Jimmy's 40th birthday Dinner - Avia Hotel

Jimmy turned 40 and he had 9 of us for dinner at the restaurant in the hotel AVIA in downtown Napa. It was a great evening of food, friends and wine. Most of us were in the wine industry in some form or another and we didnt want anything stuffy, so we opened all the bottles and let everyone try what they wanted, when they wanted.

I know the notes are bad, I did not bring my notebook with me. I went from memory, so bear with me on these. I listed the wines below in the order that I enjoyed them.

This wasn't necessarily a flight, but I wanted to group the notes logically.

• NV Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne Brut Rosé

  France, Champagne

  Beautiful Rose bubbly with a strawberry yeasty nose, nice tiny bubbles. the palate and finish were very enjoyable. What a great way to start a dinner with friends.

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• 2009 Captûre Wines Sauvignon Blanc Les Pionniers

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  after the bubbles I went to the sauv blanc and this one was a bit to big and creamy for me. I am not familiar with Graves, but I was told that if I liked this, I would like Graves. For the creaminess on the palate took away any minerality or fruitiness, but on the nose was nice stone fruit. Least enjoyable wine of the night.

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• 2005 Hartford / Hartford Court Chardonnay Stone Côte Vineyard

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Let me preface by telling you that I do not like very many chards, but I really like an aged chard made by Hartford. This 05 was a beauty. it was just a touch cloudy and the color of pale straw. I don't recall all the characteristics here, but the oak was well integrated and very subdude, which is why I enjoyed it so much. I even offered to trade a few wines for some of my Jimmy's stash.

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• 2006 Domaine François Lamarche Grands-Echezeaux

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru

  Moving to the reds, this lovely burgundy was my #3 of the night. the wine was able to breathe a bit before dinner and I enjoyed this with a lovely melted fresh mozz and mushroom dish. light brickish in color and a wonderful palate of earth but not funkiness. this wine is tasting well now, but has many years of life left

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• 2005 Hartford / Hartford Court Pinot Noir Arrendell Vineyard

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  there was an initial thought of this being corked, but that quickly subsided after it opened up a bit. This wine had the most memorable nose of the night. bright cherries and strawberries with a hint of cola and vanilla. but the wine was not nearly as impressive on the palate as the Burg we had previously. The finish was short, but not bad. If I had this wine alone it would have shown much better.

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• 2006 Antinori Tignanello

  Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

  The wife loved this wine. I recall enjoying it, but it wasn't as memorable as the other wines. Looking back, it was probably just too young. (what a horrible note...)

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• 2001 Vérité La Joie

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  My #2 wine of the night, I must be a verite whore because I cannot seem to get enough of this stuff. huge nose, very well balanced. Everytime I touch the glass to my lips I discover something new on the palate. what an expressive wine. I must trade for more of this.

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• 1999 Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain

  This was my second least favorite wine of the evening, and I kept going back to it. I think it just stood out a bit too much with menthol notes on the nose and a tart finish that just wasn't very enjoyable.

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• 1997 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Alexander Valley

  Okay, so the folks at the other end of the table were bogarting this wine like I was bogarting the La joie. I finally got a pour of this and it was not as impressive as I was hoping for. It was nicely balanced, had a good amount of oak on it, and probably not enough air time. Again, on its own, with a bit more air, this would probably be spectacular.

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• 1970 Fonseca Porto Vintage 95 Points

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  From .750 Popped and enjoyed half of the bottle over an hour or so at a friends 40th birthday dinner. An absolutely wonderful Port. dark cherry red color; nice and sweet on the nose with touch of strawberry;what a wonderful mouthfeel, for being 40 years old, this monster is not showing its age at all. beautiful finish, I just wanted to drink the whole bottle.
  I still have a half bottle left and I gassed it.\
  This was my WOTN

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to sum things up, I believe that every one of these wines would stand up on its own without any issue, but sometimes when they are paired against others, there is something that either makes one stand out and go WOW, or which means the other wine is not nearly as memorable. What a great night, with great people and great wines.

Thanks Jimmy for inviting us to your table.