I’ve been drinking Phifer Pavit Date Night Cabernet Sauvignon for about five years.  The first time I tasted it, I wasn’t out on a Date Night, but at a fundraiser in a private home in the Hollywood Hills.  It was the stellar wine of the evening, and it still rates a minimum 95 Eve Points every year.

I met Suzanne Phifer Pavitt for the first time at that party and was immediately struck by her southern charm and generosity, not just in supplying her Napa Cab to a fundraiser, but in extending an invitation to her home the next time I traveled to Napa.  I’d have to say that having the wine in her home ranks up there with one of my favorite Napa trips of all time. 

The current vintage came via my Chateau Pacific winemaker friend from Manhattan Beach, Gary Warburton, as his step-son is the other half of the Date Night couple: Shane Pavitt.  (Full disclosure: It was a gift.) 

Color: Clear, deep purple.
Aroma: Blackberry, black cherry, white pepper, mushroom, bell pepper with just the perfect chaser of mint.
Taste: High tannins, black pepper, dry, very pleasant mouth feel, black cherry, long peppery finish, thinking good now or hold 5-10 years.  Tasted again in 10 minutes and some of the tannins blew off – though I loved it either way – and it became even more rounded.  Eddie (my Date Night partner) said it “opened up” nicely.

Retail $75 (Though I expected more like $100 for a Napa Cab.)
14.8% alcohol.
96 Eve points.
Want more?  Call 707-942-4787.
(In Napa try the wine in their new tasting room.)