Castelvero Cortese

[Innkeeper]

Interesting day today. Had to bring my true love over to Blue Hill for a massage this morning. So, I drifted on down to the B.H. Wine Shop and chit chatted for an hour or so, and only ended up with four bottles. More about them in coming weeks. As I was getting ready to go, I mentioned that it was true love's birthday (won't mention her age, but I turn 64 on Oct 10 and she is six weeks older). My friends in the wine store recommended a neat restaurant about twenty miles down peninsula in Stonington called Lily's Cafe. I asked if the cafe served wine; and they said, "No, but they only have a $2 corkage fee, and we have some cold whites right here."

2002 Castelvero, Cortese, Piemonte ($7 B.H.W.S.). It is a very refreshing medium bodied (11% alcohol) wine that was just about perfect for this situation. We had crab cakes make from fresh crab meat, napped with light curry mayonnaise; accompanied with lovely salad and fresh bread. Finished up with banana cake with sour cream frosting. There went the lo-carb diet, but birthdays only come once a year. The corkage bought two fairly decent stems and the offer of an opener that, of course, we didn't need. Recommend the restaurant and the wine if you ever find yourself in this part of Maine. The whole thing with wine, food, corkage, tax, and tip came to just under $55.