California in February

On February 10, 2012, I visited The Hilltop Winery and had the opportunity to watch my sister-in-law and niece run the Los Angeles Chinatown Firecracker Run.

They both did exceptionally well placing high in their age brackets.

After the race we visited Empress Pavilion, a dim sum house, and enjoyed some great food with great friends. Yes, that’s me eating chicken feet. They tell me it’s a delicacy. I don’t know about that, but never again! And I thought peer pressure was a thing of the past for me.

Well, the trip wouldn’t be complete without visiting the cellar and pulling a few bottles. On this trip we tasted the following at a private dinner party:

• 1990 St. Francis, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County
• 1991 Opus One, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
• 1993 Von Strasser, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
• 2004 Realm, The Tempest, Napa Valley
• 2006 Alto Moncayo, Garnacha, Spain

What a night! Good food, great family and friends and some incredible wine!

For the slideshow of the events click HERE.

Last Day and Final Sunset on the Hilltop

On January 9, 2012, my last day of sunsets and views at The Hilltop Winery for at least a month, we broke out a bottle of 2008 Ramey Claret, Napa Valley.

It was an incredible bottle of wine and the sunset is etched in my mind forever!

For more information on Ramey Wine Cellars click HERE.

For a slideshow of the final sunset click HERE.

Sunset on the Hilltop

On January 8, 2012, the sunset was beautiful and especially so with a nice glass of Chardonnay.

For the slideshow of the sunset click HERE.

The Hilltop and Alma’s 75th

On January 7, 2012, I had the opportunity to slip over to The Hilltop Winery after a west coast business trip to celebrate my mother-in-laws 75th birthday.

Oh, and of course, I had to taste a few selections from the cellar including a:

• 2003 Raymond, Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
• 2004 Ladera, Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, Napa Valley

With those two wines and the views from The Hilltop Winery what could be wrong in the world, all is good!

For the complete slideshow of the entire evening with friends click HERE.

Jared on the Hilltop

On July 31, 2011, we celebrated Jared’s last road trip with the team in Pennsylvania.

At our traditional Thursday night dinner we presented him with a special slideshow (see below) of his past five trips to The Hilltop Winery for the annual West Institute Wine Reception and Dinner event.

At this dinner, we enjoyed a Feather (Randy Dunn) and Pedestal (Michal Rolland) - two wines we first tasted at The Hilltop Winery the previous year.

These two wines have an interesting background. Basically, they’re made from Washington State Columbia Valley grapes by famous winemakers from other parts of the world (Randy Dunn from Dunn Vineyards - Feather and Michal Rolland from Pomerol winery Le Bon Pasteur - Pedestal).

Good luck Jared in your new gig!

For a complete slideshow of the past five reception and dinners with Jared and friends click HERE.

5th West Institute Wine Reception and Dinner

On July 14, 2011, we held our 5th Annual West Wine Reception and Dinner at The Hilltop Winery.

What a special evening. We did a vertical tasting of Silver Oak and a horizontal featuring Pinot Noir from 2005.

Check these out, we tasted:

• 1984 Silver Oak, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
• 1989 Silver Oak, Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley
• 1995 Silver Oak, Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley
• 1999 Silver Oak, Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley
• 2002 Silver Oak, Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley

Then we started our 2005 trip around the Pinot Noir varietal:

• 2005 Demetria, Pinot Noir, Santa Maria Valley
• 2005 Pahlmeyer, Pinot Noir, St. Helena
• 2005 Sea Smoke, Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara
• 2005 Macphail, Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
• 2005 Alcina, Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
• 2005 Tandem, Pinot Noir, Sonoma County

Thanks to our family and friends at The Hilltop Winery for being such gracious hosts.

For the slideshow of the entire evening with friends click HERE.

The Hilltop Before Ojai

On September 24, 2010, Bill and I had the privilege of making a trip to The Hilltop Winery before our major conference in Ojai.

We were treated very well by our hosts and the following bottles were tasted before dinner at Casa Nostra.

• 1981 Pahlmeyer, Estate Bottled, Napa Valley
• 1995 Havens Bourriquot, Napa Valley Red Table Wine
• 1997 Araujo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Eisele Vineyard, Napa Valley
• 2003 Pahlmeyer, Red Wine, Napa Valley

For a slideshow of the evening click HERE.

4th Annual West Institute Wine Reception and Dinner

On July 15, 2010, we held our 4th annual West Institute Appreciation Dinner at The Hilltop Winery.

We were treated to a vertical tasting of Chateau Montelena and a horizontal of 2000 wines from around the world.

In addition to that tasting, you’ll see by the pictures we also revisited the Dunn collection and tasted a Staglin for the first time.

The main attraction was the Chateau Montelena wines:

• 1988 Chateau Montelena, Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1997 Chateau Montelena, Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2000 Chateau Montelena, Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2002 Chateau Montelena, Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon

At the dinner with Sam (Sam’s on the Beach) we had a Titus, Livingston and Staglin. Sam prepared us an incredible four course meal with exceptional customer service.

What a great evening!

For a slideshow of the entire evening with friends click HERE.

The Hilltop

On June 29, 2010, the Sweede family and a few special friends from work came to visit The Hilltop Winery.

Our time is always too short, but we made the most of the time we have with our friends.

Amongst the many wines we tasted the following stood out:

• 1990 Chateau Grand Mayne, Grand Cru Classe
• 2003 Surh Luchtel Mosaique, Red Wine, Napa Valley
• 2004 Staglin, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa Valley
• 2005 Alcina, Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
• 2006 Kosta Browne, Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

The weather was intense to say the least, sometimes you couldn’t see across the pool. That’s life when you’re up in the clouds, literally and figuratively speaking.

For more information on Alcina click HERE.
For more information on Chateau Grand Mayne click HERE.
For more information on Kosta Browne click HERE.
For more information on Staglin click HERE.
For more information on Surh Luchtel click HERE.

For a slideshow of the actual bottles tasted and the rest of the evening click HERE.

Wine Tasting on the Hilltop

On April 2, 2010, I had the chance to spend some special time with my friends Bill and Larry at The Hilltop Winery.

While we enjoyed tasting many wines from around the world, my three favorite wines were:

• 1990 Pahlmeyer, Napa Valley
• 1995 Araujo Syrah, Eisele Vineyard
• 1997 Niebaum Coppola Rubicon, Rutherford, Napa Valley

In addition, we were treated to a special tasting of a 1993 Chateau Pajzos Esszencia. What a treat!

For more information on Araujo Syrah click HERE.
For more information on Niebaum Coppola click HERE.
For more information on Pahlmeyer click HERE.

Check out the slideshow for the actual bottles and the rest of the evening HERE.

The Hilltop

On October 4, 2009, my friends Clint and Bill were able to join me with my friends at The Hilltop Winery for another great tasting of wines from around the world.

This night we tasted many wines from white to red but the two standouts for me were the Aubert Chardonnay and the Whispering Dove.

• 2003 Whispering Dove, Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap Reserve
• 2005 Aubert, Chardonnay

For more information on Aubert wines click HERE.
For more information on Whispering Dove made by Stags Leap click HERE.

For a slideshow of the day click HERE.

3rd Annual West Institute Wine Reception and Dinner

On July 12, 2009, we held our 3rd Annual West Appreciation Dinner at The Hilltop Winery with our dear friends on the west coast.

This was the first year we did a theme when it came to the wine. We did a vertical of Dunn from Napa and Howell Mountain.

The actual wines we tasted were as follows:

• 1985 Dunn, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
• 1990 Dunn, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
• 1995 Dunn, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain
• 2007 Feather, Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Washington State

Bill was our chairman this year and he brought his friend Perry. This was also the breakout of Jared and his new love affair with red wine.

Gary was our West Board chair and we were so glad he could join us for this annual tradition along with a couple of special friends, you know who you are, from the pictures.

For a complete slideshow of the evening click HERE.

2nd Annual West Institute Wine Reception and Dinner

On July 17, 2008, we celebrated our 2nd Annual West Institute Appreciation Dinner at The Hilltop Winery with a blind white chardonnay tasting and a pick your own red to go!

In addition to the pick your wine option, we did a special vertical tasting of Caymus wines which included:

• 1983 Caymus “Estate Bottleld”
• 1985 Caymus “Cuvee”
• 1985 Caymus “Estate Bottled”
• 1988 Caymus “Napa”
• 1990 Caymus “Napa”

And, a special addition: 1989 Caymus “Special Section.”

The wines were incredible. By the looks of one of the pictures in the slideshow, you can see we picked at least a couple of Silver Oak's and had to try the Frazier again, this time at the magnum level.

Gary was our chairman this year and we had a couple of special guests, Marianne from the West Board and our special friend Rich representing the DC crowd.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the dinner we had after the wine reception at one of our favorite restaurants, in Santa Monica, called Sam's By the Beach.

All had a great time and I hope you enjoy the pictures!

For a slideshow of the evening click HERE.

The Hilltop

Here I am on February 8, 2008, with a special side trip to The Hilltop Winery with my friend Bill.  This was his first visit.

As you can see we are enjoying a nice view, a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Frasier Vineyards, along with a nice selection of cheeses and meats prepared by the fabulous Mav.

Anytime I'm near the west coast I must make the trek to visit with my family at The Hilltop Winery.  They are such great hosts.  On this trip we tasted the Cabernet Sauvignon from Frazier.

The wine was smooth, had a nice color and had little to no tannins.

Bill enjoyed his time in the private cellar with the host sommelier Mike.  I could spend an entire evening inside the cellar.  But, all things must end, and off we were back to DC and our day jobs.

For more information on the Frazier wines click HERE.

For a slideshow of the visit click HERE.

Inaugural West Institute Wine Reception and Dinner

On July 12, 2007, we made our first visit to The Hilltop Winery and what an experience we had!

The Institute team had just finished a great week at Loyola Marymount University for the first West Institute for Organization Management program in California with well over 150 students.

We celebrated the week with our volunteers, faculty, staff and other friends at our first Wine Reception and Dinner.

This was the year that Tammy was our Chairman. Also in attendance were our great friends and leaders in the industry Bill and Perry, they know who they are.

This was the beginning of an annual tradition, thanks to a family connection at The Hilltop Winery.

For a complete slideshow of the entire evening click HERE.