Mixed Easter Blessings

I have every intention of sharing my reactions to first time tastings of wine, or of any wine event that bears a reaction. I hope to entertain and educate, both you and myself as i wander through the world of wine with few guides, but many opportunities.
this first blog, however, will be dominated by my attempt to impress/entertain my guests at Easter dinner with a few selected wines. My family has come to expect good wines from me and I enjoy the challenge of delivering on their expectations.
Easter dinner was, by and large, a great success. My wife and I hosted this year's dinner and served baked ham, potatoes (mashed and scalloped), carrots, green bean casserole, and rolls to 13 eager mouths. I was in charge of the wine and I made a serious error of which I am not ashamed to share. I had selected a riesling to pair with the ham, and it should have been a perfect pair, but the wine had gone bad! Talk about bad form. What a nightmare! I had two bottles of Francis Ford Coppola's encyclopaedia riesling and they were both passed. Of course, I had some back up wine down in the basement, a few nondescript unoaked Chardonnay's, but my mother and her husband had already quaffed half a glass of the syrup. I discreetly mentioned that the wine might not be up to standard, but they both disregarded me and continued drinking.
I was not only horrified over my bad wine selection, but the realization that my parents would not of even noticed. No Drouhin Chassagne-Montrachet for them!
Despite the white wine faux pas, my choice of the Drouhin Laforet Pinot Noir went over well with my sister and her husband. It's light body, fruity character and beautiful ruby color was perfect for a red choice with the ham. When we ran out of the Pinot Noir, I pulled a bottle of Renato Ratti dolcetto, a light, fruity Italian red, to take its place. All in all, the dinner wines worked...to a degree.
Dessert unveiled a 30 year Sherry, Pedro Ximenez from Noe. It was syrupy, sweet and fragrant. The younger table guests did not care for it, but my step father, uncle and brother in law enjoyed it with me. To please the younger crowd, I opened a bottle of Trentadue chocolate Port: easy candy for the unitiated.
So what did I learn on Sunday? test the wine. for God's sake, don't serve wine you are not sure of. Now I know why the riesling was selling for 9.99 at Hannaford's.