it was the perfect compliment to an 8th birthday party.