Osso Anna Merlot 2006 Top Knotch

My husband and I ate at the Napa Valley Grill in the Garden State Plaza last night. The wine was the best part of the meal.

To choose our wine, we picked between the two lowest priced Merlots on the wine menu. Our waiter recommended Osso Anna 2006 and we were lucky to get the last 06 bottle. This Merlot smelled rich, spicy, fruity and had an delicious taste with very little tannins.

A write-up I found online gives these details: (Source :http://www.winepronline.com/r/products/osso-anna-merlot-2006) "Made by Jay Buoncristiani, of Buoncristiani Winery and Hess Collection, and his Wife, this is serious Merlot for the money. Complex with loads of dark, berry fruit, vanilla, licorice and balanced by great acidity, this Merlot is terrific for everyday consumption but will last in the cellar for 5-10 years. Only 300 cases of this stunning value were produced."

The meal at the restaurant was good, but not as good as past meals we have had there. We started off with the roasted garlic appetizer plate. This is two roasted garlic cloves, a wedge of saga cheese, a tomato chutney and some yummy crackers to spread it all on. The garlic was bitter rather than having the smooth flavor you often get with roasted garlic. The cheese and chutney were both good, but I remember the flavor of the chutney blowing me away the last time I had it. This time the flavor was more muted and it tasted as though it has been sitting around for a while.

My husband had the beet salad which he chowed down and the angus top sirloin which he was also pleased with. I enjoyed the rigatoni bolognese, which is made with top sirloin rather than ground beef in the sauce. The pasta looked and tasted fresh and homemade and the sauce was rich and delicious. There was a bit too much meat in the sauce for me, but I'm not much of a beef eater. If you like a lot of meat in your sauce you may be very satisfied.

Overall dinner was great, but I do think a bit pricey for what we got. This morning I found the wine online for more than half of what we paid at the restaurant. I also think the food would have been well worth the price if the appetizer didn't fall short and the pasta had a bit more dimension to it. Our bill for the appetizer, salad and two entrees was $164.00. A bit steep if you don't leave completely satisfied.