The Omaha Wine & Food Gazette Mar 2026 by Omaha Magazine

The Omaha

Event Report: 55th Annual High Noon Stag

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Best of the Cockle Bur compiled & edited by Harry B. Otis, 3rd President 1973-1974

Draw your wisdom from old men, and your enthusiasm from young men.

55th Annual High Noon Stag

Story by Tom Murnan, Photos by Ron Policky & Tom Murnan

For the past few years, we have been holding the annual January stag at Flemings, who always does a great job. Originally, the event began 55 years ago at the then French Café (now Le Bouillon). Then it moved to V. Mertz for a run of years. I was there in January 9, 2016, when the massive M’s Pub fire erupted a hundred yards away, right during the stag! We were at a succession of places after that: Omaha Metro Tech’s Bistro Sage, Monarch Prime, Flatiron, and Omaha Prime. We have been at Flemings since 2022. They do an amazing job with steakhouse food and service, and this year was no exception. 2026 saw a unique tasting of a 60-year-old Tawny Port compared to a 1990 Madeira. President Mike Wilke asked me to select the tasting wines. Even though the wines were sweet, I placed the tasting at the beginning of the meal to better focus our concentration on the wines before us. I purchased the S. Leonardo 60-yearold in 2015, which was a very rare wine. In

Portugal it was only legal to put 40-years on the bottle (that changed in 2022), but when it was imported to the USA, the importer added a “60” sticker right over the “40” sticker to the bottle, and added a “60” tag explaining the wine originated from Quinta do Mourão and was a blend of wine from 1948 and 1972. The Madeira was from the acclaimed house of D’Oliveria. Many members were astonished at how concentrated and sweet the Tawny was. By contrast, the Madeira was not as sweet. But it was not as old either, so the concentration was less. The sweetness comes from the variety of grapes used. The Assorted cheese & fruit plate was nicely selected, with candied walnuts, Manchego cheese, dried apricots, blueberries, which enhanced the wines. I will summarize the tutorial later. One rowdy table seemed to be in a hurry to get past the educational portion members have asked for in surveys. So, the exploration of these two fortified, oxidized sweet wines was fascinating.

The other innovative feature of the event was to have a vertical tasting of 4 magnums of Dunn Vineyards to compare with our Prime Tomahawk entrée. Dunn is so consistent that there was not a lot of variation of the bottles from the years 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. What caught my attention was the different levels of tannic astringency. The 2012 and 2015 had resolved tannins, while the 2013 and 2014 were still a bit sharp. Mike Wilke took a survey of the tables and

summarized opinions by saying most liked the 2013, and 2021 came in second.

Many thanks to Chef Partner Rafael Ponce and Sarah Wallace Operating Partner, who oversaw the wine service, with very attentive and efficient service. Thanks, as well to Mike Wilke who made all the other arrangements and sourced the Dunn magnums.

A Short Sketch of Dunn Vineyards

Dunn Vineyards (DV) was established on Howell Mountain, Napa Valley, in 1978 by Lori and Randy Dunn when they purchased 14 acres of land with 5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon vines already planted at an elevation of 2,000 feet, above the fog line. The fog line is at 1,400 feet. It is cooler than the floor, but gives more hours of sunshine. This gives smaller, thick-skinned grapes. The first vintage was 1979. The 660 cases were sold via newsletter and labeled as Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1982, the Napa Valley Cabernet was introduced, but it came from the floor of Napa Valley (our event magnums were from the Napa floor). It was less tannic and minerally than the Howell Mountain vineyard. Both wines were 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and aged 32 months in new French Barrels. Today, DV has 12 different vineyards among which are: Alta Tierra, the original 1978 vineyard, formerly named after a trailer at the top of the block. It was replanted in 2013. The Frank Vineyard was also used in the 1979 vintage, named after the original owner Harry Frank who let Randy use his grapes in the 1979. It was purchased later. Eagle Summit was purchased in 2018 and sits

at an altitude of 2,100. In 1991 Randy purchased 5 parcels which included Zinfandel and Petite Sirah. These include the vineyards Cucrvo (crow); JK named after his two daughters Jennifer and Kristina; Below House named for his vineyard managers house nestled in the vineyard; Coyote named after coyote pups living there; and Creek. One other site is the Lake Vineyard which used to be a hay field. In 1989, caves were bored directly into Howell Mountain. The cave environment increased the humidity to 98% and kept the temperature at 56°F year-round, which reduced the angel share loss of wine to 1% during the prolonged aging process. Son Mike Dunn worked in the winery as a teen, got a college degree and owned a bike shop for a while, before returning to DV in 2002. He cleaned out the cellar and used 100% new barrels. Instead of just using one cooper, he uses up to 11. Vineyard lots are kept separate for 32 months, racked every 6 months to slightly oxidize the wine, then blended as needed. Mike says of his father “He goes on his whims. I’m orderly. He’s chaos.”

Source: https://www.dunnvineyards.com/#story