A bottle of white, a bottle of red

Last night we trekked over to Up River Cafe for some more half-price wine before the summer season. The food as excellent as always. Katie had the Filet, my mom had the Baby Chicken, my dad had the Bistro Burger, and I had the Striped Bass special. The highlight of the evening had to be my dad trying a roasted red pepper from his Calamari after the waitress warned him not to eat them. His reaction was priceless, "I think it burned off a piece of skin in my mouth." On to the wine. We started with a bottle of Cakebread Cellars 2005 Sauvignon Blanc. I was impressed, as were the other diners. My mom noticed how she couldn't really pick up the burn from the alcohol. This really stuck with me because the wine had a %14.1 alcohol content. This is becoming the new trend in wine. Harvesting the super-ripe grapes and getting great wines but with high alcohol. Typical wines used to hover around %12-%13. The wine also carried great aromas and flavors of grape fruit with a nice mineral finish. For a red we tried the 2003 Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet. What a splendid wine. This was my first experience with Caymus Vineyards, and I wasn't let down. The wine was smooth and seductive with a glorious finish that left berry flavors dancing on my tongue. I thought it went very well with the Chocolate Plate Dessert we also indulged in. It was a young wine that had a lot of power and might prove to be even more fascinating as it ages. In the end, the wine, food, but most especially, the company, made it a wonderful night. As I head off to Martha's Vineyard for the next days I'll leave you with this..."Wine is the sort of alcoholic beverage that does not destroy but enriches life; does not distort but clarifies perspective; does not seduce except in a way worth humanly being seduced."--Bill St. John