$2,000 ???

Most of us gourmands don’t mind splashing out $100-$200 for a special occasion dinner. It usually ensures a fine, pleasurable experience of good food and wine with nice company if the service delivers. But how about $2,000? Gulp… but Shannon Noble, the man behind rarewinedinners.com had no problem selling out his first U.S. dinner at 1313 in Napa.  Previous dinners have been held in Australia.

The Insider cadged a few minutes with Noble as he took care of last minute details in 1313’s private dining room before his lucky 13 guests began to arrive. “I settled on 13 guests because I want everyone to have a good pour, you need at least 50 millimeters to fully experience the wine.”

Noble, an Aussie native, says he got into wine collecting when he was a late teen and a friend’s father was a chef who had wine bottles splattered all over the house. “We were going out to dinner and instead of going to the bottle shop he gave us a couple of bottles and one was a 17-year old Australian Cabernet that just blew me away. And I’ve been hooked ever since.”

Noble, who only had a few days in Napa, says he had an incredible cab from Heitz winery. But he surprised me when he said his favorite wines were German Rieslings. Well, that’s ironic cause the Insider loves Syrah/Shiraz alcohol bombs and hate Riesling sugars bombs.

Noble gave an appreciative laugh… “Rieslings aren’t all sugar bombs. I just love their diversity from sweet to mineral to dry. “

In conclusion, Noble wanted to give a shout out to 1313’s Exec Chef Adam Ross who had a daunting task of matching courses with those collector wines and pulled it off admirably.