Entourage DG, one of the our favorite go-to eateries with its great menu, ease of parking, great service, and reasonable BYOB policy.
We have several favorite menu selections, both beef and seafood, so we’re routinely challenged on which wine we want to take BYOB, if any, for our dinner pairing. And, of course, we don’t know what the Specials will be, so, tonight we brought a red and a white to cover all contingencies on dinner entree selections.
Linda opted for our perennial favorite dishes, the Entourage signature Miso Marinated Chilean Seabass with Broccolini, Charred Peppers, Shiitake Mushrooms and Black Truffle Risotto, Yuzu and the new offering approach, Lemon Butter Sauce.
Hence, I selected the Daily Special, a seafood dish, Hawaiian Wahoo, with which I asked they substitute the truffle risotto as the accompaniment.
Based on our seafood entree selections, we opened BYOB from our cellar this ultra-premium Napa Valley Chardonnay, one of our favorite vintages/labels from a favorite producer.
Signorello Hope's Cuvee Napa Valley Chardonnay 2016
As posted in an earlier blogposts, we discovered and acquired (the then current vintage release of) this wine during our visit to the Estate on Silverado Trail in Southeastern Napa Valley during our Napa Valley Wine Experience in 2013. At that time I wrote about this label: "I am predominantly a red wine drinker and while I enjoy an occasional glass of white, most often with appropriate food, I don't normally get excited about a white wine. This chardonnay was the exception, memorable and special."
We're getting down to the last few remaining bottles of the label that we've acquired over time and we look to refreshing our inventory with more, from the current release.
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| (Former) Signorello Estate overlooking vineyards and valley floor. |
The Signorello winery sits at the very southern end of Napa Valley and has 43 acres of vineyards, including some of the oldest Chardonnay vines in all of Napa Valley - fruit from 37-year-old vines goes into his Hope’s Cuvée.
The magnificent Estate was destroyed in the fires that engulfed much of sections of Sonoma and Napa in 2017. Fires came down the foothills to the property that sat up the hill back from the highway.
The fire reached the winery and completely destroyed the hospitality center that also housed offices, a wine lab and a family residence upstairs. The adjacent crush pad and stainless steel tanks survived intact along with the barrel cellar and equally if not most importantly, the vines of the adjacent vineyards.
In the wake of the destruction from Napa Valley’s October 2017 Atlas Peak Fire, Ray Signorello vowed to rebuild. We're relieved to read about the Phoenix of Signorella Estate, rising from the ashes, literally, and being rebuilt, even grander and larger than before. Signorello said he viewed the tragedy as an opportunity to do something new and exciting and is rebuilding with a larger fermentation facility, wine caves and a stunning expanded hospitality center.
The winery has kept almost all of its team employed as an interim step toward returning to normalcy and they have been operating out of a modular building was brought in to serve as a temporary hospitality center.
The adjacent Darioush property nearby the sits at the valley floor closer to the highway and similarly situated properties were untouched.
Signorello "Hope's Cuvée" Napa Valley Chardonnay 2016
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate gave the 2015 release 98 points and said, "The best Chardonnay I have ever tasted from Ray Signorello has to be the 2015 Chardonnay Hope’s Cuvée." Vinous gave it 91 points.
Perhap’s due to nearly a decade of aging in our cellar, tonight's tasting was the best experience we’ve had of this label.
Rich golden butter colored, full bodied, rich and concentrated but silky smooth, elegant, balanced and polished, caramelized citrus, honeysuckle, white peach, pear and melon notes with a touch of almond and brioche on a harmonious finish.
RM 96 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2806461
https://www.signorelloestate.com/
