This was an annual charity event held at Press restaurant in St. Helena. I love the food here as it is based on the French bistro concept of the finest raw materials prepared perfectly but simply. From the Hog Island Kumoto Oysters and their superb steak tartare, to the spiny lobsters, free range chickens, and 30- to 45-day dry-aged prime beef, the food was exquisite. A special thanks goes to Bryan Flannery of Bryan’s Fine Foods in Corte Madera for his consistent generosity and support of this event that benefits both the educational scholarships for the Culinary Institute of America as well as cancer research at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. People who want the very best in beef, chicken, lamb, and fish should check out Flannery’s web site. Also, my thanks to the Culinary Institute of America for hosting this event, which is the dinner that takes place after a tasting I do at the CIA in Napa Valley. The evening is somewhat of a free for all, with everyone bringing bottles of wine, and it is almost impossible to keep up with the array of wines that pass one’s nose and palate. The following wines are the ones about which I stopped and wrote a few words, so this is just a quick glance at a very diverse group of wines served in a chaotic order.

The white wines included the 2007 Rudd Sauvignon Blanc from their vineyard in Mt. Veeder. It is a terrific dry, crisp, honeyed Sauvignon with lots of character and personality. It reveals the texture of a Chardonnay, but the crispness and elegance of a Sauvignon. The surprisingly fine Vieux Donjon 2001 Châteauneuf du Pape white was still very much alive at eight years of age.

With respect to the red wines, the 1990 Rayas Châteauneuf du Pape (this bottle much more evolved than those from my cellar) has been fully mature for a number of years, but it remains at that magical peak of perfection. It possesses a light ruby color, gorgeous aromatics, and plenty of kirsch, lavender, incense, and stunning, expansive flavors that are as pretty as a ballerina. The 2003 Palazzo Proprietary Red is slightly richer, fuller, and more muscular, and is very much in keeping with the style of this tiny producer, displaying beautifully pure fruit, lots of aromatics, and world class quality.

Two wines were tasted from Jason Woodbridge’s Hundred Acre operation. The Hundred Acre 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon Kayli Morgan Vineyard, the debut vintage, remains a marvelous wine. Sumptuous upon release, I thought it would be short-lived (particularly given the challenges of the vintage) based on how complex and evolved it was in 2002. Well, seven years later, the wine appears to have moved very little, and is still incredibly complex, super-smooth, opulent, and is a total hedonistic and intellectual turn-on. As one might expect, the 2006 Hundred Acre Ancient Way Shiraz from the Barossa is a dense, powerful, thick wine very much in keeping with old vine Barossa Shiraz. Out of place, and very difficult to taste in this company was the 1991 Saintsbury Pinot Noir, which seemed light and fruity, although the wine is still very much alive. I’m sure it would have shown better if it was tasted with a group of Pinots, not among some relatively big Cabernet Sauvignons. The mature, elegant, stylish 1985 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard was outstanding, but it requires immediate consumption. The impressive 1999 Saddleback Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon is fully mature. Nils Venge, who was at the charity event, reminded me that I liked it much less than it’s showing now, which is a tribute to him, and the fact that his wines often need ten or more years to strut their stuff.

A wine I had never had before, the 2006 Mario Bazan Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa is an elegant effort that is apparently the winery’s second release. It exhibited lots of spice box, berry and black currant fruit, tobacco leaf, and licorice. I need to find out more about this small producer. I also liked the 2003 Viader, which seemed stronger than I remembered tasting early on. With lots of minerality, elegance, and freshness, as well as hints of blueberry, raspberry, and crushed rocks and flowers, it seems to have reached full maturity, but it will continue to drink well for another 5-10 years.

I also benefitted from the table where the owner of Pax, now called Donelan Family Wines, had brought four separate magnums of Pax Syrahs. All of these wines from the 2003 vintage were absolutely extraordinary, even better than I remember them in their youth. The headliner was certainly the 2003 Syrah Obsidian from Knight’s Valley, an absolute tour de force in great wine, fragrant, rich, and still youthful. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it ultimately merit 100 points. One that already is pure perfection is the 2003 Syrah Cuvée Christine, a mind-boggling wine of elegance and power. As for the other two Syrahs, the 2003 Walker Vine Hill was exquisite, with blackberries, blueberries, charcoal, and incense, and the 2003 Kobler, which includes some co-fermented Viognier, is very fragrant and the most evolved of any of these. This was a reassuring tasting and a convincing test of the up-side potential of these great Syrahs coming from Joe Donelan’s winery.