Boy's Night Out Cellar Tours Wine Tasting
Son Ryan and neighbor Dave M hosted a wine tasting opening their two cellars and a flight of spectacular wines accompanied by artisan cheeses, smoked salmon, charcuterie and assorted eats.
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| Evening hosts, Ryan M and Dave M |
Dave is the principle of Elements, the banquet meeting facility, wine and food service associated with Hotel Indigo in Naperville (IL). We recently hosted our global team summit there for a week, where we met, and learned he was my son's neighbor and a fellow oenophile and serious wine collector, and hence the planning began for wine get-togethers such as this!
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| Dave's Cellar |
Ryan anchored the tasting flight with a couple of ten year old labels and suggested I bring some vintage in five or ten year increments in light of my cellar collection spawning several decades. I pulled from my cellar two twenty-five year old labels from the 1997 vintage to round out the tasting.
What great fun and how special to share a father-son shared interest experience such as this.
Ryan started with three classic Napa Valley labels from his cellar, accompanied by a selection of artisan cheeses and charcuterie.
- Dominus Napa Valley Proprietary Red 2012
- Vineyard 29 Napa Valley Aida Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
- LaJota Napa Valley Howell Mountain Cabernet Franc 2018
From my cellar we opened two vintage Napa Cabernets.
- Lokoya Napa Valley Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 1997
- Plumpjack Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1997
My tasting notes of these labels appear in a separate blogpost here.
We moved around the corner to Dave's house with his magnificent cellar from which he offered our choice of wines to open. His home is full of wine themed artwork and artifacts besides the incredible rec room, wine room and cellar. The formal dining room features this spectacular wine art from famous wine paintings artist Eric Christensen. This rare Giclée oil print by America's
Watercolor Master is a hyper-realistic oil featuring the Napa Valley producer Duckhorn and their Discussion bottle with many imaginative and intriguing reflections.
Once down in the cellar - we focused on selecting the continuation of the evening's wine flight. Dave has set the tone having opened the legendary producer Scarecrow and their Napa Valley Red M Etain.
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| Ryan pulling down an OWC (original wood case) from Dave's cellar collection |
We pulled from Dave's extensive cellar collection and tasted a spectacular flight of extraordinary Napa Valley Cabernets.
- Scarecrow M Etain Napa Valley Red 2017
- Continuum Napa Valley Red 2014
- Realm 'The Tempest' Napa Valley Red 2014
- Hall Vineyards Kathryn Hall 2015
And from Argentina, Nicolás Catena Zapata, Adrianna Vineyard in the Gualtallary District, Tupungato Alto Region, Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina this Malbec,
- Adrianna Vineyards River Stones Malbec 2015
To end the evening, late into the early morning, we retired to Dave's outdoor patio for closing out the remaining wines, some aperitifs and cigars.
