A Lawyer Visits The Hilltop

On Tuesday, July 15, 2014 The Hilltop Winery hosted a special tasting for one of Institute's favorite lawyers - and you know who you are, right?

We started in the early afternoon in the wine cellar!

We were allowed to compare a number of Cabernet Sauvignon's and then moved on to dinner at Sam's by the Beach to try the new pre-fixe dinner advertised in the local Pacific Palisades paper.

Before we left the cellar for Sam's, we lifted two magnums and they were the bomb!

After a perfect dinner with our friend Sam, we put the lawyer in the cab and told him to have a safe trip to the East Coast on the red-eye.

We retreated back to The Hilltop for a little clean-up, the wine of course. Tough life!

Here's the list of wines we tasted in the cellar before dinner at Sam's:

• 1980 Silver Oak, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
• 1986 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Estate Bottled
• 1986 Caymus Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley Cuvee
• 1986 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District
• 2005 Meursault, Henri Boillot

Here's the two magnums we took to Sam’s by the Beach:

• 2006 Pedestal Merlot, Washington State
• 2011 Liquid Farms Chardonnay, Santa Barbara

For a complete slide show of the evenings events go HERE.

7th Annual West Institute Wine Reception and Dinner

On Thursday, July 18, 2013 The Hilltop Winery hosted 26 Institute staff, faculty and volunteer wine enthusiasts to a great wine tasting event.

We even worked with the local chamber of commerce to make sure the weather was as great as the wine.  And it was a chamber of commerce kind of day!

This year we had a dozen newbies to the hilltop.  The other 14 (and you know who you are) are seasoned veterans who made the annual pilgrimage, once again, to the hilltop.  We enjoyed the following wines:

White

• 2009 Luis Felipe Edwards Chardonnay
• 2011 Muirwood Chardonnay
• 2011 Rombauer Chardonnay
• 2012 Natalie Brander Cuvee Chardonnay

Red

• 2003 Araujo Eisele Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2003 Dalla Valle Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2003 Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
• 2003 Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
• 2003 Frasier Cabernet Sauvignon, Momento
• 2003 Hunnicut Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2003 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2003 Kobalt Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2003 Staglin Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2003 Surh Luchtel Cabernet Sauvignon

And once again, our special guest and faculty member Brian Baker from Chateau Montelena Winery brought three special bottles to taste.

• 1985 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon, Estate Bottled
• 1990 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon, Estate Bottled
• 1999 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon, Estate Bottled

We couldn't help ourselves and then we did a see something, pull something!  These wines were added to the list of magnums we took to Sam's by the Beach.

• 1970 Barolo Marcheri de Barolo
• 1979 BV Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Bottled
• 1989 Chateau Lynch-Bages Bordeaux
• 1993 Dalla Valle Cabernet Sauvignon

Now it was finally time to pull the magnums and head off to our favorite restaurant, Sam's by The Beach in Santa Monica, CA with proprietor Sam Elias.  He always takes great care of us each year.

The Magnums lifted from the cellar and taken for a ride to Sam's included:

• 1993 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Magnum
• 1996 Cakebread Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Magnum
• 2007 Domaine de Saint Siffrein Chateauneuf-Du-Pape (Magnum - two bottles)
• 2007 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Magnum

Sam and his incredible staff served us a wonderful three course meal that complimented the wines.

As the evening came to a close we said our goodbyes, piled into our cabs, headed back to the hotel, and were off to LAX airport in the morning.

For a complete slideshow of the event click HERE.

6th Annual West Institute Wine Reception and Dinner

On July 12, 2012, we held our 6th Annual West Wine Reception at The Hilltop Winery. And of course, we finished with our annual dinner at Sam’s by the Beach with our good friend Sam.

What a special evening. Upon arrival on a hot and humid day in Los Angeles, we started off with a quick cup of Sangria. Attendee choice:

• Traditional Red Sangria
• Strawberry Mojito Sangria

After a quick taste, we moved on to our official wine tasting. The following three conducted tastings were incredible.

First Conducted Tasting:

10 Year Old California Cabernet Sauvignon

• 2002 Araujo, Eisle Vineyard
• 2002 Dunn, Howell Mountain
• 2002 Dunn, Napa Valley
• 2002 Staglin, 20th Anniversary
• 2002 Dalla Valle
• 2002 Chateau Montelena
• 2002 Silver Oak, Alexander Valley
• 2002 Brander

Second Conducted Tasting:

A comparison between 2000/2001 Barolo and 2006/2009 Barolo

• 2000 Marchesi di Barolo
• 2001 Stefano Farina
• 2001 Fratello Revello
• 2001 Paolo Scavino
• 2006 Argiano
• 2006 Camigliano
• 2009 Lughere di Frassinello

Third Conducted Tasting:

Chardonnay

• 1996 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay
• 2001 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay
• 2006 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay
• 2009 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay

Cabernet Sauvignon

• 1999 Chateau Montelena, Cabernet Sauvignon, Estate Bottled
• 2002 Chateau Montelena, Cabernet Sauvignon, Estate Bottled
• 2009 Chateau Montelena, Cabernet Sauvignon, Estate Bottled

For a slideshow of the evenings event go 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.

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.