For my birthday, we decided to host a dinner party with three other couples. Everyone brought a dish to pass and I found some amazing bottles in my cellar. I feel such joy sharing these bottles with others and not just drinking them myself to drink them. First let’s talk about what I served for appetizers.
We had three cheeses (unexpected cheddar from Trader Joe’s, Gouda from Trader Joe’s and Sartori’s Reserve Parmesan). I also made brie bites in phyllo shells with black raspberry jam. This is one of the simplest appetizers that gets rave reviews. I also made French bread with sliced brie and honey (which is my husbands favorite). I picked up crackers at Trader Joe’s and we had dry salami. I added some figs and grapes to the platters for color and something sweet. I also made homemade rosemary almonds and bought Trader Joe’s chocolate covered almonds.
Now for the wine, I opened two bottles and decanted them 90 minutes before people arrived. I found a 2001 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2003 Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon. With 18 years of age on the Groth, it definitely lost some of its fruit but it was amazingly smooth on the finish. The Whitehall Lane definitely had the Rutherford dust on the nose, but it tasted amazing and again, so smooth.
After we polished off those two bottles, we decanted a 2006 Whitehall Lane Reserve Cabernet Sauvingon, this was the favorite of the night of the “older” wines for most of our guests. The nose from Rutherford was distinctive, but it was a fabulous bottle of wine.
Moving on to the 2007 Joseph Phelps Insignia, as always Insignia did not disappoint. The very dark purple wine in our glass with long legs when you swirled was my personal favorite of the night. I’ve been in the Phelps wine club for at least 10 years, being able to order Insignia futures at the pre-bottled price has been the biggest incentive to stay in the club. My treat to myself is one bottle per year, I still have a 9-year vertical in my wine cellar.
We grilled filets and had salad, cheesy potato casserole and sautéed green beans with shallots and pancetta. We opened a 2010 Jessup Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2014 Nickel & Nickel John C. Sullenger Vineyard Cabernt Sauvignon. Both wines went very well with the food we served.
We had Killer Brownies and Chocolate Salami for dessert. We enjoyed an Handwritten 2014 Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon. Handwritten is a sister winery to Jessup Cellars, making single vineyard cabernets but they also do an really good Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir.
The men moved on to Bourbon and the ladies had one last bottle of wine, a 2017 Jessup Cellars Manny’s Blend (just released to club members). Manny’s is one of my favorite blends from Napa. I discovered it at Jessup and have enjoyed the wine ever since. It’s one of my favorite clubs, not only do I love almost every wine they make, but the tasting room staff and my wine concierge made it the entire experience memorable. Manny’s is a blend of Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, my favorite pairing is with anything barbeque based.
I’d love to hear your comments and questions on any of the wines above or wine clubs. I love joining wine clubs, it’s a great way to consistently get wine delivered to your home and try new wines throughout the year even when you are not in Napa.
