On a recent flight to LA we passed the time with Wine Enthusiast’s Best of 2023” issue. As fans of Duckhorn Vineyards‘ “everyday” Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (@$40) we were pleased to see its much pricier ($125) 2019 Monitor Ledge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon named the #1 wine of the year. Imagine our delight when we saw a poster in our hotel’s lobby promoting its restaurant’s “Meet the Maker” dinner with Duckhorn representatives that very night! The restaurant, Salt, is highly-rated so we eagerly signed up for the dinner and looked forward to “meeting the maker” of this year’s #1 wine.
Unfortunately, neither the “maker” of the wines, nor the best [or even second best] of Duckhorn’s wines were on the menu. A very capable sales rep at Duckhorn walked us through the wines being paired with Salt’s three-course meal.
- Pre-Dinner Decoy Brut Cuvee sparkling wine [non vintage]
- Appetizer Duckhorn Chardonnay 2022
- Entrée Decoy Merlot 2020
- Dessert Canvasback Cabernet 2020 [from Washington State]
The evening started with a flute of the Decoy (Duckhorn’s second label) non-vintage Brut Cuvee. The pale pink/blush sparkler (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pino Meunier grapes) had a fabulous strawberry/stone-fruit aroma and a nice dry mineral backbone. We would buy this to pair with grilled Cajun-seasoned shrimp or scallops. For @ $20, it’s a decent sparkling wine.
The first course of Roasted Cauliflower Steak with Herbed Garlic and Pine Nut Gremolata was paired with an oaky-creamy Duckhorn 2022 Chardonnay. At @$38, this is a decent price for quality Napa Chardonnay, if you like that sort of Chard…which only half of VinoDuo does.
The second course featured Grilled Marinated Quail with Marsala Piquillo jus and Pomme Puree. It was absolutely delicious! The 2021 Decoy Merlot ($16) was all wrong for this pairing. It was too young and it hadn’t been opened early enough to balance out the tannins. The Merlot was puckery, acidic and disjointed. It needed more time in the bottle despite having a terrific aroma of boysenberry and baking spices .
The final course was a delicious Banana Cream Pie with a Coconut Sugar Caramel Sauce paired with a wine from Duckhorn’s third label [!], the 2020 Canvasback Cabernet Sauvignon (82% Cab. Sauv.,12% Merlot, 6% Malbec). We’ve enjoyed this wine before (@$34) but this bottle echoed much of the disappointment we experienced with the Decoy Merlot. It was too young, and/or it wasn’t opened early enough to allow proper aeration. A terrific nose with a mix of black fruit and baking spices led to a sour palate. The tall tannic walls delivered a poor pairing choice for the dessert and likely didn’t make any new fans for Duckhorn.
The wine dinner was advertised as a “Duckhorn Vineyards” affair and we expected first-label selections. Perhaps we expected too much. But a Decoy, whether a Canvasback or Mallard, isn’t really a Duckhorn in our opinion. We congratulate Duckhorn on its Wine Enthusiast pick and will now query the host of a wine dinner in advance to determine whether the wine they’re serving is the real deal or just a decoy.
VinoDuo 