Last night a good friend came by to hang out and have dinner here. As the new FTLOP had just launched, I had something to celebrate about. My wife who had seen me “holed up” for the past few days since returning from San Francisco and the aforementioned Madeira tasting, was also quite thirsty.

First I pulled a 1997 Marc Brocard, “Les Clos” Chablis. Even though a good producer, from a solid vintage and the top vineyard in all Chablis … it was a disappointing bottle. The nose was spot on but somehow the fruit was a bit tired and I was not going to waste time. I poured it into the sautee pan where my wife was doing some mushrooms. Back down to the cellar and I grabbed the 2000 Dom. William Fevre “Les Clos” and it was everything I had hoped from the first bottle. The aromatics took some time to pop, but the palate was spot on, right from the get go. I poured it into decanter where it opened nicely over the hour that we munched on some appetizers.

I already had a couple of more bottles planned for the evening, but first it was time to put the meaty slabs of baby back ribs on the charcoal grill outside (after searing them in the oven first). They cooked in no time and we were all hungry. My 5 year-old loves these pork ribs and there was enough to feed a small army, along with some mushrooms on the side and a sweet potato. Believe it or not, I stuck with white wine and had a 2000 Egon Muller, Scharzhofberger Kabinett Riesling from the MSR which was actually the perfect foil with the ribs, except it really delivered like a Spatlese with a bit more RS than I typically would have expected.

But the best was yet to come, I had a great bottle, one of my friend’s all time favorites waiting. The 1995 Dalla Valle Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa) which was extraordinary. The 13% Cab Franc really gave this some lifted character and it truly is one stunning bottle. We sipped this slowly and my wife, who had never had the DV before was head over heels. Time ran out and we did not get to have dessert wine on this particular evening, but I’m sure I will be making up for that later in the week.