What wines do you bring to dinner /w a Billionare Wine Collector?

The last time my mom and my brother visited China they went to stay at the house of an old college friend of hers that worked in Shangai. The moment my brother got internet access he went crazy ranting about the man's epic sized 10k+ wine cellar and all the amazing wine that the friend had opened that night for dinner. Grand Cru Burgs, First Growths, and Coke (just kidding) flowed a plenty and I was drooling from the mouth as he described everything to me. As my brother ranted off label after label to ask me about how expensive each wine was and why I never served him such amazing wine, I emailed my mom telling her that if they ever have dinner again to invite me or face never seeing her future grandchildren.

Fast forward one year. While studying for the Bar exam I get a phone call from my mom asking if I wanted to have dinner with her and her friend's family. Her friend from China was visiting his daughter at UC irvine and wanted to treat us to dinner. At my age hanging out with my mom has become cool again and also being the cheap bastard I am I couldn't say no to a free dinner. The only request my mom had was that I bring wines to dinner cause she wanted to repay her friend's kindness from when they visited. I let her know that my whole collection of wine probably doesn't match 3-4 bottles that were served at their dinner that one night but she insisted I pick out a few wines for dinner.

I didn't have time to pick up soda from the market and hit up the wine locker, so i settled on NOT bringing the Chateau Lafite but stuck to some CA wines that I thought he wouldn't be exposed to.I assumed that since he had so much Burgundy/Bordeaux that he probably got quite a few of them from auction and was exposed mostly to wines that were popular auction items. Since I wasn't looking to impress him with the $$$ of the wines, I wanted him to try some wines that I thought were different but well made that he couldn't find or wouldn't think to find in China. So I opened up a Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Pinot for dinner from the respective producers. I thought they showed decently, he's probably now never going to even buy CA wine again ;).

• 2002 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Sweet citrus palate with that earthy mushroom taste lingering behind the fruit. Over the night it became heavy and overly sweet for me with a more pronounced vanilla taste. unlike the 05/06 the acidity wasn't piercing, it went well with the wine and supported it, just I couldn't get over the rich sweetness of the fruit, it was almost overwhelming.

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• 2004 Sine Qua Non Pinot Noir Covert Fingers

  USA, California

  same as the other two notes, still a big ol ripe CA syrah style pinot. Tons of that strawberry with blackberry nose filled with oodles upon oodles of chocolate and vanilla. If you're a fan of this style wine the nose alone is rather intoxicating, I think you can smell it from across the restaurant. The alcohol wasn't present like it was in my previous notes, which is a positive. A lot of peppery spice on the palate mixed in with oak laden sweet fruits, just a blender full of big sweet luscious fruit that coats your whole mouth with a nice long finish.

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• 2005 Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Peterson Family Vineyard

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  pop and pour, monster of a wine. The noise is gigantic with really deep concentrated chocolate, burnt brown sugar, and some of that super ripe dark fruit. Really soft ripe fruit on the palate which I wasn't expecting. I was thinking it'd be a monster on the palate but it's not.. it's ripe and some might find it overbearing but it's well integrated. The tannins are silky smooth with a drop of vanilla. Not an overwhelming complex wine, less oak than I expected which is always a plus with this style.

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