For Ernie’s significant birthday this year, I convinced him to meet me in Europe since I was headed there for meetings. We connected in Brussels, enjoying a couple days in the city before heading down to Mons for a conference. Mons is a beautiful little town on a hill that is exquisitely lit at night.

While there, the hotel recommended La Table du Boucher restaurant, which was wonderful. Per its translated name (the butcher’s table), the restaurant focuses on meat. They also have wonderful cheeses and other delicious food. Since we were dining a la Française, we went with a Cornas wine, a 2011 Domaine Durand Eric et Joel. It was a beautiful wine - bold with some black pepper on the palate, and perfect for the two beef dishes that we ordered. Ernie ended dinner with an assortment of brie cheeses, along with an interesting local beer. A delightful dinner - I hope I have reason to return to this restaurant!

Enjoying a 2011 Cornas at La Table du Boucher in Mons, Belgium.

Beautiful veal and steak dinners with the wine.

Brie cheeses with a Belgian dessert beer.

The next day, we had a fun treat. While walking through The Hague with my colleague, we had wandered into a wine shop (gee, I wonder why?). The shopkeeper was very excited about a new set of wines he had acquired - from Armenia! According to his story, the winemaker had discovered old vineyards in the mountains pf Mount Ararat near where Noah's Ark is supposed to be. They decided to make wines that were native to Armenia from these old vineyards, rather than plant more common varietals. I was intrigued, so I bought a bottle of Zorah Wines’ 2012 Karasì. (Now, when Ernie tells the story, he says that if I had bought 6 bottles, I could have gotten a free ride on the Ark!)

Rather than take the bottle on our flight the next day, we acquired three glasses from the hotel and uncorked the bottle. The wine is made from the Areni Noir grape, which is local to Armenia. It was full bodied, a bit on the tannic side, but really interesting. It would probably age well - this was a 2012, so another few years most likely would have softened the tannins. It was fun to drink, and my colleague and Ernie and I laughed about my willingness to pick up a completely unknown bottle to try. Ernie was disappointed that he hadn't brought along his recipe for Armenian meatballs - it might have made a great combination! An interesting note: I did research the wine - there is a really fun wine blog you should read if you are interested. In fact, the Zorah vineyards were indeed found among the archaeological ruins of a monastery, and they had survived there, hidden, from the various political regimes that controlled that region for several hundred years. Kudos to the Zorah folks - I wish them success in their future ventures for keeping the winemaking tradition and the native Armenian grapes alive in this area.

We flew to Italy the next day, which was Ernie’s birthday. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed, so we didn’t arrive at our destination (Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast) until around 10:30 PM. However, it was his birthday, we hadn’t had anything to eat, so we went out to find an open restaurant. Fortunately Porto San Giorgio is a beach town, and there were a large number of people out and about. We went to the Pizzeria Ristorante Altamarea Di D’Angelo Claudio (or Altamarea, for short) right across the street from the beach. It was 80 degrees out, with a lovely breeze, so we ate outside. What a great meal! Pizza with cheese, sausage, and mushrooms; a seafood salad for Ernie; and a garden salad with shrimp for me. Since our friend, Chef Davide, had recommended the winery, we tried the Ciù Ciù Passerina Evoè 2014. It was perfect with our pizza and seafood salads - bright, fresh, and citrusy to complement the lemon-based dressings on the salads. And to top it off, the Altamarea provided a pitcher of Limoncello - yummy. A very happy birthday celebration for Ernie.

A great introduction to Le Marche wines - Ciù Ciù's Passerina Evoè 2014.

A wonderful sausage, mushroom, and cheese pizza - yummy!

Seafood salad and an Insalata Mista with shrimp.

Complimentary Limoncello, complete with plastic cups!