Winophilia asks of a number of producers, “What splurge wine (i.e., expensive, rare or just plain outstanding) are you looking forward to opening for the holidays, and what do you plan to serve with it?” Christian Seely paints a wonderful picture:
Christian Seely, Quinta do Noval and Château Pichon-Baron (Portugal and France). I am not very good at planning the opening of bottles, and very dangerously we have a cellar underneath our house, so as the party develops trips downs the little stone staircase can become frequent, and any thought of deferring pleasure to a later date seems less and less sensible. So I usually don’t know in advance what we will open. But I do have a bottle of the Quinta do Noval Nacional 94 downstairs, and I think we will certainly open that on Christmas Day. I usually just allow vintage port to circulate round the table after lunch to anyone with the strength to carry on, and the only things I eat with it are a few walnuts—and if the children have disappeared into electronic heaven somewhere else I will smoke a cigar. This is Europe so it will be a Havana, probably a Hoyo Epicure No. 2. We have a fireplace in the dining room so I can smoke my cigar and throw walnut shells into the fire as the Nacional goes round the table, safe in the knowledge that it will come back to me: the decanter has a round bottom. Simple pleasures.
You can see the full piece here: http://www.winophilia.com/2011/12/15/special-wines-for-the-holidays/#more-4166