President's Night and a Preview Cab

Prior to becoming the wine geek that I am today, I downed my fair share (in fact, more than my fair share) of beer during my university days at the Deke House. I don't get out to UBC and the old alma mater very often nowadays - just the odd visit to Alumni Weekend or an alumni night at the fraternity. This was the first time, however, that the boys have gathered at the actual Deke House for President's Night. The old house, where I experienced all my school days memories, is now long gone. Indeed, the new house has likely been around for at least a decade but this was the first time that I've been at the house while there was still daylight.

Doesn't look too bad from the outside.

There wasn't a huge turnout for the evening's festivities but there were enough of us to keep the stories flowing - not to mention the wine. I'm not sure but this may well be one of my few evenings at the Deke House where there was more wine than beer consumed and, at least for me, I have a feeling the evening's primary wine might have been chosen because of the lion that is part of the logo. The fraternity's symbol is the Rampant Lion after all. Regardless of the reason, it's a California wine that I wasn't familiar with and it provided for some good conversation seeing as how Boo and I are heading down to California wine country in a matter of days.

1295.  2008 Hess Select Cabernet Sauvignon (California)

As mentioned, I'm not familiar with the Hess brand but I believe I've noted that the Hess Select label is the more the entry level of their three labels. Made more for "immediate enjoyment" (according to their website), the wine is primarily Cab Sauv with a bit of Syrah (8%) and Merlot (7%) added for good measure. The grapes are sourced from Mendocino, Lake and Napa Counties to incorporate the different qualities that each of the different regions have to offer and it was easily approachable enough.

Seeing as how I'm as far behind in my writing as I am, I think I'll just refer you to one of the more interesting pieces I saw in researching the winery and the wine. I thought this "Forbes Wine of the Week" story did a nice job on capturing a bit about the winery, the man behind the wine and the wine world that is California. The actual wine of the week wasn't this Select Cab but I think you'll get the idea.

My evening at the Deke House was a tad different from days of yore though. My earlier days were truly filled with "school nights" and they often didn't end after a couple glasses of wine. Nowadays, I just use the "school night" term as a reason for behaving when I have to work in the morning. The lesson learned might be a tad sad - watch the celebrating when work's going to come a'callin soon enough - but it's a valuable one.  Maybe I killed fewer brain cells than I might have originally thought.