Plumpjack Reserve Napa Chardonnay 2022 at Entourage Restaurant Naperville 
Son Alec & d-in-law Vivianna gave us a gift card to their latest favorite restaurant Entourage
 in Naperville, IL. It turns out Alec discovered the GM and Principle of
 the restaurant is a college buddy of one of his best buds from NYC, AJ,
 who has been to our home several times for wine and dinners. Hence, we 
were eager to try their restaurant find, which they highly recommended. 
Entourage features craftfully dry-aged cuts of beef, seafood, sandwiches, and small plate dishes. The founders opened a similar Entourage restaurant 
in suburban Schaumburg, IL in 2006 that was named “Restaurant of the Year” 
by a Chicago magazine, and neighboring Vai’s Italian Kitchen which earned best 
Italian restaurant honors two years in a row.
There is seating in and adjacent the lively bar, and a dining room to the rear with a couple booths, cushioned bench and table seating. 
We decided on two seafood dishes for our entrees and hence ordered a bottle of Napa Valley Chardonnay as an accompaniment.
For
 a starter we had the Roasted Beets and Whipped Goat Cheese Salad with 
Arugula, Baby Gem, Spicy Pecans, Hot Honey, Blood Orange Vinaigrette and
 Fennel. Linda loved it but I found the whipped goat cheese uninspiring.
 
I chose the 
Branzino based on my favor for 
Meuniére sauce and for whipped potatoes. It too was uninspiring, okay but not great, a bit bland, perhaps because it was served less than hot.  
Linda
 ordered the Miso Marinated 
Chilean Seabass with Broccolini, Charred 
Peppers, Shiitake Mushrooms with 
Black Truffle Risotto, Yuzu and Sake 
Butter Sauce. This was extraordinary, delicious in all respects, the 
fish artfully prepared and served hot, and the Black Truffle Risoto was 
spectacular. I tried it and loved the Charred Peppers accent which Linda
 found slightly offputting to the dish.  
The Wood Grilled Branzino Meuniére was served with Yukon Pommes Puree, Baby Tomatoes, Artichoke Brussel Sprouts, Basil and Lemon Caper Sauce.
Entourage service was super, attentive and professional throughout the evening.   
The Entourage winelist offers a thoughtfully and carefully selected winelist of fifteen White wines and 30+ Reds, half of those BTG - By-The-Glass. It is mostly from the US but also offers some selections from Australia, Italy, France and some reds from Spain and whites from Germany.  Five Chardonnays were on offer in a range of five price points. 
It includes several notable and some favorite producers including Darioush, Long Shadows, Shafer, (Cabernets), Domaine Drouhin, Foxen and Brave (Pinots), Rombauer, Fontanafredda Barolo, Anaperenna Barossa Shiraz, and Chateau LaNerthe Côtes-du-Rhône (Rose).
Despite
 our serious disdain for and distrust of the despicable owner 
producer, hypocrite politician, we order the Plumpjack Reserve Napa 
Chardonnay, putting politics aside for the evening to enjoy our wine dinner outing.
Plumpjack Reserve Napa Valley Chardonnay 2022 
Plumpjack Estate Vineyards and Winery sits on the east end of Oakville Cross Road, just off the Silverado Trail, in southern Napa 
Valley. It used to be one of our favorite producers and sites to visit in Napa 
Valley before their ownership became so political, and regretably so radical and 
divisive. 
We visited the winery several times over the years and hosted 
their winemaker for a special dinner back in the early 90's. Over the 
years we acquired an extensive collection of Plumpjack Estate Napa 
Cabernets, some Merlots and Syrahs, including several vintages of their Cabernet Reserve offering dating back to 1995 through 1997. 
Some of these visits were chronicled in these pages's blogposts - 
I
 mentioned our cellar collection of Plumpjack vintages during our last 
visit there during a private tasting and they eagerly tried to 
supplement our collection of those vintages from their library, but at $500 
to $700 per bottle, we politely passed. 
We first visited Plumpjack in its earliest days at the PlumpJack Wine 
Store on Fillmore Street in San Francisco, opened in 1992 by partners that included former San Francisco mayor and current 
Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and some of his benefactor supporters. 
Over
 the years the investment group backing Newsome as their high profile 
figurehead lead has amassed a collection of premier Napa Valley 
properties and brands including PlumpJack Estate Winery, CADE Estate 
Winery, Odette Estate Winery and 13th Vineyard.
They also own and operate the rustic PlumpJack Inn boutique hotel set in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in North Lake Tahoe, and several restaurants including Balboa Cafe in San Francisco, PlumpJack Cafe in Olympic Valley, Wildhawk, a neighborhood bar in San Francisco’s Mission district, and White Rabbit neighborhood bar in the Marina district. 
The PlumpJack Winery sits in the heart of Napa Valley's renowned 
Oakville appellation, surrounded by the 42-acre estate vineyard. Both the winery building 
and the vineyard date back to the 1800s. The east  boundary of their vineyard lies along the foothills of the Vaca mountain 
range and yields grapes with the kind of bold fruit character that comes
 from well-drained hillside soils. To the west, their estate lies in the
 Napa River flood zone, where the vines take root in rich, deep clay 
soil yielding grapes with softer, more supple varietal character. From 
their oldest, rockiest section, the "I" Block, they source their 
Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, of which we hold a half dozen bottles from several aged vintages.
Plumpjack Reserve Napa Valley Chardonnay 2022
This Chardonnay is sourced from grapes grown in two vineyards in Napa Valley – one in the southern Napa Los Carneros appellation 
near San Pablo Bay, and another in St. Helena in the Central Valley. 
Just 30 miles apart, Los Carneros can be 10-15° cooler than St. Helena. 
Due to this difference and other important differences, such as soil 
type, these two vineyard sites vary significantly in character and 
expression. When blended, these differences in expression add layer upon
 layer of flavor to the nose and palate, creating a beautiful and 
complex Chardonnay. 
Winemaker's notes - The 2022 PlumpJack Reserve Chardonnay is a gorgeous, multi-faceted wine.
 The nose delivers layers of aromas—apple, baked pear, and lemon curd 
mingle with white peach, apricot, and honeysuckle with a dash of nutmeg 
and cinnamon just beneath the fruit. The palate is energetic and 
dynamic, beginning with a rich, mouth-filling texture reminiscent of 
lemon curd, followed by bright acidity that evokes lemon zest and 
honey-crisp apples. Finally, the beautiful acidity pulls the wine 
through the back of the palate, creating a long, structured finish. 
Light straw colored, light medium bodied, crisp, tangy citrus with notes of apple and pear with bright acidity on the lingering finish. 
RM 89 points. 
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=4703905
https://plumpjackwinery.com/
We look forward to returning to Entourage, next time to try to Indiana Farm Raised beef with some favorite red wine (s).  
https://entouragerestaurant.com/