Afternoon Patio at the Belmont

It was a beautiful Memorial Day weekend, and we were looking for a great patio to enjoy while drinking some delicious wine. The Belmont answered beautifully! With Thomas’ help, we settled in for a lovely afternoon.

You can’t try and pair wine without food to pair it with, so we first ordered ourselves the Cheese Course charcuterie board and the Truffle Fries. The Cheese Course came with a hard cheese and a soft (holy smokes, the soft cheese was amazing), as well as a salami and a prosciutto. It was a beautiful board. And don’t you just love the smell of truffle fries??

Since there were 3 of us, we ordered 3 glasses of wine to try—and then Bart couldn’t help himself and ordered a 4th. So, first up:

The Kysera Père et Fils, Picpoul de Pinet, 2022.

You won’t be alone if you’re asking yourself, “What on Earth is that?” Picpoul de Pinet is a region in the larger Languedoc region of France, making dry white wines from a grape called Piquepoul. Isn’t that just a fun grape name to say? It means “lip stinger” because it’s so acidic. So we expected this to be tart as well, but we were very surprised by this delicious little wine. Acidity in wine comes across as how much it makes your mouth water, so it doesn’t necessarily taste tart or sharp. And this one doesn’t. It does have both the smell and taste of lemon, but maybe more of a Meyer lemon, and it also has peaches in it. A really great combo! It’s smooth and light and very enjoyable, and we were all very happy with this wine. It was GREAT with the charcuterie (though maybe a little overpowered by the truffle fries), and it really brought out the flavor of the cheeses. DELICIOUS. We really encourage you to branch out and try this oddball white wine.

Second: the Anciano Garnacha, Rioja, 2022.

Though this wine comes from the Rioja region of Spain, which typically uses the Tempranillo grape, this particular wine is made from Garnacha. You may know it better by its French name, Grenache, though this grape originally came from Spain.

This particular wine has an earthy smell to it, like many wines from Rioja, but it also smells like delicious cherries. Then when you taste it, the taste comes across more like strawberries when you cook them down, as well as a touch of licorice. Katie will admit that French Grenache is typically not a favorite wine for her (but everyone has their own preferences—Katie’s husband loves Grenache). However, Garnacha from Spain is a wine Katie enjoys, and all 3 of us at the Belmont liked this wine the best of all we had that day. It went really well with the meats on the charcuterie board and the truffle fries, and we’d be happy to go repeat the experience all over again. Bart thinks he’ll buy some of this to have at home!

Next up: the Hedges Family Wines C.M.S., 2021, from Columbia Valley, Washington. As its name suggests, this is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah.

When we got our noses into this one, it reminded Bart of the smell of Fig Newtons, mixed in with some bing cherries and vanilla. It doesn’t taste a lot like vanilla, however, and you really do get those dried fig notes and black cherry flavors. If you have some of this with the meat from the charcuterie board, it tastes even fruitier and brighter. This also went well with the truffle fries.

We were having such a great time at The Belmont that we didn’t want to leave, so Bart ordered us one more glass of wine. This time, we went with:

The Cult Wine Co, Cabernet Sauvignon, from Lodi in California.

This is a delicious California Cab, smelling like tobacco and blackberries and tasting like comfort. You get those lovely black fruit notes with a little vanilla, very balanced and rich and full of enjoyment. It provoked a “That’s nice,” from Bart, which is what he says when he immediately likes something and needs a moment to ponder it. He thinks he may need to buy this wine for home as well. This wine went best with the truffle fries. Fantastic.

Thank you to The Belmont and Thomas for giving us exactly what we wanted on a beautiful weekend afternoon. We’re eager to come back!!