You know you've chosen well when even the Somm is impressed (post 3 of 3)
Post 3 of 3 of our High Hampton weekend!
To wrap up my look back at this pretty stellar weekend of wine, food, friends and football players, now it was time for our big, last meal. We began at the cousin’s home in High Hampton. We’re dropped off by golf cart at their place, and they have this delicious charcuterie board for us to nibble on. We get a brief tour of their impressive, lovely home, and our host says, “We’re gonna drink some champagnes.”
He brings out these two champagnes. Both were very nice, but one of them was rather unique. He explained a good bit about each of them (check out my tasting notes on CellarTracker) Overall, that time at their place was just a great opportunity to get to know these folks better as people, and to reflect a bit on the truly special experiences we’d had with them already on the trip.
He had a vey large wine cooler, and as he’s trying to decide what to select to take with us to the dinner, we begin to talk about Priorat wines. He gestures to one and mentions that it’s a 100-point wine. When I replied that I’d never had that, he says, “Well, then that’s what we’re bringing.” So, just on a whim, he grabs this amazing Priorat, along with an epic Chablis. It’s time to head out, so we drive back to the restaurant and wind up at the center table of their main dining room.
The wines I had chosen to bring were 2008 Château Latour, 2021 Joseph Jewell Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard and 2017 Oremus Tokaji Aszú 3 Puttonyos.
I’ve had this particular bottle of Chateau Latour in my cellar now for several years. Dio had given it to me for Christmas in 2021, and honestly, I just felt compelled to share it with these people. They had invited us up there to such a beautiful spot and we’d had a such a wonderful time getting to know them. It just felt right. These are just the sort of folks you’d want to share amazing wines with.
I’d also brought my favorite dessert wine. In fact, the Oremus Tokaji is the only dessert wine I’ve found so far that I care for.
I decided to bring the only other white wine that had made the trip with us: a Jewell Chardonnay. I’d selected that one on purpose because I’d wanted to invite Dio’s friends to a Jewell lunch that we’re having very soon back in Atlanta. Look for an upcoming blog post on that, once it’s taken place. I wanted them to know in advance how great that wine was, so when they arrive for the lunch, they will already have an idea of what to expect. Now, the thing is, the Jewell is nowhere near a Grand Cru Chablis like our friend’s cousin had brought. So, when we arrive at the restaurant, the Somm took the bottles and asked which one we wished to start with. Their cousin said, let’s start with the Chablis.
I was immediately concerned. Because, typically, when I do a progression of different wines, I tend to start with the more modest bottles and then lead up to the grand finale. The white wine he’d brought could easily have been the grand finale of whites. And I’d brought this humble Sonoma Coast young Chardonnay, which now has to follow his heavy hitter! I was like, oh, boy… this might be interesting.
Because, if I’d been picking, I would have placed mine first. Not that mine was bad or anything, but simply because of how great the other was. So, I was a bit nervous.
Of course, the first selection was amazing. But then, when it came time to pour the second wine — which was the Chardonnay I’d brought — it showed itself very well, and everyone seemed to love it. I can’t say I was relieved, exactly, but I was very thankful that the wine I’d brought was what you might call “a proud loser.” Dio’s friend who’d invited us to this weekend in the first place said she loved it, and I told her I was glad, because the folks who made this wine are coming to Atlanta to do a private lunch, and you guys are invited!
Next, we switched over to the Priorat, and it was phenomenal.
Then, finally, it was time for the final course. That’s when we switched to the Latour. And that one blew everyone away. The Somm was actually a bit taken aback, saying that it was very rare that he had the opportunity to pour a first growth. He opened it, smelled it, and then tasted it a bit to make sure it was perfect and ready to be served. It was just singing, and in the end it was everything I’d thought and hoped that it would be.
We opened the dessert wine to finish everything off. Again, my most favorite wine, and everyone else said they loved it as well.
So, I was thrilled to be able to kind of help the weekend be a success by bringing some of these wines, and adding in some way to the totality of the dining and drinking experience. It was a great, great dinner and it was wonderful to get to know these new, kind and generous people. We talked a lot about wine, but we also talked a lot about life in general, and family, and we heard about a trip the cousins are going to make to Tuscany. We told them that since they were going to be in that area, if they had the chance, we would hook them up with our Tuscan winery so they can do a tasting on site.
We surely made new, wonderful friends on this trip.
The next day, we packed up all the remaining bottles, brought them back and placed them in the cellar. There were plenty of flat-out amazing wines which we took but did not wind up opening, but that’s fine with me. Because we sure wound up drinking an incredible selection while we were there.
Until next time, friends. Safe travels!
