This month we scheduled RCC to be New Year’s Eve and took the opportunity to ring in 2020 with an appropriate 20 wines. Chef on duty was Avi Katz, who did a nice job overall with the food. A couple of highlights there were the potato soup with crispy lamb bacon, which was excellent – and the cornbread with candied jalapenos, cauliflower puree and maple bourbon sauce. While the cornbread itself was a little dry, as a composed dish it worked well, and the candied Jalapenos were just out of this world. In fact, I added some to the ice cream which was served as part of desert (Pecan Pie, Vanilla Ice Cream, Caramel – also excellent) for an added dimension, and that went over really well too. There was a course that did not work – and it was unfortunately the main course – but so it goes. Wine wise overall we did really well. There were four bonus bottles – including a 1997 Napa Cab, which was still showing well – which added to the 16 bottles on the menu brought us to the magic number.

But what really made this night special were the people – a really nice mix with a record high of five ladies in attendance! In addition, we were hosted by Barrie and Simon Jacob in their home in Yemin Moshe, which is one of my favorite places for RCC. Barrie played sous chef all night – really, I can’t thank her enough. Simon was the source of three out of the four extra bottles including the aforementioned ’97, plus the opening wine – besides his own regular bottle. Besides being probably the nicest people on the planet, the man hosts, his wife helps cook – and he pulls these bottles. Just the best. I have no other words to describe them. An added bonus for me was that my friends Michal and Yeruchum, who are here visiting their son in yeshiva for the year, were able to join (and bring a couple of locally hard to find bottles). How often do you get to sit at a wine dinner like this with friends you have known for over 30 years? This night was true treat. But we are here for the wine so let’s get to it: