Drink Charitably!

One of the more valuable things I learned from working at Robert Mondavi came from Mr. Mondavi himself.  Whenever we would be out in the market promoting the wines, working with our sales force and distributors, 9 times out of 10 we’d go out to dinner at one of our restaurant accounts.  Mr. Mondavi would most certainly order some wines from the Robert Mondavi ‘Family of Wines’ — if not Robert Mondavi Winery, then Byron, or Opus One or any one of the several properties in the ‘family.’

But he would also take the opportunity for all of us at the table to learn about other wines by ordering what some might consider ‘competitive’ wines.   French, Italian, Californian — it didn’t matter — we’d always have more than just the Mondavi wines.  He was always the ambassador for the wine industry first, and Robert Mondavi a distant second.  And in this way, we all continued our wine education.

On Sunday, I was invited to a blogger tasting of Hahn Wines in their Napa office.  Although this is a blog for Humanitas Winery, learning my lesson from Mr. Mondavi, I think it is critical to taste…and talk about other producer’s wines.  Don’t get me wrong, if I don’t like the wines, it is highly doubtful I’d write about them and blast them.  I think that is asking for trouble.  I simply wouldn’t post anything if that were the case.

But when I taste wines I truly like and feel the producer should be recognized for their efforts, I most certainly will do so on my blog.  Is that endorsing the ‘competition’?  I don’t think so — I think it is promoting the industry.

In this case, I tasted the Bin 36 wines from Hahn, inspired by the famous restaurants in Chicago, and crafted with famed sommelier Brian Duncan’s input.  The folks at Hahn are hoping Brian also becomes the official sommelier of the White House as he has apparently assisted President-Elect Obama in his wine selections over the years.   I believe that would make Brian the ‘O-mmelier’ to the White House.  I’ve linked a You Tube video below featuring Brian and the Bin 36 wines.

These wines, the ‘05 Chardonnay, the ‘05 Merlot & the ‘05 Cabernet Sauvignon were incredible values at $15 each.  If I didn’t have my own wines at home, I’d make these my ‘house’ wine.  In addition, we tasted the 2006 Lucienne ‘Lone Oak Vineyard’ Pinot Noir and the 2006 Lucienne ‘Doctor’s Vineyard’ Pinot Noir.  If you are not familiar with the Santa Lucia Highlands, it is one of my favorite Pinot growing regions, an in fact launched Humanitas with a 2000 SLH Pinot Noir in my IPO (that’d be the Initial Pinot Offering).  Both of these wines are stunningly good examples of what this region can produce, but both with very distinct profiles.  My preference was the Doctor’s Vineyard, but an equal amount of us in attendance preferred the Lone Oak.

I’m not going to walk you through my tasting notes of dried cherry, leather, cola, and pineapple for the various wines.  That is for you to determine for yourself as I believe wine is a very personal and very subjective food.  But I will wholeheartedly endorse both of these labels — the Bin 36 & the Lucienne.

And remember, tasting other winery’s wine and endorsing them is a good thing.  And as we used to say at Mondavi, it is a ‘comparative’ tasting for educational purposes — unless of course your own wine wins in the tasting — then it is a competitive tasting!  Just kidding.  Enjoy the video and as always, drink charitably!