Then the Rousseau suggestion above is a very good one. Just go for either young or 1993 or earlier. You don’t want to spend that much money and have the chance of it being shut down.
One of the greatest Napa Cabs I have ever had was the 1995 Araujo Eisle made by Tony Soter. Can be found at the upper end of your range.
This is frankly the best suggestion out there. The Flannery with any Napa Cab is, IMO, the greatest pairing out there.
I personally would have absolutely zero interest in drinking a sticky in celebration. I’d be more inclined to hunt something like the following:
1989 Montrose
1990 Leoville Las Cases
1998 Chapoutier Hermitage Le Pavillon
1995 and 1996 Aurajo Eisele are in your range
Various Pichon Lalandes and Barons
Various vintages of Sperss, Santo Stefano, etc. from Gaja and Giacosa, older Solaia
Well you’ve already got a wife so that shuts down my suggestion but let’s just say it involved spending the full $300 and a couple jugs of Carlos Rossi…
That’s a great idea.
You can get some fabulous Lopez de Heredia Gran Reservas for not much money too- RWC has a selection, I think those might fit your tastes, and you’ll have money left over for the steak.
High on my list, but I’m not sure if you can obtain these for the price range you specified, are:
1990 Angelus
1990 Rayas Reserve CdP
1970 Taylor Fladgate
2001 Climens
Quintarelli Amarone from a vintage with 15+ years of age
An early 1900’s vintage Madiera (consult with professional or experienced collector first)
In the Bordeaux category, my vote would go to 1970 Haut Brion or 1990 Leoville Poyferre.
age and ripe vintage over anythign else. 89, 90 champagne, barolo, bordeaux, northern rhone syrah, CDP, all qualify.
I’m not sure you can buy the experience you are looking for. WOW bottles aren’t always predictable especially as you get into mature wines (a prerequisite to having a wow experience). Personally I’d go for 2-3 great bottles of lesser pedigree. If you insist I’d look for 85 La Mission.
As noted it is had to go wrong with Yquem.
'89 Lynch Bages. '89 Montrose a close second. Agree with Abreu. '90 Montrose can be awesome but be aware of bottle variation. Personally, I try to stay in the $150 range max, as there are certainly diminishing returns as the price goes up. I’d personally rather have 2 $150 wines than 1 $300 wine.
Get yourselves up to Chicago next month and join in the fun at the Bearserker fest. You will try greater variety of high quality wines than most anyplace and meet a lot of the folks who post here…
I have family in Dayton area and will PM you when heading down there. Perhaps we can find a few folks to pull some nice bottles…
There’s a tonne of good suggestions here already. I suggest you ask yourself whether you want the image / status of the wine to be part of the occasion (and I don’t mean that negatively) or whether you actually just want the tastiest stuff at that price point. If the former features, I would echo the d’Yquem suggestions. Although I’m one of the minority that doesn’t love it, up until I tried it I knew I really really really wanted to try it 
. You don’t want to die wondering what d’Yquem is like, and this may be the best opportunity in the foreseeable future.
If you’re only about the latter, I would suggest a good bottle of Chave Hermitage (which also happens to be a pinnacle-of-appelation example), or you could try to get Beaucastel cndp rouge and the VV Rousseanne for about that money (two bottles for twice the fun!).
A great experience needs food. Go to a nice restaurant and pay corkage to bring a good bottle in from your cellar.
Since your spouse loves zin. If you can find a bottle, the best zin ever would be the 1997 Turley Black Sears. The experience was so grand, I cannot force myself to buy another bottle in fear it might be a let down. Probably can get for around $100-$125. That leaves $200 for a wonderful pinot. 1994 Beaux Freres for $90 will give you an experience. Remainder use for the food!
Since the lady likes new world wines…and you guys are digging '10 CdP…maybe an aged SQN? Papa…Poker Face…something along those lines. I think they are amazing wines within your price range.
Where can you get a 75cl Yquem for under $300??
'89 Pichon Baron
'96 Leoville Las Cases
'00 Pichon Lalande
Perhaps one of the Guigal La Las? Doesn’t quite match up with your stated interests but I can’t imagine any wine lover could drink a well-aged La La from a good vintage and not be wow’d…
I’d recommend the older Burgundy or Bordeaux route, but that means an approachable vintage too, i.e. not a particularly tannic one. For instance, some '76 Burgs and some '70 and 75 Bordeaux are still rather rough and NOT ready! So vintage is important. Serving details are also extremely important! You tend to learn how to treat older wines, and it depends on how deep and “youthful” they still are (vintage and producer style dependant) and also what the grape variety is. Older Burgs respond to gentle treatment, Bordeaux has inherently more tannin and body, so even more breathing time is usually called for. Similarly with Nebbiolo (Barolo), which can need a lot of air.
I see that www.premiercru.net indicates that they CAN ship to Ohio, so if their web site is correct and you can receive shipment from an internet source, I will look at a couple of my favorite sites and see what they have in stock. As others have said though, price alone is not a guarantee of success. Factors I already mentioned matter a lot - an older wine from a big tannic vintage may just leave you and your wife scratching your heads. So you have to know vintage styles and producer styles and reputations too! And then too, it’s hard to guarantee past proper storage, so there is that variable too.
To be continued…
This will offend Curtis, and a lot of others who love California Cab, but if I was going to spend a lot of money on a single bottle the last thing it would be is Cali Cab. IMO that’s the one place where you can do pretty darn well without spending a ton. The truth is that there is simply no way to guarantee that any individual bottle you buy is going to give you the return for your dollars that you expect. You said you typically drink several lower priced bottles with friends every week. My suggestion is to pool your $$ and make a concerted effort to buy some more expensive bottles from regions around the world, and use that as an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of what’s out there, and what you like.