Last Cassoulet Dinner

Last saturday we held our last of three cassoulet dinners. My wife prefers a sit down dinner so we entertain four couples plus ourselves for each evening. The people present were Michael & Mari Havens, Steve & Cornelia Edmonds, Doug & Janet Fletcher, Alan & Charlene Steen. three of the couples the husbands are well known wine makers and the Steens are former owners of the Whitehall winery her in Napa. Janet is a well known author of numerous books on cheeses world wide and former chef at Chez Panisse.
We sat around drinking and eating hors d'oeuvres for about a little over an hour. 2010 Boxler Sommerberg Riesling, 2007 Vatan Sancerre Le Neore, 2010 Mt Eden Chard CA, 2013 Cowhorn Marsanne Rousanne Oregon, 2012 Leeuwin Chard Australia. Because I'm in the business i will just say they were all well received, just some more than others. Cassoulet was served with 2009 Beaucastel cdp & 2000 Caillou Les Quartz cdp. There was a discussion among the three winemakers about which was superior but they agreed not to throw either one out of their wine glass. We had two cheeses that matched well with a 20 year old tawny port by Ferriera. I also served a 1999 Noble Rot by Texier that Brad Kane had dropped off a few years ago, two winemakers liked one said a little too raisiny for him. My wife also put together some sweet trifles so we could place a candle celebrating Mari's birthday. We also toasted Steve & Cornelia's anniversary. A wonderful evening for all of us which broke up somewhere not that far from midnight.

Oh! the next morning we had breakfast with the Edmonds who had stayed over because of the distance between Napa & their home. Oh the sacrifices I make for wine! Lou K.

[David M. Bueker]

Sounds like another wonderful evening!

Last saturday we held our last of three cassoulet dinners. My wife prefers a sit down dinner so we entertain four couples plus ourselves for each evening. The people present were Michael & Mari Havens, Steve & Cornelia Edmonds, Doug & Janet Fletcher, Alan & Charlene Steen. three of the couples the husbands are well known wine makers and the Steens are former owners of the Whitehall winery her in Napa. Janet is a well known author of numerous books on cheeses world wide and former chef at Chez Panisse.
We sat around drinking and eating hors d'oeuvres for about a little over an hour. 2010 Boxler Sommerberg Riesling, 2007 Vatan Sancerre Le Neore, 2010 Mt Eden Chard CA, 2013 Cowhorn Marsanne Rousanne Oregon, 2012 Leeuwin Chard Australia. Because I'm in the business i will just say they were all well received, just some more than others. Cassoulet was served with 2009 Beaucastel cdp & 2000 Caillou Les Quartz cdp. There was a discussion among the three winemakers about which was superior but they agreed not to throw either one out of their wine glass. We had two cheeses that matched well with a 20 year old tawny port by Ferriera. I also served a 1999 Noble Rot by Texier that Brad Kane had dropped off a few years ago, two winemakers liked one said a little too raisiny for him. My wife also put together some sweet trifles so we could place a candle celebrating Mari's birthday. We also toasted Steve & Cornelia's anniversary. A wonderful evening for all of us which broke up somewhere not that far from midnight.

Oh! the next morning we had breakfast with the Edmonds who had stayed over because of the distance between Napa & their home. Oh the sacrifices I make for wine! Lou K.

Ohhhhh, Lou.....when I saw that "Last" in the title line, I thought it meant the last one ever again...like you were planning
on croaking or something soon. Glad to see that's not the case, Lou. Don't ever leave us!!
Looks/sounds like a wonderful evening. I hope that duck did not give his life in vain for your Cassoulet!!
And I love your velly British spelling of Steve's name. It lends him an air of sophistication I've never associated w/ him!!
Tom

*snif*

Hoke, I thought of you more than once during the evening; I hope you're on the mend! I'm not sure how many of these feasts I've attended at this point, but it's so impressive to me that each one seems to be better than the last. BL's cassoulet this time around was really sublime. It's my belief that an artist never tries to re-create a previous work, but rather, works in the present, and always draws on the accumulation of her experiences to inform the approach to the current undertaking. (like I said, she just gets better!)

And the '09 Beaucastel was just great. Might be the first I've tasted from them without a trace of Brett, which, from my perspective as a vintner, made it much easier to recognize some of the characteristics their wines have in common with wines made from the same varieties that come from other places, including some I've made.

Really good company. Great to see everyone again, and to share and catch up with one another. Thanks, thanks, thanks, to Lou and Bette Lu!

Last saturday we held our last of three cassoulet dinners. My wife prefers a sit down dinner so we entertain four couples plus ourselves for each evening. The people present were Michael & Mari Havens, Steve & Cornelia Edmonds, Doug & Janet Fletcher, Alan & Charlene Steen. three of the couples the husbands are well known wine makers and the Steens are former owners of the Whitehall winery her in Napa. Janet is a well known author of numerous books on cheeses world wide and former chef at Chez Panisse.
We sat around drinking and eating hors d'oeuvres for about a little over an hour. 2010 Boxler Sommerberg Riesling, 2007 Vatan Sancerre Le Neore, 2010 Mt Eden Chard CA, 2013 Cowhorn Marsanne Rousanne Oregon, 2012 Leeuwin Chard Australia. Because I'm in the business i will just say they were all well received, just some more than others. Cassoulet was served with 2009 Beaucastel cdp & 2000 Caillou Les Quartz cdp. There was a discussion among the three winemakers about which was superior but they agreed not to throw either one out of their wine glass. We had two cheeses that matched well with a 20 year old tawny port by Ferriera. I also served a 1999 Noble Rot by Texier that Brad Kane had dropped off a few years ago, two winemakers liked one said a little too raisiny for him. My wife also put together some sweet trifles so we could place a candle celebrating Mari's birthday. We also toasted Steve & Cornelia's anniversary. A wonderful evening for all of us which broke up somewhere not that far from midnight.

Oh! the next morning we had breakfast with the Edmonds who had stayed over because of the distance between Napa & their home. Oh the sacrifices I make for wine! Lou K.

Ohhhhh, Lou.....when I saw that "Last" in the title line, I thought it meant the last one ever again...like you were planning
on croaking or something soon. Glad to see that's not the case, Lou. Don't ever leave us!!
Looks/sounds like a wonderful evening. I hope that duck did not give his life in vain for your Cassoulet!!
And I love your velly British spelling of Steve's name. It lends him an air of sophistication I've never associated w/ him!!
Tom

Tom, Steve in person is just plain Steve but his wines have tremendous class in every way possible.
"Just plain Steve" Wasn't there a daytime soap opera by that name? We could have Tom dueling with R. Parker on the parapets
of Napa castle. I can see it now.