As part of the annual ThanksGavin celebration it’s traditional for us to do a home dinner on Friday night, historically cooked by my cousin Abbe. But this year she abdicated the job to her brother Matt and his wife Andrea.

NV Casa Vinicola Botter Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Santi Nello. Bubbly to start. Zingy acids, excellent minerality, very small fizzy bubbles. Ultra refreshing.

More fancy olives.

The return of the artichokes.

Bread.

2007 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Vergelesses. Burghound 90. As would reasonably be expected, there is just more here in every dimension with a more complex and more elegant nose that is layered and very fresh and this refinement continues onto the nicely concentrated middle weight flavors that display evident minerality on the sappy, intense and mouth coating finish that lingers and lingers. This is a terrific Savigny blanc and recommended.

My dad is in charge of cheeses, which means some stinkers.

And the “separated” non-stinky plate.

1995 Paitin di Pasquero-Elia Barbaresco Sorì Paitin. IWC 91. Medium red, some amber at the rim. Plum, cherry and enticing smoky, toasty oak on the nose. Smoky, sweet and velvety, with insinuating flavor. Has firm backbone and finishes with some oak tannins but avoids dryness. Rather Pommard-like in its solidity.

agavin: this particular bottle had more funk on the nose than usual.

Homemade manicotti, stuffed with ricotta and smothered in mozzarella.

A version without the mozz for those who aren’t THAT into cheese. Not me.

1996 Faiveley Corton-Clos des Cortons Faiveley. IWC 94. Deep ruby color. Multidimensional aromas of violet, coffee, dried rose, clove, rare steak and seductive oak. Huge and tactile; really implodes in the mouth today. Extremely deep and lush, with the sheer sweetness to buffer its considerable acids and tannins. Oaky. Finishes extremely long, with very fine, tooth-coating tannins. With aeration, some of the baby fat melted away, and the wine’s powerful structure was manifest. Headspinning, old-style Burgundy, and very impressive. One to buy and cellar.

The main dish consisted of roasted pork sandwiches. Here they are coming out of the oven, notice the big hunks of bacon/pork fat added for flavor.

Matt sliced the meat.

And warmed it in its own jus.

Any pig haters had the option of turkey, a giant sliced breast borrowed from one of the previous night’s birds.

And provolone of two types, the regular and the aged sharp kind. Both from the Italian market.

Plus some very serious roasted peppers. These had a big hot long burn to them.

And sautéed broccoli rabe.

Fennel and celery salad.

Here is the plate with a bit of everything.

1994 Leoville-Las Cases. Parker 92-95. Michel Delon, a great man, is the consummate proprietor, meticulously administering this vast estate spread out along the St.-Julien/Pauillac border, separated from Latour’s finest vineyard by a mere ten feet. The 1993-95 vintages from Delon are brilliant wines. Leoville-Las-Cases remains one of the irrefutable reference points for high class Bordeaux. One of the more massive Medocs of the vintage, this opaque purple-colored wine exhibits fabulous richness and volume in the mouth. Layers of pure black-cherry and cassis fruit are intermixed with stony, mineral-like scents, as well as high quality toasty oak. Medium to full-bodied, with a sweet, rich entry, this wine possesses plenty of tannin, yet fabulous extract and length. Leoville-Las-Cases is one of the half-dozen great wines of the Medoc in 1994. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2025. This lion never falls asleep on the job!

Matt also “whipped up” some homemade pumpkin pie from scratch. There was a bit of ginger in there.

The actual pie itself.

And the brownie’s return.

These chessboard fudge squares were made by my cousin-in-law (cousin’s wife) Itsuki.

Overall, another fabulous evening of great food and company. Bravo Matt and Andrea.