Opera Night

Benton Lane Pinot Noir
Shane’s Notes

Jen and I drove to San Jose to have dinner and attend the opera. We ate at Il Fornaio and the wine list was respectable. I looked at the wine list and smiled. We ordered a Benton Lane Pinot. It retails for around $20 and tastes just like a good $20 Pinot should taste. It was crafted in a lighter style (as opposed to the Syrah like Pinots) and was quite perfumey. It was a bit hot at first but that blew off after about ten minutes. It obviously lacked complexity but was a good Pinot for the price.

After dinner, we headed over the theater, broke out our new opera glasses and saw La Traviata (You just can’t go to an opera without opera glasses). I had previously seen four operas – two by Puccini and two by Mozart. I thought the Puccinis were slightly bombastic, and the Mozarts could have been a little more bombastic. La Traviata was in between and we both really enjoyed it. I’m sure we’ll be back next year for Rigolleto.