Wine with the Plano Group - Napa Cab Face-Off

Fun dinner with the Plano group Saturday. Now, no one actually lives in Plano, but without getting off subject here - this is an old name that has just stuck. This group knows and enjoys wine, mostly because I drug them along early on my wine journey. Now they are all wine lovers themselves, and getting together for dinner is always fun as you never know what someone will bring along.

Tracy and Lee hosted in thier amazing new outdoor living room. Lee opened the event with a “Born on Date” May 2018 Miller Light (by the keg mind you),.  Beautiful evening as we toured the new pool and Las Vegas style fire features, seriously you could lose an eyebrow at any second.  Kevin, Rob and Clint each brought some wine to the party, nothing real exotic this time, but there were some classic Napa Cabs.  Plenty of good apps and conversation and then it was on to dinner.

We had options but decided to start dinner with the 2008 Quintessa, i mean it was just too hard to see it sitting there waiting to be opened. Thanks Kevin - this was a winner - but who was surprised.  2008, still big and plenty of fruit, not letting anything go, the 2008s still have some time.  If you have not seen or been to this winery, click on the link above, this may be one of the prettiest wineries in Napa.  Check out the website - seriously!

Once the Quintessa ran out, it was on to the Nickle & Nickle Regusci Ranch Cabernet, thanks to Clint and Donna's monthly wine membership from Far Niente. Clint staked this as his favorite vineyard in the Nickle & Nickel collection. Who was I to argue, they don't have a bad one out of that place.  It was great, just one year younger than the first, but packed a bit more punch.  Carrying it's age much stronger than the Quintessa, it had lots of dark berry and a real balance but satisfying oak.

Now, I felt a bit overplayed at this point, didn't know it was going to be a Napa Cab Face-Off.  I wanted to share something simple and new - something that they had not had before and something they might want to start stocking up on.  I brought a 2015 Adaptation.  This has become one of my favorite moderately priced wines.  fI was introduced to this wine by none other that the founder John Conover, of Cade and Plumpjack Fame of course.  This wine was out of their Odette Operation, which if you have not had the chance to try - try it. Probably my favorite find on my last trip to Napa. Thanks to my good friend Marc Sachs by the way.  Adaptation is one of his newer projects and it is really special - especially for the price. I was able to pick up a case of this for just under $40 a bottle as Specs Wine, which makes this a great value for what you get in my opinion.  We finished up dinner with a bottle of 2010 Faust thanks to Rob and Michelle. Another solid wine, consistent and great but a pretty popular. This is another reasonable bottle, Quintessa 2nd Growth you might say, but always consistent.   Honestly by this time it was not as easy to identify all that this wine had to offer, but everyone seemed to enjoy it just the same.

Anyway, great dinner and company, check out any of these wines above if you're looking for a Napa Cabernet Classic. Cant wait to be with the plan group again - who knows what we get to try next time. Harlan Estate maybe?

Dallas’ Al Berniet's North

I was able to visit the new Al Berniet’s North this weekend.  Both brother-in-laws were in town for Mother’s Day, but it was just the boys Friday night, so we decided to try out Dallas’ newest steakhouse, but one that bears an old name.  I think they did a really great job on the renovation. So many of us enjoyed the Del Frisco’s location for years, so it was really cool seeing it reborn under a new name. Food, service and the Somm, all great, great job!!   So, Ill get to the point... the wine.  Wine list was extensive, with many of the usual suspects, but there were 5-10 pretty unique Napa names to look over. I gave the sommelier a couple of wines I was considering, but as usual, i wanted to try something and was open to suggestion.  He suggested the 2014 La Jota Vineyards, Howell Mountain Cabernet. I was familiar with this label, but had not had the wine before. They priced the wine at $165, which is a bit higher than I like to spend at dinner, as I am generally looking for the best value on the menu. However, this wine is sold for just under $100, so the markup seemed reasonable and I wanted to try the wine.  Brother-in-law, Porter, also eager to split, so it made this the right choice. The wine was great, lots of black cherry and berries, with a bit of smoke, mild oak and a soft finish.  Perfect temperature on the wine as well, thanks to the wine team at Al Berniet’s. Next time you visit, considering the wine, and the value to retail - I suggest this one.  A really good dinner at the new Al’s,  paired with good company and a great wine.