2015 O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery Mt Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon with filet mignon Skisk Kabob
The Wine – “Wine is bottled poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
2015 O’Shaughnessy 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is from the west side of the Napa Valley, Mount Veeder. On the eyes, a dark ruby coloring with medium heavy viscosity. On the nose, a woody but sweet briar, with blackberry and black cherry fruits wafting into the nose. On the palate, full body with extremely concentrated fruits, licorice and black cherry exploded in the mouth with a background of sweet tobacco smoke and leather. Additionally, latent flavors of dark chocolate were noticed. The finish had some strong tannins, but without any “edginess” which provided for a long semi-velvety crescendo.
Rated at 95+ points by Wine Advocate and 96 points by International Wine Review. This wine could easily go another 7-10 years, yet more than pleased to be enjoyed now! Looking at various sites, this wine sells today for between $180 to $230/bottle.
This wine will make my annual list of Best Wines Tasted for 2026. O’Shaughnessy Winery has made this list for 15+ years annually for their exquisite wines. Only roughly 2% of 2,000 wines make this annual list published in December.
The Food and Wine Pairing – “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost. United and well matched, they are as body and soul: living partners” – Andre Simon
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Paired this evening with a marinated Shish Kabob and then BBQ’ed. The marinade recipe calls for soy sauce, lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, crushed garlic, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The shish kabob in baskets consisted of yellow peppers, orange peppers, pineapple, red onion, mushrooms and topped with sprigs of fresh Rosemary. The meat suggested top sirloin, but we opted for a delicious Nebraska filet mignon cut into bite size portions. The shish kabob was emptied on a platter to be served.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Accompanied by roasted halved and seasoned small white potatoes. Additionally, a halved fresh Wedge salad was served with Blue cheese crumbles, bacon, cherry tomatoes, green onion slices and topped off with Blue cheese dressing.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
An enjoyable and complete meal to be enjoyed with this fine wine. Nothing less than perfect food and wine pairing. The only note is that with this great cut of meat, we may not marinate next time.
The Winery
The winery is located on Howell Mountain; however, they do source some fruit from their other estate located on Mount Veeder. So, they offer both Mt Veeder and Howell Mountain vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon. Additionally, they produce Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. See a previous post at:
Sláinte,
Michael Kelly