Had a memorable dinner in the last week, with some very good friends. A week ago Friday night, friends that live in Amelia Island, Florida, were entertaining two friends of theirs from Seattle, whom they had known for over 30 years. We have our occasional dinner parties and with Michael and his wife in town it was a good time to get together. Vince and his wife Holly, who hosted the dinner, are and have been friends of the grape for many years and have accumulated some very nice wines through the years. So it is always sure to be a night of good company, delicious food and great wine, and this night was just that.

 As I was greeted at the door, a glass of Champagne was in my hand nearly before the gift of flowers had left…not a bad trade. As we sipped, nibbled and caught up with each other’s lives the two bottles of Laurent Perrier Brut were soon quite empty. Dinner at Vince’s is about the wine, but he always prepares a fantastic meal that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, but this was, as usual, a perfectly prepared meal. So after a cool salad of sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil, Kalamata olives and olive oil a bottle of 2005 Kistler “Kistler Vineyard” Chardonnay was opened. What a beautiful expression of California Chardonnay, rich with citrus, pear, mineral and spice flavors. This golden-colored, elegant wine had an incredibly long finish and wowed us all. While we finished the Kistler, the medium rare, bone-in beef tenderloin, gnocchi w/wild mushrooms and the hericot verts were served with the magnum bottle of 1991 Dominus. If any one of your “they can’t make Bordeaux-like wines in California” friends were ever to taste the ’91 Dominus, they would quickly change their mind. This is truly an amazing bottle of  California Cabernet Sauvignon. After being decanted for an hour or two the hugely concentrated aromas poured out. This wine is getting better as it goes, I had a bottle of the 1991 six or seven years ago and it is every bit as good or even better. I can see now why the French judges picked California Chardonnay & Cabernet over the French wines in the 1976 tasting in Paris.

 Oh, and the meal was phenomenal. Vince and Holly, as always were the consummate host & hostess and we all had a memorable evening. I don’t know if I will get a chance to try the ’91 Dominus again, but I would really like to see how it tastes in another five or so years…what a wine! If you have had one of those wine dinners that you want to share, blog back.

Until then, Cheers!

 Ken Amendola, Wine Supervisor, North Florida

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