Plus Birthday Celebration, Oct. 9, 2022
Hosts: Sue and John Henry Beyer
Palm Desert
Sue and John Henry held a much delayed Cellar Society tasting in the desert, originally planned to coincide with Sue’s milestone 75th birthday. They selected an excellent variety of Cabernet Sauvignons and Cab blends from the outstanding 2018 vintage of Napa and Sonoma County for both the tasting and pre-tasting. In the tasting, 4 bottles of Napa’s finest challenged 4 bottles from Sonoma, and the surprising winner was a $30 Michael Pozzan from Sonoma, which beat out the $49 Raymond Napa Cab by just 1 point, and the $160 Groth Napa Cab by 4 points. Another surprise was that the Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cab came in last. However, everyone agreed that there were no bad wines.
The Sonoma wines ranked 1,4,5,8, while Napa wines ranked 2,3,6,7. Adding up the ranks makes a tie of 18 for both Napa and Sonoma! However, when adding up the points, Napa at 249 edged out Sonoma at 255 (low is better). In any case, rush out to get your bottles of the winning wine at BevMo, where you might even be able to get a 2nd bottle for only 5 cents.
Following the tasting we enjoyed a short rib dinner, with garlic mashed potatoes, julienne vegetables and bottomless tiramisu. After the wines were unveiled, the patio was the place to be, with swimming, dancing and hanging out by the pool under a beautiful full moon.
Warmer than expected weather required the tasting to be moved indoors, but Sue and John Henry readily adapted to the change. The warm weather was, however, ideal for the birthday/pool party that was held the next evening, with a spectacular birthday cake for Beth DeAtley and Sue, a magnum of 2008 Phillipe Fourrier Millémise Champagne that Sue just happened to have lying around, and wines left over from the tasting. Fortunately, only one nearly empty bottle of wine ended up splattered on the floor.
The next day, believe it or not, Bob and Sandy climbed up 10,834 feet to the top of San Jacinto Peak (see photos).
Rankings:
| Rank | Points | Wine | Price | Btl |
| 1 | 53 | 2018 Michael Pozzan Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Sonoma | $15 or $30* Bev Mo | 2 |
| 2 | 54 | 2018 Raymond Cabernet Sauvignon, Atlas Peak, Napa Valley | $49 Vivino | 1 |
| 3 | 57 | 2018 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Oakville, Napa Valley | $160 | 4 |
| 4 | 60 | 2018 Medlock Ames Cabernet Sauvignon, Bell Mountain Estate, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County | $70 Winery | 5 |
| 5 | 63 | 2018 Dry Creek Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Hillside & Benchland Vineyards, Sonoma County | $24 BevMo | 7 |
| 6 | 63 | 2018 Stags’ Leap Cabernet Sauvignon, 125th Anniversary, Napa Valley | $35 BevMo | 3 |
| 7 | 75 | 2018 Keiser Family Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley | $120 | 6 |
| 8 | 79 | 2018 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County | $90 K&L | 8 |
Individual Votes:
| Rank | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
| Total Points | 54 | 53 | 63 | 57 | 60 | 75 | 63 | 79 |
| Bottle No | Btl 1 | Btl 2 | Btl 3 | Btl 4 | Btl 5 | Btl 6 | Btl 7 | Btl 8 |
| Wine | Raym | Pozz | Stags | Groth | Medl | Keis | Dry | S Oak |
| Vince | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Karen | 6 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Bob | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| Sandy | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 7 |
| Betty Hood-Gibson | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 7 |
| David Gandara | 6 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 5 |
| Diane Gandara | 1 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| Sue | 7 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| John Henry | 6 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
| David H | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| Beth DeAtley | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 2 |
| David Gibson | 2 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 3 |
| Chris Wood | 5 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 8 |
| Steve Smith | 1 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
Cellar Society of San Francisco 