Happy 2007!

I hope all of you had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and are currently enjoying New Year’s Day as much as I am. Last night was filled with great food, great wine and great company.

As I mentioned, we dined on fondue. I used a very simple recipe using Emmentaler and Gruyère with the slight addition of some roasted garlic. For dipping, we had crusty bread, roasted Baby Dutch Yellow Potatoes, Granny Smith apples and thin slices of prosciutto.

A couple great wines accompanied this feast, both selected from my eclectic case:

Dr. Konstantin Frank Dry Riesling Finger Lakes 2005 – I can’t say enough about how well this went with the meal. It has loads of fruit balanced with zingy acidity and a long, complex, dry finish.

Torbreck Cuvee Juveniles Barossa Valley 2005 – this was a great choice for our meal, but perhaps not for everyone’s taste buds. It is entirely done in stainless steel, so the emphasis is on the fruit. Torbreck is definitely a winery to watch. We enjoyed a bottle of their Woodcutter’s semillion at a local restaurant recently, and it was fat, juicy and delicious.

We decided to save our New Year’s toast until today, so we popped a bottle of Schramsberg Brut Rosé. It’s 58% pinot noir, 42% chardonnay and 100% incredible. Delicate flavors of cherry and strawberry dance with melon, lemon and toasted bread culminating in a creamy, focused finish.

Not only that, but it’s a great match with BBQ chicken pizza. What more could you really ask for?

Best wishes for a happy and peaceful 2007 to all of you.