Parker's Grill Provides Crossbarn Paul Hobbs WBTG Tasting

Parker's Grill Provides Crossbarn Paul Hobbs WBTG Tasting

We've recently discovered and written in this blog about Crossbarn Paul Hobbs wines, an interesting study in branding with a storied background, and heard from them about our blogpost. They contacted me to correct me on the branding nomenclature - Crossbarn Paul Hobbs, not the reverse as I wrote. We dined at Parker's Grill in Downers Grove to celebrate the holiday as well as a friend's birthday, which afforded the opportunity to taste a flight of Crossbarn, their featured producer, on offer BTG, by-the-glass. Parker's has a nice selection of WTBG - Wines By The Glass which they offer in both 3 and 6 oz pours - nice for Linda and me to have suitable portions. This affords the opportunity to taste a selection of wines as opposed to having just one when ordered by the bottle. This is of course also especially useful when a bottle is too much for one or one and a half consumers.

While Parker's website showed Crossbarn Cabernet on offer, what was available was a mini-horizontal of CrossBarn (by) Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir 2012's - Sonoma Valley and Anderson Valley, and a CrossBarn Paul Hobbs Chardonnay, Sonoma County (sic) 2014.

Paul Hobbs Crossbarn is the somewhat more affordable branded label offering from Paul Hobbs, the acclaimed producer known for premium quality Napa Valley wines. Crossbarn wines are produced down the road about a mile from the Paul Hobbs estate winery, in a former apple processing facility that's is the operations center for their Sonoma Coast wines.  I have found that Crossbarn provides moderate priced well crafted wines that generally provide quality tasting at reasonable value.

I selected Parker's hoping for a delicate seafood dinner but ended up ordering the Braised Boneless Shortribs with red wine sauce and mashed sweet potato, which I matched with the pair of Pinots.

Linda ordered the Mahi Mahi, and I had the Polenta fries as a side, both which we matched with the Crossbarn Chardonnay.

Our guest, special friend Marlene U who was having a birthday, ordered the herb roasted double chicken breast. All our entrees were delicious.

Following dinner, we closed with the deliciously decadent Bittersweet Chocolate Flourless Cake with Mocha Mousse and Sea Salt Caramel Gelato. This was worth the trip all by itself. Too bad it came with the gelato already melted. And, it amazes me how difficult it is get coffee WITH your dessert in restaurants. Their procedures seem to too often offer and serve these serially as two separate courses. In this case, we were never offered or given the chance to even order coffee with our dessert.

Crossbarn Chardonnay Sonoma Coast, Sonoma County 2014

The Chardonnay was golden strawed colored with medium-light body with tones of stone fruit, apple, pear and brioche with hints of lemon citrus with pleasant balanced acidity and subtle mineral on the finish.

RM 89 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2064679

Note - the winelist stated Sonoma County which is not listed on the producer's website, nor on Cellartracker. I suspect this may have been the Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. Having tasted BTG - by the glass, I did not see the label. The servers were pressed to keep up with the dinner and wine service so I didn't press to see the label. Nearly 12,400 cases were made of the 2013 Chardonnay CrossBarn by Paul Hobbs, all from the Sonoma Coast.
P.S. The morning after, I went to Binny's, the wine mega-merchant and found the Crossbarn Paul Hobbs Chardonnay. Indeed, the label reads "Sonoma Coast, Sonoma County"! See left.

CrossBarn (by) Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir 2012 - Sonoma Valley and Anderson Valley

The Pinot's were similar in many respects, both garnet colored and medium bodied with black cherry, raspberry and pomegranate fruit flavors with hints of black tea and cedar. The Sonoma Valley showed more pronounced dark berry fruit flavors with a slight hint of sweet mocha on the mid-palate turning to soft smooth tannins on the finish.

Anderson Valley - RM 88 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1710825

Sonoma Valley - RM 90 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2031503

http://parkersamerican.com/

http://www.crossbarn.com/

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Paul Hobbs Cab highlights cityscape dinner

CrossBarn Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon highlights post City Series Cross-town Classic Dinner Amidst Historic Industrial Building

With Dr Dan and Linda, we watched the white hot Cubbies (eight wins in a row, 14 out of 15) defeat the host White Sox in the opener of the second installment of the Cross-Town Classic Series. Afterwards we dined at our well kept secret (no more) nearby steakhouse, May Street Cafe. Pronouncing Contemporary Latin cuisine featuring Allen Brothers steaks, this neighborhood eatery in the Pilsen neighborhood sits next to a quaint, cozy neighborhood Dvorak city park, opposite the giant Com-ed Power Plant, next to the historic classic early 20th century gothic ornamented tower building (2211 So. Throop St), topped by the radio tower reminiscent of Dick Tracy or a Superman cartoon series. I'm no doubt one of the few that love that tower and imagine such a setting. Reinforcing the image, adding to the cityscape is the classic Steak-n-Egger Diner in the shadows of the tower.

My interest in history and architecture takes over here. 

Image capture from Google Streetview

The mysterious tower building is the 400,000 square-foot, 14 story landmark building designed by noted Chicago architect George Nimmons (1926). The building originally served as a warehouse and garage for the adjacent Commonwealth Edison Fisk Generating station. The 198-foot-high radio tower served the communication system to dispatch emergency equipment.

Today, the building is home to artist studios, exhibition spaces, classrooms, a cafe, a library and home to Mana Contemporary Chicago, an expanding art center. It houses the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Art and Art History, the Propeller Fund which is administered jointly by Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Three Walls.

Propeller Fund provides grants to artists, curators, and groups living and working in Cook County, Illinois, and seeks to support projects that are independent, informal, and self-organized. The facility houses several dozen artists in residence.

According to the Mana Contemporary literature, "Mana serves as a nexus for both established and emerging artists and organizations from across the city. Artists of diverse disciplines, including painting, sculpture, photography, dance, film, sound, and performance work alongside each other in a campus environment which fosters experimentation, collaboration, and mutual inspiration. A hub of programming and activity for Chicago artists and art lovers, Mana Contemporary also provides a central platform for art schools and organizations dedicated to educating and supporting emerging artists. As Mana Contemporary Chicago grows, it will continue to expand its services to the city’s artists, showcasing their practices, processes, and ideas to the public."

George Nimmons, a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed mainly large commercial and industrial  buildings, most notably the mail order plant headquarters for Sears, Roebuck and Company (1905-06). He did many other buildings for Sears - warehouses, mail order plants, and retail stores across the country. He also designed the R. W. Sears home in Grayslake, Illinois (1906), and the twenty-room Prairie-style mansion built for Sears, Roebuck and Company president Julius Rosenwald in Chicago (1903).

Nimmon's other major works in Chicago include the Reid, Murdoch & Company Building (1913), the clock tower building that overlooks the Chicago River opposite Wacker Drive at North Clark Street, the Franklin Building (1912), the C. P. Kimball & Company Building (1913) at 39th and Michigan, the Adams Schaaf Piano Company Building on Fillmore Street (1916), the Union Special Machines Company Building (1918), the W. M. Hoyt Building in nearby Armour Square (1909), Kelley Building (1921) and the American Furniture Mart Building (1923, 1926), now known as 680 N Lake Shore Drive. When built it was the largest building in the world for a short time.

We discovered May Street Cafe for a wine and dine dinners and now dine there often before and after Sox games with its proximity to Sox Park, yet hidden away and separated from Bridgeport and the Sox area by an expressway, the adjoining river and the industrial belt. Its the kind of place you would drive by regularly and never notice, or consider for a wine-dine retreat, but their attention to serious cuisine and their thoughtfully selected wine list make it perfect for such occasions. And it offers outside dining as well, if you don't mind the power station and radio tower views (which as I wrote, is part of its allure and charm)!

Alas, following this study, dinner at May Street Cafe will never be the same. Unless you're into history and architecture, you'll want to avoid that evening, or sit at the other end of the table. It begs for a destination trip just to the Mana site, followed by a wine and steak dinner...

Tonight, Dan ordered the foie gras starter, then red tuna steak entree, Linda J, the petit filet, and Linda (A) and I, the bone-in pork chop.

'CrossBarn' Paul Hobbs Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

This is the another label of Paul Hobbs who grew up in upstate New York on a rural farm where he learned the influence of terroir on the character of fruit, when his father had him taste apples of the same variety grown in different orchards several miles apart from one another.

The name is a tribute to a "cross barn" that sat amidst the hundred fifty year old family farm in upstate New York. A favorite haunt for Paul and his ten siblings, it took on a life of its own and is a fond remembrance as a place of great mystery and adventure.

Paul initially worked for Robert Mondavi where his understanding of oak aging landed him a position on the inaugural Opus One winemaking team.  He later worked at Simi Winery as Winemaker before going on to consult for Peter Michael, Fisher Vineyards, Lewis Cellars, Bodegas Catena and others.  He founded Paul Hobbs Winery in 1991, and Vina Cobos in 1999, and also serves as a leading consultant winemaker.

We love this style of wine - vibrant, expressive Napa Valley fruit at its finest for approachable tasty drinking wines. CrossBarn Paul Hobbs label is known for notable Sonoma County Pinots and Chardonnays, but they recently introduced Cabernets from Napa and Sonoma Counties.

No wimpy wine here, this 2012 version from Napa is dark garnet/inky purple colored, full bodied with rich concentrated forward fruits of black currant, ripe black and blue berries, accented by clove spice, mocha and sweet oak, with soft acidity and nicely integrated sweet and smooth tannins.

This is a great discovery and I look forward to trying the other selections from this CrossBarn. A testament to this great vintage too - check out other producer's line-ups, the rewards and delights of a spectacular vintage where their 'lesser' labels often excel and even meet or exceed the first label, and offer tremendous QPR - Quality to Price ratios. This was a blockbuster, enjoyed by all, and a great value at under $90 on May Street's winelist. Pick this up if you can find it for early aging gratification as well as longer term cellaring.

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1883620

Winemakers notes and comments: "The 2012 growing season has been described by many as “textbook perfect”. Temperate summer days moderated plant growth, contributing to smaller cluster and berry size during lag phase, leading to increased concentration of flavors. An idyllic Indian summer finished the maturation process, producing fruit with exceptional character and intensity.

Dark ruby in color, our Cabernet Sauvignon offers enticing aromas of dark cherries, ripe blueberries, anise and fresh lavender.  A tantalizing palate offers a medley of boysenberry, currants, violets, clove and cocoa.  Tannins are sweet and smooth; balanced acidity brightens a lengthy finish.
Color: Saturated crimson
Aroma: Black raspberry, boysenberry, violets, caramelized tobacco leaf, spicebox, pencil shavings
Flavor: Concentrated, juicy red fruits, damp earth, cedar, baking spices
Texture: Round and focused with sweet, fine-grained tannins and a long, slate-like finish"

http://www.crossbarn.com/

http://www.maystcafe.com/

Other selections from May Street Cafe ...

May Street Cafe Foie Gras

May Street Cafe Red Tuna Steak Entree

May Street Cafe Bone-in Pork Chop with
Sweet potoate mash, and pineapple relish and grilled vegies

Laird Family Estate Flat Rock Ranch Malbec

Laird Family Estate Napa Valley Flat Rock Ranch Malbec 2011

I was not aware of Laird Family wines until Linda brought home this bottle gifted from co-worker Lizzie, who hails from Northern California and enjoys their wines as one of her favorites.

Ken Laird was a third generation tobacco farmer growing up working the fields as a youngster with his grandmother, great uncles and cousins back in South Central Virginia not far from the North Carolina border. After studying to be a mechanical engineer in New York City, Ken returned to his family farming tradition by moving west and buying seventy acres of prune trees in Napa Valley in 1970.

As the story goes, Ken decided to develop the orchard into a grape vineyard. Knowing nothing about viticulture, he called the vintner and producer Robert Mondavi. After walking the property together, the two men discussed soils, vines, yields, irrigation, and proper pruning. Mondavi agreed to finance Ken replanting the property 50% Gamay and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, guaranteeing to pay Ken "the highest harvest price paid in the Valley,” for the Cabernet. With that deal, Ken returned to his passion and his family farming heritage.

Today, Laird Family Estates consist of thirty different properties spanning the length and width of Napa Valley, most sourcing fruit for other Napa winemakers, while fruit from one third of the vineyards go into Laird Family Estate labels, including this estate bottled Malbec.

With Ken Laird is daughter Rebecca who serves as General Manager. Winemaking is overseen by Paul Hobbs, consulting winemaker and Julian Gonzalez, winemaker, who since 1994, has worked for Louis M Martini, Chateau Potelle, Vine Cliff, Paul Hobbs Winery, Mi Sueno Winery and Paul Hobbs Consulting.

In 2000, while working at Chateau Potelle he was promoted to cellar master at Vine Cliff, and four year later, to assistant winemaker at Paul Hobbs Winery. In 2007, he was appointed consulting winemaker at Paul Hobbs Consulting.



Laird Family Estate Napa Valley Flat Rock Ranch Malbec 2011

Winemakers notes:  Deep red-violet appearance gives way to a rich bouquet of black current, cigar box, and blackberry. Rich juicy palate with leathery tannins, notes of roasted coffee beans and red plum with just a hint of eucalyptus.

What a pleasant surprise, we were not expecting this complexity and depth of fruit in a Malbec.

Dark garnet colored, medium bodied, black currant and black berry fruits accented by tones of tobacco leaf, leather, expresso and hints of cedar with moderate lingering tannins.

RM 90 points.

 https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1935478

http://lairdfamilyestate.com/wines/2011-flat-rock-malbec/