Grilled beefsteak Sauv Blanc and Cabernet Franc for Birthday Dinner

Grilled beefsteak Sauv Blanc and Cabernet Franc for Birthday Dinner

Son Alec and D-in-law Vivianna hosted us for Sunday dinner and (my) birthday recognition. Alec grilled flank steak marinated in a ginger and sesame chirizo sauce, served with roasted peppers and a medley of grilled squash, mushrooms, onions and cauliflower.

I brought from our home cellar a big round zesty Sauvignon Blanc which paired well with the ceasar salad, veggie and fruit plates, and the dinner course. This is another label from the producer of a California Cabernet Cuvee' Bordeaux Blend from Alec’s birthyear vintage, which we served at Alec and Vivianna’s wedding reception. It was a special limited release commemorative bottle, signed by Quivira Vineyards and Winery founders and then owners, Henry and Holly Wendt, packaged in its own OWC, Original Wood Case. I wrote about Quivira Vineyards and that bottle in a blogpost at the time - Wedding Wines - Birthyear and Big Bottle Extravaganza.

Quivira Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2022    

Quivira Vineyards was founded in 1981 by Holly and Henry Wendt in the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County to pursue their passion for winemaking and the natural beauty of the area. They also were dedicated to restoring Wine Creek, source to the namesake of their home ranch, Wine Creek Ranch. It is a vital waterway for Coho salmon and Steelhead trout that flows through their 110 acre estate and merges with Dry Creek. 

In addition to vineyards, the Quivera estate is a sanctuary for biodiversity with lush gardens, teeming with life. Over 100 raised beds grow heirloom produce that supply local Sonoma County restaurants and the local food bank. Farm-to-table dinners showcase their garden-grown produce, estate olive oil, jams, and spices.

There is also a landmark 150-year-old fig tree, a living testament to the vibrant ecosystem.

The estate vineyards terroir consists of gravelly and sandy loam soil deposited over thousands of years on the valley floor – deep, well drained and fertile dirt that produces good crops of flavorful grapes. Fifty-nine acres of the estate is planted to vines of Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and Rhône varieties.

A representative of the Adcon weather station has stated that the Quivera Wine Creek Ranch is the coldest site in Dry Creek Valley, which is optimal for preserving acidity in the Sauvignon Blanc and Rhônes planted on the valley floor.

Wine Creek Ranch’s estate Zinfandel is grown on hillside sites which are principally Dibble Clay Loam and Clough Gravelly Loam which produce spicy red fruit that is distinctive and unique to Dry Creek.

The property’s Mediterranean climate and well-draining soils is also ideal for Rhône varieties producing a distinctive flavor profile in the mainly Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre. Quivira is at the forefront of blending Rhône varieties in Dry Creek and stands out from other New World producers.

Quivira sits five miles west of the town of Lytton and Hwy 101, five miles northwest of Healdsburg, and 35 miles north of Santa Rosa. 

Quivira Vineyards’ produces Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and Rhône under the stewardship and handicraft of vineyard manager Ned Horton and winemaker Hugh Chappelle. 

This release is 99% Sauvignon Blanc and 1% Semillion. It was aged in mostly older 500L barrels, Acacia pun- cheons, which add texture with no aroma or flavor impact and helped buffer the typically high acidity. A very small inclusion of Semillon (1%) was used as a final finishing touch for overall wine balance.

Forty percent of the fruit came from Quivira Wine Creek Ranch, with the balance sourced from like-minded partner/growers.

This release was rated 93 points by Wine Spectator and 90 and ‘Best Buy’ by Wine Enthusiast. 

Cases produced: 4,010.

This release  was rated 93 points by Wine Spectator and  91 points by Wine Enthusiast.

Winemakers rating notes - Pale yellow in color and star bright with a slight green tinge. The nose is filled with floral notes of jasmine, hibiscus and white rose, with lingering aromas of classic lemongrass, nectarine and clementine. On the palate, the Quivira mark of high acidity is balanced out with minerality reminiscent of limestone, topped off by layered flavors of Meyer lemon, Key lime, orange flower water and spring herbs 

Pale straw-colored, light medium bodied, pleasantly acidic and crisp gooseberry, green apple, hints of grapefruit and peach, notes of lemon verbena and a touch of tangerine and lime with vibrant acidity and mineral on the pleasant dry finish.

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?3092990

https://quivirawine.com/previous-vintages/

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/09/wedding-wines-birthyear-and-big-bottle.html

As we moved from the fresh veggies and fruits to the salad to the main course steak entree, Alec pulled and served from his cellar this Napa Valley Cabernet Franc. 

This is from Alec’s wineclub allocation collection from Hill Family Vineyards whom he and Vivianna discovered and visited during their Napa Valley honeymoon. 

Hill Family Estate Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Franc 2022 

We featured Hill Family Estate Vineyards in these pages in detail previously in this blogpost - Hill Family Estate Napa Cabernet 2018, excerpted here

We wrote about how As newlyweds, son Alec and Vivianna visited Hill Family Estate during their forest fire shortened honeymoon in Napa a year ago September. They visited the new Hill Family Estate winery, located just minutes south of Yountville just off Ste Helena Highway 29, the western main artery of Napa Valley. They tasted this wine there and since then have acquired wines as part of their wine club allocations. 

Doug Hill founded Hill Family estate vineyards back in 1977 when he acquired his first vineyards. Since then, eleven different vineyard locations have been added to the Hill Family Estate portfolio, mostly in Napa Valley and its environs now covering more than 100 acres in numerous significant sub-appellations within Napa Valley.

For nearly four decades, the fruit was sold to the likes of Far Niente Winery, Silver Oak Cellars, Duckhorn Vineyards, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Caymus Vineyards, Cakebread Cellars and a host of other winery luminaries. Hill Family grapes were considered among the finest grown in the prestigious Napa Valley. 

Around the turn of the century, Ryan and Carly Hill approached their father with the vision to establish the family winery with the family name on it. Hill Family Estate was born in 2001 with the first fruit that would become Hill Family Estate wines. A total of around 980 cases were produced and released in 2004. The new brand was immediately acclaimed and gained national prominence with numerous Awards and industry plaudits. 

Hill Family Estate winemaker Alison Doran joined the team and crafted the inaugural 2001 vintage. Alison was introduced to  Doug while he was growing grapes and she was making wine for Lewis Cellars, another one of our benchmark favorite producers, and the other estate visit tasting the kids attended during their shortened honeymoon. Alison  developed her skill while being mentored by renowned wine expert Andre Tchelistcheff, completing a degree in winemaking at UC Davis and spending time in the legendary  wine region of Alsace, France. Today, Doug and  Alison work closely together selecting the highest quality  grapes and producing ultra premium wines

Today, the Hill Family owns 120 acres of vineyards  with properties on Atlas Peak, in Carneros, Oak Knoll and American Canyon. They are 100% family-farmed, family-owned and  family-operated.Production ranges between 9,000 to 12,000 cases  annually sourced from 12 different estate vineyards allowing them to select the  highest quality fruit for their wines.  

The Hill Family portfolio has grown to over twenty five different labels across the broad range of varietals, blends, and single vineyard designated offerings.  

Producer Doug Hill enjoys producing Cabernet Franc, so he maintains a few rows in the Beau Terroir Vineyard. While Cabernet Franc is a delicate variety and tends to be a difficult grape to grow well, but it is somewhat virus resistant and is well suited to the site. 

Hill Family Vineyards’s 2022 Napa Valley Cabernet Franc is a polished, expressive take on a grape that often plays a supporting role in Napa blends but rarely gets this much attention on its own. 

Production was a mere 280 cases of this Bordeaux varietal blend that was 91% Cabernet Franc, 7% Malbec, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Merlot. 

After a year, it was blended with a small amount of Malbec, then put it back to barrel for a total of 20 months in 50% new French oak (Trust, Treuil Terroir, Nadalier Alliers).

Winemaker Alison Doran’s tasting notes: The 2022 Cabernet Franc is dignified with aromas of mulberry and cool climate graphite. The wine is medium in body and has a soft balanced entry that expands out to a lively mid-palate filled with pomegranate, new saddle leather, ripe fruit and a smooth finish.

Fruit was sourced from the Hill Family Beau Terroir Vineyard in the Carneros-Napa Appellation

Producer’s tasting notes - “What stands out most is the balance. Many Napa Cabernet Francs lean heavily into extraction and oak, but this bottling preserves the grape’s hallmark freshness and aromatic lift. It feels confident without becoming heavy, making it versatile at the table.’

“While already approachable with a decant, this wine should evolve gracefully over the next 6–10 years, developing more earthy and cigar-box complexity with time. It delivers a thoughtful and distinctive expression of Napa Valley Cabernet Franc that will especially appeal to drinkers looking for something more nuanced than the region’s typical Cabernet Sauvignon powerhouse style.”

This was a perfect accompaniment to the grilled flank steak, thereby enhancing enjoyment of both the wine and the food. 

Dark garnet colored, full bodied, this was bold, bright and expressive, concentrated blackberry, plum and black currant fruits accented by sprites of spice, cocoa, tobacco leaf, graphite and cedar with supple tannins with a long, polished, and savory finish.

RM 92 points. 

https://go.cellartracker.com/wine/5210616

https://hillfamilyestate.com/knowledge-base/2022-cabernet-franc/

https://hillfamilyestate.com/

Quivira Sonoma Dry Creek Valley Fig Tree Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc

Quivira Sonoma County Dry Creek Valley Fig Tree Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2019 - an unfortunate wine and cheese pairing ?

We discovered this Sauv Blanc label at dinner the other night at Carnivore and the Queen as a WBTG offering which we did not take up, but I picked up a bottle at Binny's, our wine superstore to try. We knew the Quivira label dating back to the 1990 vintage, of which we purchased a 6 liter large format bottle of Quivira Cabernet Sauvignon for son Alec's birth year vintage collection. We served this at his wedding eve rehearsal dinner gathering. 

Quivira has been family owned since its founding in 1981. Proprietors Pete and Terri Kight farm 63 acres of vines planted at Wine Creek Ranch, and another 26 at two sites close by. Quivira Vineyards produce primarily Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and Rhône varieties.

Dry Creek Valley in remote northern Sonoma County is home to a wide range of wines—both red and white. One of the smallest AVAs in California, Dry Creek Valley has a terroir with a combination of ideal geography and climate, fertile, well-drained soils with long, warm days and cool nights.

While known for Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc, the area also produces respectable Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Syrah and Petite Sirah which is often found in blends with Zinfandel. 

Quivira Sonoma County Dry Creek Valley Fig Tree Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2019

For this Sauvignon Blanc, the producer touts this label. "All the elements of the world's best Sauvignon Blanc converge at Fig Tree Vineyard. The site is located at the confluence of two waterways, Wine Creek and Dry Creek. The wine's mineral freshness comes from the alluvial, rocky soils that have been scoured over millennia. The rare Musqué clone adds complexity and aromatic lift. Simply put, the right grape + the right place = Fig Tree Sauvignon Blanc."

The winemaker notes on this release sum it up. "Classic straw color with traces of green on the edges complement the aromatic sensory overload. Crisp with citrus oozing onto your tastebuds with each sip. Flavors of green fig (ode to our name!), white grapefruit, golden raspberry, and Princess Anne cherry combine with a steely, refreshing minerality. Theres an earthiness and a touch of grass that balances this wine. The nuanced acidity makes this appealing now and, based on our decades of library Sauvignon Blancs, we are confident it will continue to hold well through 2028-2029. Fig Tree Sauvignon Blanc is perennially racy making it a solid pairing with fattier dishes. It can also be savored with goat cheese ...."

Interesting that I opened this to try with a Bourgogne cheese. The wine overpowered the otherwise expressive cheese. The winemaker describes the wine as a 'sensory overload ... a touch of grass ... perennially racy ... nuanced acidity .. '. I encountered all these traits and considered the wine obtuse, angular and a bit over the top. I picked up the citrus and white grapefruit and steely minerality. I also picked up pleasant notes of sweet peach which tended to balance the otherwise obtuse flavor profile. 

This is a Quijote paradox ... like it or leave it ... 

Golden straw colored, traces of green on the edges, medium bodied, slightly angular forward citrus with a white grapefruit and hint of peach fruits with steely minerality and nuanced acidity and touch of grass on the tangy finish. 

While Wine Spectator gave this 93 points, I found it a bit over-the-top and gave it 87 points. Perhaps my ill fated cheese pairing undermined a fair evaluation. I've written in these pages about how a perfect wine and food pairing can amplify the experience, I guess it goes without saying that an imperfect pairing can/will also detract from the experience. Perhaps this was such a case.

RM 87 

Wine Spectator wrote "Verbena, beeswax and matcha green tea notes give way to a succulent, polished core of lemon curd, lanolin and quince flavors. Powerfully intense and focused, but the mouthwatering acidity keeps the flavors vivid, fresh and light-footed."

 

Wine Enthusiast gave it 91 points. They mention the peach notes, and the grassy notes and the acidity.

"From certified-organic grapes fermented in both stainless steel and neutral oak, this lovely and balanced wine tastes of peaches, white flowers and stones. Fresh, high toned and grassy, it lingers in both acidity and dried herb, impressing in both length and grace."

 

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate gave it 90 points and mentioned the peaches, called it 'gregarious' and cited a 'musky perfume'.

"The 2018 Sauvignon Blanc Fig Tree Vineyard has gregarious scents of guava, lychee, fresh herbs, warm peaches and musky perfume. The palate is light-bodied with a gently rounded texture and zesty acidity, finishing long and perfumed."

In the end, Cellartracker's and I agreed, as their community tasting averaged 87 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3911925

https://quivirawine.com/

@QuiviraVineyard

Wedding Wines - Birthyear and Big Bottle Extravaganza Continues

Wines for a Wedding Celebration - Birthyear and Big Bottle Extravaganza Continues with Quivira Cabernet Cuvee' Imperial, Pahlmayer and Pieper Heidseick Magnums - and Top Rated Birthyear Vintage Wines

The family gathered in Conneticut for son Alec and Vivianna's gala wedding weekend; we started off the festivities with a dinner with the wedding party, generously hosted by the B's, our new in-laws. 

The Big Green Truck with its on-board Pizza oven was on-site and prepared a broad selection of custom hand-made pizzas made with the finest ingredients and toppings. 

It was a perfect food-wine pairing with the California Cabernet Cuvee' Bordeaux Blend from Alec’s birthyear vintage, served from a 6 liter large format Imperial bottle I brought from our cellar collection for the occasion, as well as several other wines served.

As I presented the big bottle, I discussed the irony of it being one of our 'V' wines, this one also featuring a boat on the gold painted bottle, in light of the fact that I acquired this bottle decades ago in anticipation of this event. 

Frank B, father of the bride is an avid boater and the wedding party men spent the afternoon on his boat cruising the Westport and Southport Conneticut coast of Long Island Sound (below).

The special limited release commemorative bottle was signed by Quivira Vineyards and Winery founders and then owners, Henry and Holly Wendt. It came packaged in its own OWC, Original Wood Case. 

 

Quivira Vineyards has a long history of significance in the evolution of grape growing and winemaking in Dry Creek Valley. 

 

Founders Henry and Holly Wendt sold the property in 2006 to current owners Pete and Terri Knight. They were struck by Henry’s vision for better wine through innovative vineyard management using biodynamic and organic farming techniques. 

 

Since purchasing the winery and vineyards in the summer of 2006, Pete and Terri rallied the Quivira team around a strong sense of purpose and focus on a ‘sustainable, holistic approach’ to growing grapes in the quest of producing distinctive wines. 

 

Today, Quivira’s philosophy is driven by the mission and vision of quality shared between winemaker Hugh Chappelle and owners, Pete and Terri Knight. Together, they have invested in the vineyards and winery with the intent of growing wines based upon the ‘thoughtful commitment to sustainable and organic farming’. 

 

Quivira Vineyards, today, is a leading producer of terroir driven Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc, and Rhone varietals.

Quivira Dry Creek Cabernet Cuvee' 1990

This 1990 Cabernet Cuvee' was sourced from select grapes from the Quivira estate vineyards in Dry Creek Valley at the confluence of Wine Creek and Dry Creek in Healdsburg, Sonoma County. It is a blend of Bordeaux varietals, 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc and 21% Merlot. Cellartracker records show this label was produced in the years 1987 through 1992.  

 

I've written in these pages about the impact a large format bottle has on the aging of wine, extending the life and drinking window of a wine due to the larger vessel and its reduced air to wine surface area and greater volume for increased stability for more graceful and consistent aging. 

 

This wine exceeded my expectations with its drinkability, still showing vibrant fruits and showing little sign of diminution from aging. This is most certainly attributable to the large bottle and to the quality of the 1990 vintage harvest. 

 

Sons Alec and Ryan, the groom and co-best man, carefully removed the wax capsule seal and extracted the cork, in near perfect condition, using a Ahso, two pronged cork puller. Shown below with our host, father of the bride, Frank B, and the boys, the 6 liter Quivira.

Thus was dark inky purple garnet colored, medium-full bodied with vibrant black berry fruits accented by notes of mushroom, smoke, oak and hints of black tea and cassis with a nice smooth integrated tannin laced finish. 

RM 89 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=606516

https://quivirawine.com/

https://twitter.com/QuiviraVineyard

The wines continued the following evening for the wedding banquet served in a magnificent setting on the lawn under the tent in the yard overlooking the Sound. 

 

Following the Quivira, we opened another large format bottle, a magnum of Pahlmeyer Napa Valley Caldwell Vineyard Red Blend, also from the same birthyear vintage year 1990.  

Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red is a classic Napa Valley Bordeaux Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec, all sourced from the Estate Caldwell Vineyard. 

 

I wrote about this wine when I served a companion magnum of this bottle and label during a family gathering earlier this summer, the week of the original planned wedding event before being postponed due to the Covid Pandemic. 

To round out the flight of wines for the evening, Alec served his namesake signature wine, Alec’s Blend Napa Valley Red Wine from Lewis Cellars. This is another family favorite label from a favorite producer, featured often in these pages.

Son/brother Ryan gifted six bottles of recent releases of this label to Alec, and I swapped them with a vertical tasting flight from our cellar from the ‘99, ‘01, ‘03, ‘05, ‘07 and 2009 vintages. These were served alongside the current 2017 release. 

 

Following the wedding weekend, the bride and groom headed off to Napa to pay homage to the vines and visit several family favorite producers including Lewis, Del Dotto and several others, firestorm permitting. Alec and Vivianna have a planned visit to the Lewis Cellars Winery in Napa on their re-planned Honeymoon to Napa Valley.  

 

We also served for the weekend another bold vibrant proprietary red blend from Venge Cellars. Venge Scout’s Honor features a prominent ‘V’ on the label, a fun whimsical play on the initials for the bride Vivianna and a testament to the vineyard dog Scout of the Venge family, and a tribute to Alec and Vivianna’s new dog, Camella. 

  

Venge is another popular label and a family favorite. We have known and collected wines crafted by Nils Venge, the first California producer to craft a 100 point wine from the pundits, since his early days as a producer, and when he was consulting winemaker to several popular labels including Plumpjack, Del Dotto, Fantesca and others. 

Following the wedding ceremony, Frank and Mary-lisa, Vivianna's parents, hosted a magnificent gala celebration dinner in a tent on the lawn at their home overlooking Sherwood Island and Cob Cove on the Long Island Sound. 

 

The spectacular dinner featured prime filets of beefsteak and salmon entrees. This was a much abbreviated scaled down celebration from the originally intended and planned banquet at their club, which will now be rescheduled for another time. 

 

To contribute and join in the celebration dinner, I brought from our cellar a flight of very special wines I have collected over the decades and held for this occasion, from the birthyear vintages of the bride and the groom.

 

Three of the wines were each awarded #1 Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator Magazine as part of their annual Top 100 Wines of the Year, all from the 1990 vintage. A testament to the global success of the vintage, one was from California, one from Bordeaux and one from South Australia, a further testament to the amazing spectacular 1990 vintage. 

 

All these wines were acquired upon their release back in the early nineties, in some cases, even before being so recognized and heralded. 

 

Three #1 Wine Spectator Top
100 Wines from 1990 vintage

I blogged about these wines and big bottles in a preview to this weekend's gala festivities. 

Chateau Grand Vin Latour Pauillac Bordeaux 1990 

This 1990 vintage release was the Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1993 and was awarded a perfect 100 points. We also served this wine from a six liter Imperial from daughter Erin's 1981 birthyear vintage, at her and son-in-law Johnny's wedding celebration.

Erin, Johnny and Fort family
at Sean & Michelle's wedding

Penfold’s Grange (Hermitage) McLaren Vale Shiraz 1990

This 1990 vintage release of this label was the Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1995. This was the concensus WOTN - Wine of the Night by many in the group, especially the younger generation. I acquired an OWC - Original Wood Case of his wine back on release. I remember obtaining it at Berry Brothers and Rudd in London and hand carrying back on the flight, back in the days when such activity was allowed. 

 

We opened a bottle from this case with Alec and Vivianna when we visited them in New York to celebrate their engagement.   

 

My notes from that previous tasting earlier: Dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, flawless, elegant, polished, harmonious, perfectly balanced, silky smooth flavors of concentrated black berry and black raspberry fruits with notes of vanilla, licorice, spice, black truffles and oak with hints of spice and cedar turning to fine grained tongue puckering tannins on the long lingering finish.

RM 96 points.

Caymus Special Select Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 and 1991

This 1990 vintage release was Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1994. The 1990 vintage was so successful that nine of the Top Ten Wines of the Year in 1994 were from the 1990 vintage.  

To further celebrate the nuptials, I also brought several wines that we happen to hold in our cellar from the birthyear vintage of the bride including the Caymus Special Select 1991, in addition to the heralded #1 1990 vintage. Testament to this producer and their run of great releases, the 1991 was awarded the #2 wine of the Top 100 Wine Spectator Wines of the Year 1995. So, this mini-vertical duo of back to back vintages were #1 and #2 respectively in the Top 100, likely the first and only time that I can find that this has happened. 

  

 

 

I also brought back-to-back '90 and '91 vintages of Silver Oak Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon. Had the Coronavirus pandemic not derailed the couple’s original wedding plans, I was prepared to serve Silver Oak Bonny’s Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 from six liter bottles, (serial numbers 41 and 44). They remain stored in our cellar in their OWC - Original Wood Cases (shown below). We will hold these for (a) future celebration occasion (s). 

 

We served the 1982 vintage of Bonny's Vineyard from son Ryan's birthyear vintage at his and daughter-in-law Michelle's (below) wedding celebration, along with a horizontal collection of other birthyear vintage wines, several from large format bottles. 

 

 

We also served 1990 and '91 vintage Flora Springs Trilogy Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. 

 

We also brought along and were prepared to open but didn't get to them, bottles of Dunn Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 1990 and 1991. 

 

In all of these comparison tastings, the 1990 vintage showed significantly better than its 1991 counterpart, evidence that vintages matter. I've written in these pages that often, off-year vintages can out-perform, and, that in top exceptional years, all boats rise with the tide, and second and lesser labels can also be exceptional, often providing great QPR (quality price ratio) values. Tonight, though, we were fortunate enough to serve and partake of the best of the best - best wines of the best vintages!

 

We are still holding and looking forward to opening from our cellar collection birthyear vintage bottles of our kids and our anniversary years from our horizontal and vertical collections of several favorite Bordeaux producers including Chateaux Leoville Las Cases, Ducru Beaucaillou, Palmer, Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Gruaud Larose, Chateau d'Yquem and a few others. We're still holding many of these as they appear to have longer drinking windows and hence can be held a bit longer. We visited several of these Chateaux during our Bordeaux region trip last year. We'll look forward to featuring them in future family celebration tastings.  

 

Author, Rick & Linda,
groom's parents

After dinner, with the wedding cake, we served from our cellar Chateau Lafaurie Peyraguay and Chateau Suideraut Grand Cru 1990. We're fortunate to hold some Chateau d'Yquem 1990 as well, but will hold this for appropriate celebrations in the future due to its extraordinary long aging and drinking window. We were also prepared to open and will also hold for future events a Warre's and a Dow’s Quinta de Cavadhina Ports from 1990.

 

 

Prior to dinner, and throughout the evening, we served large format magnum bottles of Pieper Heidseick Special Edition Champagne (above). 

Lastly and notably, this follows by just three weeks the wedding celebration and serving of other large format and birthyear wines at son Sean's and daughter-in-law Michelle's wedding earlier this month. 

Michelle and Sean, newlyweds of
three weeks at A-V's wedding