So Valentine’s Day is over, but Easter is coming and aren’t all holidays associated with chocolate?

“punishing percentages of cacao” have been the height of chocolate connoisseurship until recently. Now, milk chocolate, really, really good dark milk chocolate is making a come-back, according to The NYTers tested 30 milk chocolates and “found a surprising range of flavors… from butterscotch to near-black.” Near-black is a flavor?

The favorites: Guittard, Theo and ScharffenBerger from the US and from Europe, Michel Cluizel and Valrhona.

All made fabulous hot chocolate when simply melted and stirred into hot milk, a drink known in Argentina as a “submarino.” Yum!

The Wine Century Club elected Nan Jennings, Flight’s Sommelier, Secretary of the newly formed French Broad Chapter. Nan is a recipient of the Wine Century Award which means, I think, that she tasted and identified 100 different grape varieties. (Nan, please comment!) The only requirement to join this club which meets every other month to, what else? drink wine, is that you enjoy wine!

Check out this photo of the new chapter for faces you might know. Looks like a rowdy group to me.

is NCAA basketball. The ACC Tournament is March 13 through 16th in Charlotte. Go Heels!

Flight is offering, at Jack Hastings’ recommendation, Bushmills 10-year single malt whiskey on St. Paddy’s Day (March 15) for half off the regular price. I didn’t know much about Irish whiskey even though I’m Irish, but Jack’s story intrigued me: Bushmills claims to be the oldest licensed distillery. Despite a lack of historical evidence, it is believed that troops of King Henry II enjoyed the taste of Bushmills some 400 years before the distillery became officially licensed in 1608 by King James I. In 1784 the Bushmills Distillery became an officially registered company. From 1740 to 1910 Irish emigrants to the USA spread the word of Bushmills, and it soon became a huge success at international spirit and whiskey competitions.Also offered at half-price on St. Paddy’s Day: Guinness (pronounced IPA: /ˈgɪnɨs/) beer, which is, according to wikipedia, a dry stout that originated in Arthur Guinness’s St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. The beer is based upon the porter style that originated in London in the early 1700s. It is one of the most successful beer brands in the world, being exported worldwide. The distinctive feature in the flavour is the roasted barley which remains unfermented. For many years a portion of the beer was aged to give a sharp lactic flavour, but Guinness has refused to confirm if this still occurs. The thick creamy head is the result of a nitrogen mix being added during the serving process. It is extremely popular with the Irish and is the best-selling alcoholic drink of all time in Ireland, where Guinness & Co. makes almost €2billion annually.

We barely have time to turn around and it’s Easter, March 23. Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20).

This “dating of Easter” is based on the lunar calendar that the Hebrews
used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. Here are a couple of things you might be interested in!

Based on the above, Easter can actually only be one (1) day earlier -
March 22, but that is pretty rare.

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of
our lives! And only the most elderly of our population (95 years old or
above!) have ever seen it this early.

None of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier.

Here are the facts:

The last time it was this early was 1913 so, if you’re 95 or older,
you are the only ones that were around for that.

The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today
has or will ever see it any earlier than this year.

The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year
2228 - 220 years from this year.

The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year
2285 - 277 years from this year.

Where did you get that special bottle? Was it a gift? Or a special occasion? Why have you saved it? Is it expensive or sentimental?

Click comments below this entry. You will then be asked to register, but it’s quick. Then, leave your story before and after “Open That Bottle” night, February 23.

We’re waiting to hear from you! Best story will win a special bottle of wine!

…in a wine bottle.” (Dorothy j Gaiter and John Brecher in the Wall St. Journal, Friday, January 25)

I wish I could link you to the above referenced article in the Wall St. Journal, but I can’t. So, I’m going to tell you about it.

February 23 is Open That Bottle Night.

If you’ve never heard of such, it is the night that has been designated as the moment to open a bottle of wine you’ve been saving for a special occasion that never comes along. So, special bottle sits and sits.

“Carolyn Pearce of Kerrville, Texas is finally going to open a bottle of wine she calls “Nancy.” It’s a Corbett Canyon Chardonnay that was served at a salute to Nancy Reagan during the Republican National Convention in New Orleans in 1988. After the event, a Secret Servie agent gave two bottles of the wine, specially marked for the occasion, to his girlfriend and her roommate, who were both medical residents at the time. The girlfriend soon opened the wine and forgot it, but the roommate, Dr. Pearce, saved it. Next month, she and her husband will open the wine. With a backup bottle.”

Because often that “special wine” has gone very wrong.

Here’s the pitch: Come to Flight for Open The Bottle night. We’ll waive the corkage fee and provide a (not free, but half price) backup bottle ON THE CONDITION you tell your wine story to flightsavorfare.com

Now you all know all of our customers are treated as if they were celebrities and mostly our celebrities are treated like our customers, if you get what I mean. But we have had some very interesting folk to dine with us.

When Mary Easley, the Gov’s wife, came to dinner, she apologized for bringing “the guys” with her. One of her guys stood by the front door all night and the other one guarded the back exit. There was a definite buzz in Flight, but we soon were deep in conversation and forgot about the guys, although we did remember to send them out with a to-go box. It’s a little known fact that Sam Neill and Mary Pippin Easley sat next to each other through three years of law school at Wake Forest.

David Hardee, Sam Neill, Nancy Neill, and Nan Jennings

Truly It Was The Best Wine Dinner Yet!

We hope you were there, if you weren’t, we wished you were. The wine was outstanding and the food was yummy. The presentation was as fine as NYC has to offer.

Flight Wood Grill and Carina Cellars Menu

Flashed-seared ahi tuna with a beet and soy reduction
2006 Central Coast Viognier
1200 case production

Foie gras with crab and perigueux
2004 Santa Barbara County Syrah
1200 case production

Sea bass with umami influenced sauce and black truffles
2005 Santa Ynez Valley Syrah “7 Percent”
500 case production

Hanger steak with cherry gastrique and pomme frites
2006 Clairvoyant, 55% Syrah, 33% Grenache, 12% Mourvedre
400 case production

Flourless chocolate cake with fresh raspberry coulis
2003 Iconoclast 2003 Syrah/Cabernet blend
140 case production

Hendersonville Epicurean interviewed Chef Rob — who knew his food thing started at the famed Miami hotel, the Fountainebleu? I hope it’s the same place and not some cheesy knockoff because Hendersonville Epic spelled it Fountain Blue. Check it out - Rob can really dish.

Normally, I would write a few lines about these Italian wines — “fruity and light, pair well with informal food from pizza to roast beef sandwiches” and then link to the rest of the article. The Wall St. Journal, however, does not allow access unless you are a paid subscriber, a paid on-line subscriber at that. Rupert Murdoch, the extremely new owner of the WSJ, says he plans to change that. In the meantime, here’s what the Journal columnists Dorothy J. GAiter and John Brecher said on January 18 about Montepulciano d’Abruzzo wines:

These are the kinds of wines to keep around at all times simply to pop open and enjoy when you get home from work.

Valle Reale “Vigne Nove” 2005 - Very good, $9.95 Best of Tasting

Filled with fruit (it’s unoaked) and remarkable for its balanced minerality, especially on the finish, which makes this taste far classier than others.

Castellana (Cantina Miglianico) 2006 - Very good, $5.99 Best Value

Dark, earthy and herbal. It reminded us of a ripe tomato because of its fleshiness and acidity. Quite food-friendly and nicely dry. Very pleasant.

Citra 2006 - Good, very good $4.85

Very soft, with light, easy, raspberry fruit and enough stuff underneath that you know you’re drinking real wine. Nice with Italian food. Also a favorite in an earlier tasting of jug reds.

Farnese 2005 (Farneto Valley) Good/ very good $7.99

Plummy and soft as a feather, with some blueberries and plenty of charm. Very, very easy to drink.

Il Conte 2006 - Good/very good $6.49

Fresh and fruit, with some raspberry tastes and a simple, drink-me-now focus.

Rubiro (Villa Cervia) 2004 - Good/very good $11.00

Controversial. Clean and crisp, with some earthiness, and bursting with such strong tastes of ripe blueberries that Dottie likened to a fruit wine, which she found charming and John found too unusual.

Please send us your comments if you try these wines!