Broback's Blog

In anticipation of our March 2014 Dent Conference, we made the drive from Seattle to Sun Valley Idaho. This year we had the luxury of being able to take our time and make lots of fun stops along the way. Also we were fortunate to be driving a shiny new Buick Enclave, which turned out to be the roomiest and most comfortable vehicle we’ve ever driven to Idaho.

One of our mandates as we drove from Seattle to Ketchum Idaho was to pick up several cases of wine that we felt would suit our conference attendees. Since we drive right past Red Mountain on our way, it was a perfect place for us to stop and do some shopping.

The first destination on our list was Hedges Family Estate. A few years back Hedges hosted us and several of our Blog Business Summit speakers to a dinner and tasting at their Prosser property, and we could not wait to return.

The estate is situated right on Red Mountain, and even the parking lot provides a sublime view:

Yes, that’s Brody our Wheaten Terrier (and road trip enthusiast) poking his nose out of the window. A better shot of him here:

Here was Brody’s view of the Chateau from the Buick :

Once inside we were greeted by Estate Liaison, Deborah Culverhouse. I asked Deborah to steer us toward some special bottles.

One of the standouts was the 2006 Red Mountain Fortified (RMF), which is in very limited supply. It’s made with 100% estate grapes and as is the case with traditional port wines, it’s fortified with brandy. Great for matching with dessert (particularly gingerbread) or with a sharp blue cheese.

Robert Scoble tasted it at our Il Naso dinner and had this to say: