Father’s Day Weekend Getaway - Golf Wine Golf Wine Golf
For Father’s Day, my three son’s took me away for a golf weekend at Geneva National Golf Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We stayed in the cottages on the course as part of their Stay-and-Play program and had three fabulous days of golf, great food and spectacular wines.
Over the three days, we played each of the three Geneva National championship courses designed by three legendary players, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Lee Trevino.
Friday night the boys prepared prime 30 day aged grilled beef and bison ribeye beefsteaks, mashed potatoes and broccolini, mushrooms and fabulous seared foie gras.
From our home cellars we took several outstanding wines for our dinner.
Hall Vineyards ‘Exzellenz’ Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
One of our absolute favorite labels from one of our favorite producers. We’ve written about both in these earlier blogposts -
Château Léoville Poyferré St Julien Bordeaux 2008
Another one of our favorite labels from one of our favorite appellations in Bordeaux. This 100 points wine from a spectacular vintage. A Visit to Château Léoville Poyferré was a highlight of our trip to the Medoc region of Bordeaux.
Schweizer Vineyard ‘Mira’ Napa Valley Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon
Another outstanding label we’ve enjoyed on previous occasions as featured in these pages -
Diamond Creek ‘Gravelly Meadow’ Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1985
Son’s birthyear vintage release of a classic iconic Napa producer that we’ve visited and a label we;ve collected, once again, as featured previously in these pages -
Hill Family Vineyards Napa Valley Atlas Peak Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
A favorite producer and label of son Alec’s, collected as part of his club allocations, again, that we’ve enjoyed and featured in these pages -
https://www.cellartracker.com/w?4093954
https://hillfamilyestate.com/product/2023-napa-valley-cabernet-sauvignon
A birthyear vintage wine for son Ryan …
Smith Woodhouse Late Bottled Vintage Port 1982
Smith Woodhouse is a historic port wine producer based in the Douro Valley region of Portugal. Founded in 1784, the winery is known for its high-quality vintage ports, which are made from grapes grown on steep terraced vineyards overlooking the Douro River.
Their Late Bottled Vintage ports are from a single year. The wine ages 4-6 years in old oak casks (opposed to Vintage Ports that are aged 2-3 years). Late Bottled Vintage releases fill the gap between the rubies and the vintage ports since a Ruby Port should be drunk quite young and a great Vintage Port may need 15 to 20 years to open up and show their true character and potential. This led to the idea in the 1960s to age the wine 4 to 6 years in large casks before bottling it, thereby producing a wine with the style of a Vintage Port with its deep colour and concentration of fruit but with a more mature character caused by the longer ageing in wood.
This is a selection of some of the finest quality wine of a single year, bottled, like Vintage Port, without fining or filtration, but after four years rather than two years in the wood. The extra wood age softens the wine and leads to an accelerated ageing in bottle. The result is akin to fully mature Vintage Port in flavour and complexity. Smith Woodhouse is one of the very few Port shippers to continue making LBV in the traditional way and to market the wine only after it has been bottle aged. These Ports tend to deliver high QPR - Quality Price Ratios - exceptional value for money.
https://go.cellartracker.com/wine/152446
Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey Sauterne Bordeaux 2002
Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey is a Premier Grand Cru Classé from the Sauternes appellation of Bordeaux, and is among the most prestigious names of the iconic sweet wine appellation located south of the Bordeaux region. Dating back to to the 17th century the historic château estate 100 acres on Sauternes’ highest terrace around the villages of Bommes, Preignac and Fargues.
The vineyards terroir of silica-gravel and clayey-gravel over limestone, give the grapes concentration and finesse.
The 2002 Sauternes is a blend crafted mainly from Sémillon with small amounts of Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle (roughly 90–95% Sémillon, remainder Sauvignon/Muscadelle). The grapes are sorted and collected by hand in several successive passes to carefully select the botrytised berries. Fermentation and élevage are aged in oak for 12–18 months.
Winemakers notes - Expect honeyed apricot, marmalade, orange peel, toasted almond and marmite of exotic spice.
https://go.cellartracker.com/wine/26588
Saturday night, we dined at one of the resort restaurants and drank from the winelist a premium white and popular red with our entrees.
Quintessa ‘Illumination’ Napa/Sonoma Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2023
Our visit to the Quintessa estate winery and vineyards on Silverado Trail in Rutherford, Napa Valley was a highlight of our Napa Wine Experience back in 2003.
This is a blend of 60% Napa and 40% Sonoma Valley fruit.
Justin Iscosceles Paso Robles Red Blend 2019
This popular premium red blend from this producer is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc and 7% Merlot, ideal for pairing with food.
