The NorCal K&L Holiday Party: A February Tradition
This past Sunday the crew of both K&L San Carlos and K&L Redwood City got together for our annual holiday party. We usually do this in February because December is dedicated to getting our customers’ holiday wine needs taken care of. It is relaxing to do it this way, and everyone on staff looks forward to the party. We took over Left Bank restaurant in Menlo Park, and almost everyone chose the steak option to go with the copious quantities of old, large-format Bordeaux that Clyde offered us. We also enjoyed wines from Australia, California, Italy, and New Zealand. It was a great night.
We started with Champagne, of course, and the toasty, long-aged Fallet-Dart "Grande Sélection" Brut Champagne was as complex as it was fresh. They keep this wine for seven years on the lees, and the depth that it has is amazing for the price. The 1995 Launois Blanc de Blancs Brut Champagne Jeroboam that I opened was emptied in record time and was one of the best bottles of this I have ever had: creamy, chalky, silky, and vivacious. This 25-year-old had a finish that would not quit! This was the wine of the night for many, including our two Redwood City managers Sarah and Ryan and my wife, Cinnamon, our director of HR. To offer a little still white as well, we opened the 2016 Le Petit Cheval Blanc, St-Emilion Blanc from magnum. This was the wine of the night for both Jordan and Lauren and was loaded with exotic fruit and salty minerality.
Our dinner wines were a true embarrassment of Bordeaux riches. The 1997 Duluc de Branaire-Ducru, St-Julien from double magnum was my favorite red. With my skirt steak and frites I found this wine to have the perfect red currant style, with the grace notes to make room for the food. Cody and Miles from customer service both liked the surprisingly ripe and still fruity (at 31 years old!) 1989 Bel-Air Lagrave Haut Medoc from magnum. Joel, Muriel, and Jen all found the 1989 Lilian Ladouys, St-Estèphe magnum the best, with its smooth, completely integrated and deftly balanced style. Our Redwood City operations manager Julio and Redwood City Bordeaux liaison Alex picked the double magnum of 1986 Siran, Margaux as their wine of the night. This pure, clean Bordeaux might still be even a little young, but the aromatics and length were unforgettable. The double magnum of 1998 Poujeaux, Moulis is one I missed, but Ralph Sands and Sal Rodriguez thought its earthiness and dark currant fruit made it the wine of the night for them. The gigantic six-liter bottle of 2006 La Croix St-Georges, Pomerol was the favorite of AB Ortega with plenty of plummy fruit, big grip, and power to spare.
California was not left out. Stephanie Vidales voted for the 1986 Duckhorn Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from magnum with its silky texture and dry, lively finish. The giant six-liter bottle of 1991 Robert Mondavi "Reserve" Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon may have been leaky, but it was great all the same, with huge amounts of black cassis fruit and a suave, satin-like texture. This was the favorite of many, including David Cornell, Phil Case, Armando Santos, and Will Langi.
Ryan Woodhouse and Thomas Smith found the 2011 Xanadu Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River Western Australia to be the wine of the night, with minty freshness and great cassis fruit. Also from Australia, the 2006 Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon Tasmania was Juels’ favorite. For me, Neal, Tim, Lilia, Joaquin and Marvin, the wine of the night came at the end. The 1970 Fonseca, which was an English bottling from Simon the Cellarer in London, stole the show. This wine and I have history—after tasting a bottle my father gave me 25 years ago, I ended up in the wine business! This bottle might have been even better than that one; it had the incredible combination of both grippy, red wine satisfaction and ethereal peacock’s tail expansion on the endless finish. I won’t be forgetting that one!
Thank you, Todd, Clyde, Brian, and Trey for treating us all to such a great party.
- Gary Westby