Unscientific Wine Experiment and Dinner Party
One of our good friends birthday was yesterday and held a fun dinner party to celebrate. We hosted and everyone brought a delicious dish or two! The other part of this evening was to stack up “four Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon” wines with one of them being a Mendocino Cabernet Sauvignon hidden in the blind “competition”. Various AVA’s and years thus the “unscientific” portion of the evening.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The evening started out with an enticing salmon, capers, cream cheese and purple onion slices with a few wine selections. It looked much better before it was savagely attacked.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Two main entrees were served for dinner, the first being braised and slow cooked beef ribs for 7 hours. The meat was extremely tender and provided the impetus for the Cabernet Sauvignon selections. Shown is only one platter of two of the beef.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The other main dishes was a mesquite baked chicken. Flavorful and extremely moist. Again just a portion of the chicken slices shown.
A beautifully constructed and presented fresh garden salad started off the evening.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Side dishes included of a mushroom risotto topped off with Parmesan cheese.
Photo ©Michael Kelly.
An artistic vegetable platter consisting of Brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, carrots and honey baked squash.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
And for the concluding dessert was a sherry infused Bundt cake with vanilla ice cream and singing of Happy Birthday! (editor’s note: he is older than 1 year!!)
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Now the unscientific Cabernet Sauvignon experiment. Pulled three Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the cellar and they were: 2018 Laura Michael from Rutherford, 2012 Robert Craig from Howell Mountain, 2014 Antra from Spring Valley and the “sleeper” unbeknown to the guests a 2021 BARRA of Mendocino Reserve. From a previous tasting of the BARRA thought it was a very good wine and curious how it would “stand up” to various Napa Cabernet Sauvignon wines. The “unscientific” portion was the years, price points (some up to $118) and AVA’s were all so much different than the BARRA ($28).
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Everyone tasted and made notes and ranked each wine. The clear winner was the 2012 Robert Craig from Howell Mountain vineyard. (see previous posted story at: https://californiawinesandwineries.com/2016/01/25/robert-craig-winery/ . The second place wine was the 2018 Laura Michael from Rutherford vineyard. (see previous posted story at: https://californiawinesandwineries.com/2021/01/29/laura-michael-wines-and-2015-rutherford-cabernet-sauvignon/ . There was a tie for 3rd place with 2014 Antra from Spring Valley ($75). Antra was a second label of Sarocka Wines. (See a previous posted story at: https://californiawinesandwineries.com/2023/07/05/2012-sarocka-spring-mountain-cabernet-sauvignon-ending-the-weekend/) and the 2021 BARRA of Mendocino ($28) (see previous posted story at: https://californiawinesandwineries.com/2023/10/30/2021-barra-reserve-cabernet-sauvignon-a-formidable-wine-from-mendocino/)
So to be “more scientific” the next time I would do the following: 1) Go to a local wine store and pick up comparable Cabernet Sauvignon wines at the $28 price point from Napa Valley (none in my cellar!!) 2) then do a comparison of several generic AVA’s of “Napa Valley” Cabernet Sauvignon and 3) purchase a current vintage similar to BARRA being a 2021.
I appreciated the guests indulging me in to sneak in an outlier into the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon blind tasting. Also all the foods provided were absolutely delicious.
It was a fun evening with many laughs and discussion about food, wines and most importantly friendships.
Sláinte,
Michael