About a week ago a good friend of mine mentioned he was going to be in town for a few days, and after a bit of planning we were able to wrangle up some friends for an impromtu dinner party. These days a dinner party consists of about equal parts adults and toddlers so it’s not quite as relaxing and social as it used to be, but always worth the effort!
Since i don’t see this buddy too often these days ( and he also loves to cook and appreciates nice wines) we decided to go as big as we feasibly could on the food and wine. It took a bit of planning and whole lot of prepwork but in the end I think it all turned out great!
Before i get into the details I need to apologize about the fact that I am chronically bad at taking pictures of the food and wines during dinner parties. With all the hosting, cooking, cleaning etc i seem to never make the time, which is a bummer because the food last night was epic.
PS we ended up not opening the 2010 ABC Pinot as we had plenty of wine already open
The Menu and wine pairings were as follows…
Grazing board & Caviar with Champagne
Not pictured above was the NV M. Brugnon Champagne Brut Sélection. The Champagne was great! Very crisp and clean with a beautiful brioche note. It paired super well with the caviar (shocking!) and it was a great way to start the evening! (92Pts)
Next up was a salad with spring mix, goat cheese, strawberry, candied pecans and a balsamic vinaigrette paired with the 2022 Beta Placida Chardonnay. We let one of the 4 year olds dress the salad and he continued pouring vinaigrette for about 5 seconds after we told him to stop so the salad was aboslutely swimming in dressing 
but it was still decent. The wine was crisp and golden, which is always a word that comes to mind when i drink chardonnay these days. I think it was a great wine but I may just not be the biggest lover of chardonnay! (92Pts)
From here we moved into the real cooking. The first dish was a saffron risotto with seared scallops and a zingy coconut cream sauce which we paired with the 2023 La Pelle Sauvignon Blanc. The dish was labor intensive as risotto can be but well worth it in the end. The acidity of zestiness of the sauvignon blanc complimented the thai inspired coconut cream sauce of the dish very very well. Maayan is a great winemaker of sauvignon blanc (shoutout to the Mowe Sauvignon blanc!) and this is a really great expression of the varietal from Napa. (94Pts)
(only pictured is the scallops not the risotto)
After the risotto we made a Creamy mushroom gnocchi with guanciale and fresh black summer truffle which we paired with the 2004 Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva Blanco. This dish was creamy, savory and packed with soooo much flavor. I picked the LdH GR Blanco as a pairing due to the savory mushroomy umami character these can sometimes show as well as the laser sharp acidity. As for the wine it delivered as I have come to expect from the LdH Blancos! I was debating pulling a 2014 Tondonia Reserva Blanco but given the theme of the night (go big or go home!) decided to give the Gran Reserva a whirl. This was my second of the 2004’s and it’s a pretty epic wine. Savory, waxy, driven, and looooooooooong on the finish. This wine has so much power and length and it will truly age forever. A real unicorn! (98 Pts)
Im so bummed i got no pictures of this dish because it was my favorite of the night!
And on to our final course, 3 massive tomahawk ribeyes with compound butter, chimichurri and fresh cooked french fries paired with the 2 reds of the night, the 2023 Sown Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2023 Mowe Cabernet Sauvignon. Firstly on the food, the tomahawks came out perfect, and torching the compound butter over the finished steaks was a real fan favorite of the evening! As for the french fries, they were delicious but sooooo much work. We borrow a deep fryer from a friend and although the results were beautifully golden and crispy fries, the effort for setup, fry and cleanup could have been forgone.
Now as for the wines. EPIC! I have had the chance to taste both of these wines with the proprietors themselves, @AndrewG at the caves of Sown Estate and @D_Mowe at their beautiful home in Saint Helena. Both of these guys (and their wives of course!) are pioneering what I view as a “new wave” of Napa Valley wines. Small production with maximum passion. I have been so excited to open each of these bottles on their own, but again given the theme of the evening we decided to double down and open both! The results really do speak for themselves, hats off to both of you guys for making some seriously great wine!
2023 Sown Estate Cabernet Sauvignon: Double decanted for about 6 hours prior to service. This was grippy, prickly and dense yet so lively and elegant. It is pure unadulterated cabernet sauvignon, with a seriously beautiful herbaceous streak running right through the mid palate. Crushed wild stemmy blackberry, pencil lead and herbs. I thought this was an insanely good pairing with the tomahawk ribeyes. This is a style of cabernet I love and I think its a seriously amazing bottle of wine. Great job @AndrewG ! (98 Pts)
2023 Mowe Cabernet Sauvignon: Double decanted for about 6 hours prior to service. What else is there to say about this wine that hasn’t been said already on WB and Cellartracker? This is the absolute gold standard for what Napa Valley cabernet can and should be these days. It’s undeniably sexy and plush with dark red fruits, tobacco and just a bit of leather. I think the biggest thing that stands out to me is the balance. There is not a single bit of this wine that feels out of place. It’s pure, it’s perfectly intense, it’s long, and it’s an absolute joy to drink. People were raving about this and it was easily the WOTN for our group. This is nearing perfection! Great work @D_Mowe ! (99+ Pts)
If you read this far, you rock!
The moral of the story, make the occasion to open and share your best wines with friends and family! This is what it’s all about!