Unauthorized

A charity dinner at Baltimore's finest restaurant to benefit Seattle's Children's Hospital included a terrific meal from brilliant chef Cindy Wolf, and impeccable wine service orchestrated by Tony Foreman. Chef Wolf's stunning crisp cornmeal crusted oysters, shellfish bisque, English pea soup with rabbit confit, southern jumbo lump crab cakes, pan-seared salmon, roasted Carolina pheasant, and confit of pork were all exquisite. This is the finest cuisine money can buy in Baltimore, and Chef Cindy Wolf just seems to get better and better.

The wines began with a beautiful 1998 Dom Pérignon. While no match for the 1996 or 1990, it is a strong effort for this luxury cuvée. I would opt for drinking it over the next 4-5 years as it appears to be on a fast evolutionary track. We then moved into two flights of Chardonnay. The wines in the first flight were dominated by minerals, especially the 2004 HV and 2002 Kongsgaard. The 2003 Peter Michael Belle Côte was the group's favorite because of its exuberant tropical fruit and full-bodied opulence. The second flight offered a brilliant performance for Chardonnay, from the sublime 2003 Aubert Ritchie Vineyard, to the extraordinary 2001 Marcassin Estate, and blockbuster 2001 Peter Michael Point Rouge.

With the wild mushroom and goat cheese dish we had a flight of Syrahs. The dense, concentrated, meaty 2002 Kongsgaard Syrah tasted almost like grilled steak blood. The tight, closed JC Cellars 2003 Syrah Rockpile Vineyard was hard to penetrate, but the sexy, remarkably fresh, lively Saxum 2003 Syrah Broken Bones from a Paso Robles vineyard was a blockbuster. The second flight of Syrahs was spectacular with the Pax Cellars 2002 Syrah Cuvée Keltie revealing gorgeously sweet black fruits, honeysuckle, and an exotic personality. The classic 2002 Sine Qua Non Just For the Love of It was a beautifully proportioned, well-delineated Syrah with enormous reserves as well as fabulous depth and overall balance as well as purity. It remains to date the finest Syrah I have ever tasted from California. That was followed by an opulent, heady, over-the-top 2002 Red Car Wine Co. The Fight. Some argue that these wines need to be drunk during their first 10-12 years of life, but I feel that wines such as the SQN 2002, the Pax, Saxum, and Kongsgaard have two decades of life ahead of them.

We then moved to the greatest red wine varietal for longevity and elegance, Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2002 Quilceda Creek is a world-class wine and does not take a back seat to anything from California, as evidenced by the brilliant, opulent, Bordeaux-styled 2002 Peter Michael Les Pavots, one of the best showings ever of the 2002 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, and a tight, but exquisitely majestic, well-delineated, backward 2001 Shafer Hillside Select. The 1996 Harlan Estate remains young, but it is developing beautifully. For me, it represents a hypothetical blend of La Mission-Haut-Brion and Mouton Rothschild or Latour. It is an ethereal wine, as is the 1992 Araujo Eisele Vineyard. This still young, elegant offering takes on more and more finesse as it ages.

The last flight of reds included the exotic, sweet, rich 1997 Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon, and a beautiful, open-knit, expansive 1997 Seavey. The latter wine was surprisingly well-developed, and much more forward than most efforts from this vineyard. We also had a brilliant, fragrant, full-bodied, super-concentrated yet silky-textured 1997 Dalla Valle Maya. We then shifted gears to the 1988 Woodward Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon, which is a fully mature, elegant red that is not dissimilar from a top-notch Bordeaux from the same vintage. One of my favorite Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignons has always been the 1987, which is just now hitting its plateau of full maturity. This gorgeous wine is set for another 10-20 years of aging potential. The flight concluded with a rare wine, the first single vineyard effort from the Eisele Vineyard made by Paul Draper at Ridge, the 1971 Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard. This cuvée can be even better than it was on this occasion. Exhibiting wonderful sweet red currant and black currant fruit intermixed with minerals and flowers, it is a beautiful effort that demonstrates the potential for California Cabernet Sauvignon to develop finesse and elegance as it ages.

Lastly, we finished the evening with an exquisite bottle of 1970 Graham's Vintage Port. It was rich and concentrated with loads of berry fruit, an unctuous texture, balanced freshness, and surprising vigor and youthfulness for 36-year old port.

This was a night to remember that raised a significant amount of money for the Children's Hospital of Seattle.