We had a beautiful night on Friday at our winemaker dinner for the Auction of Washington Wines. We very much enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with our friends Pam and Greg Harrington of Gramercy Cellars, and Drew and Maura Bledsoe of Doubleback. Not only do they have great taste in wine, but as my wife says, they also have great taste in wives – we had a blast catching up with all of them this weekend.

Joey’s provided the food for the evening, and created some very inventive pairings, such as the crab with curry sauce that played perfectly off the flavors of Gramercy Cellar’s limited release rose.  Greg’s rose is a nice, dry wine in the provincial French style – it was a treat to be able to enjoy it, as he typically only makes it available to his wine list members.

Our highlights from the evening, besides seeing great friends, was the Gramercy Cellars ’06 Tempranillo, which was a nicely complex wine with good acidity, that makes it such a great food wine.  It’s still drinking young and appears to have a long life ahead of it.  We also enjoyed the Gramercy Cellars ’08 Lagniappe Syrah.  This wine was rich in fruit with spices, and paired well with the lamb course.

As always, the ’09 and ’10 Doubleback wines were full and lush, with dark berries and chocolate.  These tend to be big wines that will take years to mature and truly realize the complexity.  While drinking well now and a perfect pairing with any meat dish, aging these wines will definitely pay off.

Big thanks to Brian and Laurie Flynn for opening up their beautiful home, and to Greg and Drew for the great wines!