Layla's birthday, good BBQ and good wine

Wednesday night we had a few dogs (oh and their owners came too) for Layla’s first birthday party. (I apologize but we all forgot to take pics) They romped and frolicked and it is glorious to have a tired dog for a few days. People are always amazed at how Layla will just still be hopping around when the other dogs are pooped. Well, the fact she’s still a puppy- just turned a year – has something HUGE to do with it, but I also liken it to when you visited a your sister/brother or friend’s sister/ brother in college. Even the most experienced of a high school partier had a hard time keeping up with the college partying lifestyle. So imagine its 3am, you’re exhausted but you are so excited you’re here at college. You figure you can sleep another day – you’re partying on. Or is your first spring break trip. That's the level of commitment to partying I'm talking about. That is how Layla feels. She won’t waste one minute of potential playtime. Well, if look really closely, you might catch her laying down for a minute, but that’s about it. :)

Anyway, while the dogs were playing we were eating a brisket I smoked Tuesday. (yes, Mr. Lush is not the only grill-capable person) I was off Tuesday afternoon and thought I’d throw a half brisket on the smoker to give us something to eat on Wednesday night. It smoked from 1-9:45. Then we put it in the fridge, sliced it up yesterday, and warmed it up on the grill in BBQ sauce. Y-U-M. I do adore a good brisket sandwich. Of course, we had wine. Really, everything we had was good with the BBQ and since we’re coming up on grilling season, I thought I’d share what we had. Note that my BBQ rub and chosen sauce (Supersmokers Championship Sauce) both have a smidge of kick so the wine needs to go well with slightly spicy yet sweet BBQ.

• The 2006 Ventana Rubystone. Now, we had this earlier this month and thought it would be a good hot weather red and good with BBQ. It didn’t let down.
• The Cameron Hughes Lot 111 Zin. Also reviewed in an earlier post. It was also fantastic with the BBQ.
• 2005 Solis Merlot- a recent shipment from Gold Medal Wine Club that some friends brought. We had this towards the tail end of the eating, but I managed to have another ½ sandwich with it to assess its BBQ fit. (I know, the sacrifices I make for wine research!) It was good with the BBQ and by itself.
  

After dinner we tried another contender for the “Old World Wanna-Be’s”: 2005 Carmichael Sur Le Pont, a Rhone style blend. Syrah (80%) Mourvedre (14%) Carignane (5%) and Grenache (1%). A little bit of chocolate, a little bit of smoke, a little bit of plum. Nice body and good finish. I think we have a winner and will probably be taking this with us to my wine club meeting next month.

All in all it was a good time. Layla got a chance to play with her two boyfriends, (hopefully she did her job and wore them out as well) and we got to have some good food and good wine with good friends.