Pinotage and Blessing of the Mancave

This past weekend was the annual Blessing of the Fleet in Stonington, Connecticut, but on Long Pond, Ledyard there was another blessing taking place. If you are a member of the filming crew, you will have access to this type of structure which was officially named on Saturday, during the Blessing of Barry's Mancave.

The Blessing of the Mancave was accompanied by the consuming of grilled, butterflied leg of lamb, grilled corn, sweet potato salad, arugula salad, cold zucchini soup, shrimp cocktail and copious amounts of wine and champagne. One of the wines that stood out due to it's novelty was something that Barry had while filming the British Open. It was called Barista and it is made from the Pinotage grape from South Africa. I drank it with a lot of curiosity because I learned about Pinotage in the U.C. Davis online wine certification course but had never had the opportunity to taste it. Pinotage is a a cross between Pinot noir and Cinsaut known as "Hermitage" in South Africa. It had a deep purple color and the taste was pleasing. If given to me in a blind taste test, I would not be able to identify it as Pinotage. We had a delightful evening capped off with the most scrumptious fresh cherry pie and pecan pie. I say, the Blessing of Barry's Mancave should also become an annual event!