Ultimate Sunset Birthday Dinner with New Best Friends
Kamuela Provision Company, Hilton Waikoloa, Big Island, Hawai'i
Tasted Monday, March 25, 2013 by robertdtwo with 447 views
Introduction
Last year, my wife, son and I had the good fortune of befriending a local couple on our fourth trip to Hawai'i as a couple, but our first to the Big Island (and the first Hawai'ian visit ever for our son). It turned out that, after getting to know these two lovely people just a bit, we were so much alike and had so much in common that the odds are we were destined to either love or hate one another. Fortunately for all of us, it was the former. We kept in touch, vowed to return, and then did...not just making the hopeful talk you might make in that situation. Spending our second week together, as much time as their professional lives allowed, anyway, cemented the mutual fondness all five of us felt when we were together.
We just got back from one of the finest weeklong experiences of our lives. Friendships renewed and deepened. Lifelong memories created. Family bonds confirmed and enriched. Wow! It was the kind of trip that makes you want to buy a house and move to vacationland. I hope you've had that feeling, too!
One night in particular stands out from a wine experience perspective. It was my birthday, and, since I now had friends on the island, I shipped a mixed case of reds from our cellar to arrive before we did. The local couple has some intimate ties to the restaurant industry, and used their influence to shape a night we'll never forget. It started out as we walked in...rock star treatment...introductions, it seemed, to everyone...the best sunset table in the place...two courses of the chef's best before we even opened our menus...a dessert tray featuring what must have been every delicacy they offer...again, wow!
Oh, and I don't know how our hosts arranged it, but we were fortunate enough to be there for one of the best multiple humpback whale breach events of the last eight years.
Yeah, I know, you want to know about the wines, right??? OK, here goes:
Four years ago, on our first Napa pilgrimage, we discovered the Howell Mountain district, and absolutely fell in love with the terroir of those mountain berries. So, O'Shaughnessy Cabernet was the first flight to accompany the embarrassment of riches the chef plied us with for appetizers.
Flights two and three were chosen to illustrate how very different 100% Sangiovese grapes can taste in the bottle; so we enjoyed Casanova di Neri Tenuta Nuova Brunello di Montalcino to begin with our entrees, and followed up with a wine I've never really known how to pair with food, Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva Grandi Annate.
Not only did everything pair beautifully, but we didn't know our hosts were brunello virgins, and it seems that we made a couple converts that night.
Following are the tasting notes I posted once we got home for the night. Thanks for listening, and thanks, fellow CTers, for all your postings!!!
Flight 1 (1 Note)
Flight 2 (1 Note)
Flight 3 (1 Note)
Closing
Great friends and great wines are a combination we all know and love.
Cheers!
robertdtwo
2007 O'Shaughnessy Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 92 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain
Quick decant at KPC/Big Island w/Warren & Emiko. Should have rated higher, but we weren't able to let this air out long enough as it was the first bottle of the evening. Vanilla & blueberry on the palate but the fruit is being constrained by chewy tannins. Beautiful mountain fruit CAb, but needs an hour or two of breathing time to rate it the '94' it deserves!
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