Which wine to choose? - The Epilogue

My wife is having a girls’ night out this Saturday and wants to bring one of the following:

2018 Realm The Bard
2016 Kelly Fleming Cab
2015 Robert Mondavi To Kalon Reserve

The group likes smoother cabs, nothing too tannic, but still relatively big.

Thoughts on which would be the one to bring? It’s going to be a pop and pour at a restaurant.

Thanks,
Tom

No Rombauer? Oh, wait, wrong varietal and wrong dinner.

Actually, Victor, one of the girls (not my wife) favorite white is Rombauer.

Partly because she had such a great time drinking multiple bottles of Rombauer with a group at the winery outside in the picnic areas.

Hmmm. I don’t know if any of these are a slam dunk as they’ll prob all be a bit young/tannic, but I’d more than likely go with the realm. Probably going to be the easiest to like as long as they don’t mind a little oak…which i assume they don’t given the one girl is a big Rombauer fan.

*I’ve never tried Kelly Fleming so can’t speak to that one directly

Can’t never go wrong with The Bard.

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The ‘18 Bard needs a lot of air to open up.

18 bard needs about 24 hours of air before it doesn’t taste like a young barrel sample. Was undrinkable as a PnP for me a month or two ago.

Mondavi was likely had pretty cheap and is the most crowd pleaserish from my experience. I’d go with that.

Ended up going with the 2015 Mondavi Reserve. I suggested decanting as soon as they got to the restaurant.

Did not go according to plan.

There was a pre-party where the ladies drank a decent amount of mixed drinks before going to dinner with a designated driver.

Once at the restaurant, a quick round of drinks was followed up by some activity, which resulted in the management buying shots for the table, as well as another table buying a round of tequila shots. They remembered decanting when they ordered. Only 3 of the 7 ladies wanted a glass of wine by that time, but the three that had it raved about it, which lead to others wanting to try some, which they poured into their shot glasses. Two glasses were shared with the table that bought the round.

So, I guess it was a success, although any sort of wine probably would have been a hit.

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Fwiw- The only one I’ve had is the Mondavi (and it wasn’t the ‘15).
The Kelly Fleming is Calistoga, right? Recently had a Larkmead ‘16 that needed 2-3 hrs of air, Def not a pop & pour. I put Calistoga wines up there with Howell Mtn as the harshest tannins early & most in need of air before drinking.

I’d go with the Mondavi. (And tell you wife to get it opened when walking into the restaurant.)

This feels like something from Sideways haha. gotta go with Merlot right?

Would you consider sending a double-decanted bottle with her?

The 2015 Robert Mondavi To Kalon Reserve as it’s probably the most crowd-pleasing, but the 2016 Kelly Fleming Cab could be the most intriguing (and perhaps most daring of the 3).

Sounds like a bottle of Caymus would be perfect for them.

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Might be cool to go with the Kelly Fleming, given that it’s a, “Girl’s Night” and the both the owner and the winemaker there are women.

The condescending “Rombauer” and “Caymus” things are lame, Guys. I know one of them likes Rombauer, but still…

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Victor was probably a little condescending when he originally joked about Rombauer (which is obviously his style), but being that its one of the girls favorite wines, I do think it’s relevant here. In other words…oak won’t scare her off, so we can take that out of the equation when choosing between these young cabs [cheers.gif]

Easy answer… all 3 :blush:

Characterizing an accurate and sincere recommendation as condescending is, well, condescending. Especially when not offering any better recommendation at all.
The losers of a race often criticize the winner for not running faster.

Never novices themselves, unlike others, some people are too elite and smart to drink some wines.

No brainer. The Bard is way too young and not integrated. Mondavo ‘15 will need a big decant and then who knows…. Kelly Fleming ‘is her best best!

The 18 Bard is not too enjoyable at this stage… I’d go with the 15 Mondavi riserva, I enjoyed that earlier this year. Unfortunately, no experience with Kelly Fleming.