Funny thing. . .we’ve gone almost an entire year of trying new wines, different wines, red wines, white wines, California wines, Australian wines, French wines, Italian wines–you get the picture.  Each night has been totally different, but it seems that there has been some repetitiveness during our timeline.  It seems that we’ve visited a familiar topic at some point in the past.

Tonight was one of Brian’s all time favorite movies. . .Francis Ford Coppola’s, The Godfather.  Every once in a while, AMC Network has “Mob Week” which will feature films having to do with–you guessed it–The Mob!  With so many brilliant actors and actresses, in today’s movie world we doubt that ‘The Godfather’ would ever get made.  The credits are like a Who’s Who of Hollywood royalty. . .from Brando and Pacino to Keaton and Duvall. . .there wasn’t a bad performance in the picture.  To have been an audience member in 1972 when the movie debuted must have been a rude awakening. . . even by today’s standards, the violence is gratuitous yet believable, mild and, it never gets old.  The Godfather is a timeless classic with a classic story line, and it’s written and directed with such precision that surely audiences were on the edge of their seats from start to finish.

The legend was enhanced two years later when The Godfather Part II came out.  With many of the same cast members, it really was two movies in one–a continuation of the original picture and a historical account of the rise of ‘the family’ in America.  The American History alone makes them both worth watching. . .it’s cinematography and story-telling at its’ best.  Watching ‘The Godfather’ turns out to be the perfect way to wrap up the first day of the week. . .it was an offer we couldn’t refuse.

To enhance the movie-watching experience, we opened a 2010 La Quercia Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo. . .a wine we picked up at East End Wines in Austin.  For just under $14 a bottle, this young, fruity wine has some aging to do in the bottle; however, if you MUST enjoy it now, you’ll find a full flavor profile but with hints of tartness that keeps it from being an amazing wine.  Hopefully, this wine will get better with age; we’d suggest you buy the wine and cellar it for about 4-6 years.  It’s a little musty on the nose; the palette is fine but nothing stands out. . .there is some earth, dark fruit, maybe even, lead.  The fruit shows more with food, dark dried raspberry and black cherry. Dry but short finish.  Yes, there are better wines out there, but for the money, this is a good buy, and the folks at East End Wines really know how to pick winners!

So, if you’re a DIE-HARD blog reader of ours, your job is to tell us what day and what wine we last wrote about ‘The Godfather’. . .we’ll enter all of the correct answers into a hat for a chance to wine–you guessed it–a bottle of wine.  That’s all for today. . .enjoy your favorite wine responsibly and remember to recycle whenever possible.