The Omaha Wine & Food Gazette Feb 2026

The Omaha

Event Report: A Traditional Country Club Celebration

Kathryn Hall Vineyards

Attendees: Don’t forget to go to the IWFS web site to download your holiday photo by the fireplace at HHC.

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Traditionaly, at least as long as I have been in the IWFS (2008), the Christmas / Hanukkah season has always been at the Happy Hollow Club. It is a great facility, has great food, and enough room to move freely about. The tradition continued with our December 14, 2025, event there. Again, as in the recent past, we combined both the Omaha and the Omaha Metro branches. Our attendance of 59 was reduced by a flu that seems to come around the holidays annually. My own wife Mary couldn’t attend, so I brought my daughter-in-law Katie in her stead. This year, however, there was no band or singer.

We started off with Smoked Salmon Cones, Cucumber Hummus Cups and Steak Tartar Crostini. I found the latter absolutely delicious and could have eaten many more except then, I wouldn’t have had room for dinner!

The HHC Classic Thunderbird Salad was quite good, and I was reminded that the Thunderbird Salad was invented in the 1960’s right here at the Happy Hollow Club by Chef Luis Villamonte, although it is freely promoted at the Omaha Press Club as well because his son, Steve Villamonte, is the chef there. Steve trademarked the salad.

Our next course was the HHC Classic Lobster Bisque. It was presented in a spectacular puff pastry dome, nicely browned, which helped keep the soup warm by trapping in the heat. Since the dome is not just ornamental, when you punch through, you put the pastry in the soup to saturate it with the lobster goodness. It serves to reduce the richness of the cream as well. A Paul Hobbs Russian River Chardonnay 2022 was a good marriage of wine and bisque.

Beef Tenderloin Steak Oscar, Lump Crab, Asparagus, Boursin Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Tomato & Herb Hollandaise followed. Steak Oscar is a classic steakhouse / country club dish named in honor of King Oscar II of Sweden in the 1890’s. except in his day and place, veal was used instead of steak. When you see the name, you know you are getting a surf and turf dish of beef filet, crab meat, and asparagus, with either Béarnaise or Hollandaise sauce. In our case. Roasted tomato and herbs were added to the Hollandaise. Accompanying the filet were two red wines. The Kathryn Hall Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 hails from their Sacrashe Vineyard and comprises 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot. Its competitor was the Château Larrivet Haut-Brion 2016 from the Pessac-Léognan area south of Bordeaux city. With Larrivet attaching itself to the name Haut Brion, one would think it sat near the famous First Growth, but it does not. I suspect it is a Gallic marketing technique. It sports 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc. Both were good, but I give the nod to the Kathryn Hall.

We finished with 3 Layer Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake with a Warre Vintage Port 2011 chaser. Chocolate and vintage port is always a wise choice. Many thanks to hosts Mike Wilke, who did the yeoman’s work, and Joe Goldstein, as well as the HHC culinary staff and servers, who kept things on track.

Kathryn Hall Vineyards

Kathryn Walt Hall, born in 1947, is an American attorney, businesswoman, and former Ambassador to Austria from 1997 to 2001. Together with her husband Craig Hall they acquired the historic St. Helena Bergfeld Winery in 2003. With a rich history spanning 150 years, the location was once the home of the Napa Valley Co-Op, producing 40% of Napa Valley’s wines. In 2013, The Hall family completed the restoration of the 1885 Bergfeld Winery and merged history and innovation with the completion of California’s first LEED® Gold Certified winery, in addition to a stunning Visitor Center and state-of-the-art gravity flow winemaking facility. Vinyards are scattered throughout Napa Valley: Sacrashe in Rutherford; Bergfeld in St. Helena; Hardester, Cook, Dellar-Friedkin; Rainin on Diamond Mountain; and Beller on Mt. Veeder. All their Cabernet Sauvignons come from Napa Valley. In addition, their portfolios include the Walt Wines line, which includes Pinot Noir from the Sonoma and Santa Rita Hills areas, their Baca Wines which includes Rhone style wines with GSM (Grenache, Syrah & Mouvedre) and Zinfandel, and Michel Foche Champagne, a blanc de blancs (all Chardonnay) imported from France’s Montagne de Reims. Source: https://www.hallwines.com.