The wino friends came over the other day to celebrate a 40th birthday of one of them. We had some pretty incredible bottles.

We started off with an 03 Penfolds Bin 407 cab. Not bad stuff…. I think I still prefer the Bin 389 though.

Then we had one of the birthday boy’s presents (great thing about buying a friend a bottle of great wine, he shares it with you!)…. This was one from Chili. A very hard to find 99’ Almaviva / http://www.almavivawinery.com/ This bottle was terrific. Amazing nose, uniform tingle all over the tongue and pretty decent finish. I’m definitely looking at Chili for more wines after this one.

Next up was a 2001 Dominus cab magnum. Wow, what a bottle. We probably shouldn’t have had this one after the Almaviva though. For the money this one cost, I think I’d rather spend it on more Almaviva’s.

Next was a 2006 Patz and Hall Pinot. This was a downright delicious bottle with a very unique quality to it I’ve not ever experienced. All of us were intrigued. I don’t how else to describe it other than ‘effervescent’. It was as if the wine maker intentionally added extra yeast, but in a good way. I like this one so much I just put in an order for a case of it.

To top the day off, we opened up one of my all time favorites; a 99 Silverado Cab. Opening this one after all the others was a big mistake. My memories of a wonderful wine quickly dissipated. As much as I loved this bottle in years past, it just couldn’t compete with the Dominus, Almaviva or Patz and Hall. It has officially been dethroned from my top five list of wines…. I put it above the Penfolds, but not any of the others.

If you can find a Patz and Hall and like Pinot, definately give this one a try. It's about $40.