Robert Craig Mt Veeder Cab with Tomahawk Ribeye

Robert Craig Mt Veeder Cab with Tomahawk Ribeye

Back home from our vacation getaway to Destin, FL, we enjoyed a grilled Tomahawk ribeye beefsteak and vintage premium Napa Cabernet for Sunday night dinner. 

This steak was one of many Linda acquired for a gala family celebration dinner recently. 

I pulled from the cellar this Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from the Mount Veeder estate winery of the late Robin Williams, comedian and actor. I selected this label after seeing the several vintages of the ultra-premium Tesseron Pym Rae on the Premium Limited and Rare wine list at Ravello Restaurant Montgomery the other night, each listed for $750. The Tesseron global beverage empire acquired the Robin Williams estate after his passing, rebranding the wines sourced from this historic vineyard. Previously, the grapes were sold to Robert Craig winery who bottled this single appellation Mt Veeder label for more than two decades. 

It should be noted, the Tesseron Pym Rae release is a single vineyard designated select bottling. Notably, we also hold in our cellar two other single vineyard designated select bottling from the Pym-Rae vineyard, one released by Pilcrow, the other by Marco DiGuilio, in addition to the Tesseron label. We’ll look forward to featuring these perhaps in a comparison tasting, in a future review posting. 

We visited the Robert Craig estate winery high atop Howell Mountain on several occasions, including the Robert Craig Howell Mountain Harvest Party '09. Robert Craig Napa Valley Cabernets are instantiated in at least six different labels including this vineyard designated select Mt Veeder, and are one of the largest producer holdings in our cellar collection.

The previous time we served this wine at one of our wine dinners, it was poignant tasting and reminiscing over this wine. We recalled tasting this wine with Robert Craig on numerous occasions and he recollecting this is his favorite of the vineyard selections. 

We talked of the recent end of the supplier relationship for this fruit source as the legendary Pym Rae Vineyard, previously owned by the late Robin Williams, was sold to a major French producer who acquired the sixteen hundred acre estate and plan to enter the Napa Valley marketplace. We recall Robert's reminiscences of Robin for whom he worked and managed the vineyards back in the nineties, (telling the story how Robin William’s early winery label Toad Hollow, was named such because at an early age, he mis-pronounced his older brother Todd’s name thusly.) 

I shared these stories with Ian O’Brian, the Matre’d at Ravello, as backgrounder info on the ultra-premium wines he was featuring on their wine list. 

Robert Craig Napa Valley Mt Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

As I mentioned, Robert Craig Napa Valley Cabernets represent one of the largest holdings in our cellar. We hold variations of the portfolio dating back to the inaugural release in 1993. 

I pulled this label to commemorate the Mount Veeder estate. I selected this vintage as a ‘Goldilocks’ release, at twenty years of age, not too old, and not too young.

We still hold several bottles of this label release. I selected this particular bottle as it had the lowest fill level, however, at 21 years, it was acceptable, and the foil, label, and most importantly, the cork were still in pristine condition.

Tonight this bottle showed better than earlier tastings of this release as the fruits were more expressive and pronounced, earning an additional two points from my earlier reviews.

This release got 92 points from Connoisseur's Guide and Wine Enthusiast.

Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, nicely integrated and well balanced, bright vibrant black cherry, black currant and black raspberry fruits accented by notes of cassis, smokey oak, dark mocha and hints of cedar with moderate dusty tannins on the lingering finish.

RM 93 points.

This is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, & 2% Cabernet Franc.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=347353

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=857002

https://robertcraigwine.com/

@RobertCraigWine

Ravello Restaurant Montgomery

Ravello Restaurant Montgomery 

Returning home from our Destin, Florida vacation getaway we stopped in Montgomery, AL for dinner. What a pleasant surprise to discover the history and architecture of Alabama’s state capitol city, and the Capital campus and grounds, federal building (s), and parks and monuments, testaments to the historic old south slave markets and the civil rights movement. It is definitely worth a return trip as a destination in it’s own right to explore further! 

We were drawn to Montgomery to dine at Ravello Restaurant with its fine dining offering coastal Italian cuisine based on the rich culinary heritage of the Italian Amalfi Coast, with fresh seafood, pastas and meats, and Wine Spectator Award of Excellence wine list.

Ravello’s magnificent multi-story dining room boasts historic architecture of a former bank. The site was a City Fed restoration project, integrating three buildings from 1926, which now house Ravello its rooftop Bar Attico and private event spaces, in the heart of downtown Montgomery, blocks from the government district.

For a starter we shared the Roasted Beet Salad with Arugula, candied blood orange, prosciutto, goat cheese and blood orarange vinaigrette. 

Linda ordered the Seared Gulf Red Snapper with Salsa Verde, and a side of the Brussels Sprouts which were extraordinary and a highlight of the meal.

For my dinner I had the Filet of Beef with black garlic butter and a side of Polenta. 

The Ravello wine list/cellar offers 265 different wines from a collection of 2200 bottles. The twelve page Ravello wine list holds a.Wine Spectator Awarded with two pages of WBTG - Wines By The Glass, a page of Champagne and Sparkling wines, a page of Whites, three pages of Reds, plus a page of Reserve Wines, a page of Limited and Rare Wines, and a page of La Sirena wines by legendary winemaker Heidi Barrett. 

Some of the highlights or interesting labels are three vintages of TESSERON ESTATE "PYM-RAE" MT. VEEDER RED BLEND at $750 each, and culminating in a DOMAINE DE LE ROMANEE-CONTI “ECHEZEAUX” GRAND CRU 2020 for $1800. Pages of the wine list are shown below:

Repeating what I have often said about such wine lists, that “I can’t afford to drink my own cellar”, two wines that we drank from our cellar recently were offered, notably, Chateau Gruaud Larose 2005 (Gruaud Larose BYOB at Entourage DG) for $575, and Chateau Palmer (Family Christmas Celebration Dinner) 2011 for $950. 

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2025/04/gruaud-larose-byob-at-entourage-dg.html

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2024/12/family-christmas-celebration-and-wine.html

That said, it just so happened I had in the car a vintage Bordeaux that I was transporting from our Destin remote wine cellar back home, so I pulled it for a BYOB wine accompaniment with our dinner. Based on the above calibrations, it would’ve carried a wine list price of around $600. (This bottle was brought by fellow ‘Pour Boy’ wine buddy Lyle to Destin for a recent visit and we didn’t get to it during our multiple dinners. We’ll enjoy a replacement together from our home cellar at an upcoming dinner when back in Chicago.) 

Château Smith Haut Lafitte Pessac-Léognan Grand Cru Classe’ Bordeaux 2012 

The Château Smith Haut Lafitte estate lies about 30 km south of the City of Bordeaux, 4 km outside the village of Léognan. 

The historic estate dates back to the 14th century when Verrier Du Bosq signed the first recorded deeds for a few vine rows. George Smith, a Scottish wine merchant, acquired the property in the mid-18th century and named it after himself.

The Fleurs-de-lis emblem logo on the label represents the three branches for George Smith’s three children, and representing the Verrier du Bosq family who founded the vineyard, a crescent emblematic of the Port of Bordeaux: the “Port of the Moon”. The port became an important wine export shipping center sending regional wines to England and the Netherlands and beyond.

In 1842, the estate was acquired by Lodi Martin Duffour-Dubergier, Mayor of Bordeaux, and signer of the official 1855 classification, who elevated Smith Haut Lafitte wines to Grand Cru Exceptional status.

In the early 20th century, the négociant firm Eschenauer, headed by the famous “Uncle Louis” Eschenauer, sold Smith Haut Lafitte wines and ended up buying the château in 1958.

In 1990, the estate was acquired by current owners, Daniel and Florence Cathiard, acquired with the firm intention of continuing its tradition of excellence, “to do everything possible to make each vintage of red and white wine worthy of our magnificent terroir.” 

The estate terroir boasts the classic Gravels « Graves Gunziennes » forcing the vines to dig more than 6 meters deep and the grapes benefit from the stones’ mirror effect from the sun to aid in optimal ripening. The vines average age is 38 years. 

The Cathiards Aspent spent three years renovating the estate and now live there in the 18th century chartreuse dating from George Smith’s time. Grounds of forests, hedges, and hives surround the 87 hectares of the single block vineyard.

This 2012 release is 55 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 40 % Merlot, 4 % Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.
It was aged 18 months on lees in French oak barrels (60 % new) made at the Château onsite cooperage, with one racking only, and then ageing adjusted for each wine.

Comments by Fabien Teitgen, Technical Director - “Château Smith Haut Lafitte red 2012 offers a beautiful dark bright red colour with blue hue. The already expressive nose reveals very fresh notes of red fruits (strawberry, cherry) with a hint of smoke. Once aerated, the nose complexity appears with delicate notes of spices (star anise, liquorice, cinnamon), of red fruits as well as beautiful and elegant flower notes. Then the nose stretches out with terroir aromas of flint stone and fireplace. The attack in mouth is fresh and balanced with a fleshy and unctuous texture. The wine is a subtle balance between maturity and freshness: the maturity from the concentration, the impressive unctuosity and sugarity and the beautiful structure of long and classy tannins; the freshness from the tension, the dynamism and the aroma sparkle. The aromatic is very close to that of the nose, characterised by the freshness with crunchy red fruits, spices notes of liquorice, dry herbs, fireplace and flint stone.”

With a suggested drinking window of 2017 - 2027, this is no doubt at its apex for optimal consumption, but will certainly continue to hold for another decade or more.

This release was rated 95 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, and a concensus 94 points by Decanter, James Suckling, Vinous, Wine Enthusiast (*Cellar Selection*) and Wine Spectator. 

Describing the 2012 release Decanter wrote, “ By this point, more than 20 years of intelligent investment by owners Daniel and Florence Cathiard had paid off.” Vinous wrote “ This is another classy Pessac-Léognan and a wonderful example from Pessac-Léognan that might well be leading the pack at this stage.”

This is as good as and as memorable Smith Haut Lafitte I recall ever having tasted, except perhaps their monumental 100 point release a few years ago. 

We enjoy tasting each new release of this label and meeting the producer as regular participants in each year’s UGCB release tour tasting in Chicago each year, (Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB)),  

Dark garnet-purple colored, medium to full-bodied, perfectly balanced, complex, rich and pure nicely integrated blackberry and hints of blueberry fruits with notes of tobacco, chocolate, coffee, spice, black tea and tar with smooth polished velvety plush tannins and a long, long finish. 

RM 94 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1601102

https://www.smith-haut-lafitte.com/en/home/

https://www.smith-haut-lafitte.com/en/our-wines/

https://twitter.com/ChateauSHL

https://www.ravellomgm.com/

https://www.ravellomgm.com/wine

https://www.southernliving.com/montgomery-alabama-7504866#toc-what-to-do-in-montgomery-alabama