Dinner with Friends, Chateau Montelena and Craggy Range

Recently, we had our friends over for dinner and they love oysters. We have been enjoying oysters most recently with our son and his wife from Seattle and the oysters that we were getting were delicious. So, here was an opportunity to have oysters done two ways, fresh shucked and baked. The baked oysters with butter, garlic, and bacon topped with parsley was especially delicious! Unfortunately, we were so in a hurry to down the oysters that I didn't take a picture of it. We paired the oysters with our 2019 Chenin Blanc, which our friend said tasted like green apples, in a good way.
We followed up the oysters with slow smoked beef spare ribs done with two different rubs. We had the ribs with grilled seasonal vegetables and cornbread.

My husband pulled up from his wine cellar a 1996 Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. He opened it in front of our guests and the cork proceeded to disintegrate. However the contents of the bottle was still fresh, youthful with a lot of black berry flavors, a hint of leather and soft tannins.

Our friends pulled out their 2014 Craggy Range Le Sol that they brought back from their trip to New Zealand, to pair with the meal. We did a side by side tasting of both wines and they were both very good but very different. The Le Sol was a big, jammy Syrah which was delicious and we were honored that they shared that wine with us.

This morning, I asked my husband how many more of the 1996 Chateau Montelena did we have left and he said, "That was the last one!"