Among those who appreciate fine wines, Paul Hobbs, although a relatively young man, is a highly venerated name. Known as one of a handful of winemakers who crafts his products from the grapes of individual vineyards, Mr. Hobbs takes a great deal of pride in his ability to create emminently drinkable and complex wines without having to rely on blending.

Having arrived from Argentina only a few hours earlier and having driven from JFK to Southampton, making several erronious detours along the way, one would have thought that an exhausted and ill-tempered Paul Hobbs would have walked through the door. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Within moments of meeting the guests during the reception phase, Paul's laid back style and charm had put everyone at ease and the dinner was off to a smooth start.

Because it was Father's Day, the U.S. Open was in it's final round and the fact that Sunday evening is when the mass exodus from the Hamptons takes place, we were prepared for a somewhat diminished turn-out. On the other hand, we hoped that the Paul Hobbs name would neutralize some of those factors. We were not disappointed. The dining room was almost at capacity.

While we could write volumes about Paul Hobbs and his wines, we feel it's probably best to let the wines speak for themselves. Sample Hobbs' elegant chardonnays, his lush pinot noir or his bold cabernet sauvignon and we're sure that you'll list Hobbs among your favorites, as well.

There is, however, one wine that should be given a special mention in that it is produced exclusively from the malbec grape, a varietal that is almost always used as part of a blend...and a small part, at that. Paul has been working with malbec as one of his South American projects and in spite of prevailing opinions about the grape not being a "soloist", he has been able to produce an impressive and extremely drinkable wine using only malbec. Chef Gulija paired it with the duck course and the wine was enthusiastically received by the guests. It's called, 'Cobos' Malbec and it's produced in Mendoza, Argentina.