Once every three months or so, a group of female Cisco managers (including yours truly) get together to network, share stories and enjoy great wine. This Thursday we met at our usual hang - Birks Restaurant in Santa Clara. Networking and building relationships is very important in any industry, but especially so in the Silicon Valley and high tech, where schedules are packed so tightly that coming up for air just to eat dinner can be a real challenge.
Although our little group was represented by only three of us, we had a great time sharing war stories, discovering that our paths had crossed many many years ago in prior careers, and just chatting! Punctuating our gathering was a wonderfully rich, deep and complex Cabernet from Santa Clara Valley - the 2007 Jason Stephens Cab.
Nicely "chewy" with structured tannins (but not too astringent), this Cab was complex and deep without being overpowering, kinda like the women drinking it! Not surprisingly, I found that this fine Cab was a Gold Medal winner and rated at a 90 on the famous Wine Spectator scale. Full of forward fruit, I also tasted fresh rhubarb and ripe elderberries along with a hint of leather and rich oak. We really enjoyed our 300 calories (per my friend Marcia, each glass of wine is 150 calories, better make 'em count!) each, and highly recommend this yummy wine.
Food Pairings: I enjoyed this wine with a pita bread, wild mushroom appetizer and found that the earthiness of the mushrooms formed a nice complement to the wine. It would also be wonderful with marinated New York Strip Steaks, a beautiful bacon wrapped meatloaf, or a nice tri-tip roast. My friends found it also went well with a roasted chicken skewer - where the charcoal flavors would be a nice companion to the tannic structure of this Cab.
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