An extravaganza on the roof of Taipei. Leading Brands pulled out all the stops to present one of California’s top wineries in what may be the best new restaurant in Taipei. The wine was all California, powerful and expressive, and the food was fabulous, all the way from the Steak Tartar amuse bouche to the Chateau Briand with poached white asparagus.

I admit I’ve become somewhat jaded lately on the feasting circuit, but this meal renewed my enthusiasm for food, and maybe it had something to do with the pairings, which were wonderfully synergetic.

Paul Hobbs is technical wine… lots of winemaking there, plenty of production value. We haven’t been drinking much California wine lately, much less such powerhouses as we tasted tonight, but they were explosive with bold fruit, bright acid, very out-front MLF, and lots of French oak. Restrained is not a word to apply here, but if you want blockbuster Chardonnays and extracted Pinots, Paul Hobbs exemplifies the more-is-more mentality of wines from the Golden State.

The thing is, all these wines need a lot more time to settle down and integrate their disparate components. My limited experience with aged California wines has convinced me that what they need is 20 years lying down in a deep cellar.

The best thing that Candace did tonight was double-decant the final Cabernet Sauvignon from the legendary To Kalon vineyard in Napa that launched Robert Mondavi’s brand back in the 70s. Perhaps counter-intuitively, softening this wine made it much more approachable than both the Pinots that preceded it. The magnificent pairing of Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon with Chateau Briand seemed almost lost on our crowd, who were mainly social by the time it came out, not closely focused on the food to say the least.

But it was a fine party, and some chaos toward the end was to be expected, though I say again, that Chateau Briand and To Kalon Cab deserved more reverence. At least one KOL I know chose to take his meat home, which was wise.

Jessie and Candace turned out a great party in a great venue which offers more than a great view. California cult wines are back. Soon the winemakers will be coming with them.