Food, Wine & Friends Page 122
April 15, 2007
We were privileged to host two prominent vintners from
Europe...
LUCIANO SANDRONE from Barolo
and
THIBAULT DESPAGNE from Bordeaux
**************************************
To wet our whistles, Jonathan brought a bottle of his fantastically good,
home brewed Pilsner beer.
Luciano "Mister Barolo" Sandrone hoists a cold one...
We then "got serious" and opened the 2003 Schramsberg Blanc de
Noirs...
Thibault Despagne plays "sommelier" and pours the bubbly.
Barbara Sandrone enjoys a sip of bubbly with some sushi.
We also had some Grilled Prawns, wrapped with Prosciutto.
Lucy and Jonathan.
We then sat down at the dinner table with some of Lucy and Jonathan's home-grown
asparagus and aioli.
We enjoyed the 2005 Selene Sauvignon Blanc with these.
The next challenge was slicing the vegetable terrine...
The terrine is "held together" by a mousseline of chicken.
We enjoyed a terrific bottle of Valentin Zusslin's 2004 Riesling from their Clos
Liebenberg vineyard. This was a wonderful bottle of wine with the
vegetable terrine...nice minerality to the Riesling and a long finish, too.
I was busy in the kitchen, preparing the upcoming courses...
...and it was kind of Lucy and Jonathan to provide a hand.
Next we had some crab cakes.
The 2004 Aubert Chardonnay from the Ritchie Vineyard in Sonoma was superb in
this context.
From Bordeaux to Barolo, everyone enjoyed the local crab.
I prepared a Sorbet of Sandrone's Dolcetto d'Alba...
This was a nice little palate 'cleanser.'
The main plate was grilled lamb, roasted potatoes....
...and Lucy's fantastic braised artichokes.
Artichokes a la Lucy!
These are amazingly good and very intense in aroma and flavor.
Homegrown by Jonathan and Lucy, too!
Barbara d'Alba
Thibault was pleased to see red meat, cooked 'rare.'
We decanted two Napa Cabernets from the 1994 vintage:
ARAUJO'S "Eisele Vineyard"
and
SHAFER "Hillside Select"
Both wines were very nice. The Araujo seemed to be closing in on maturity
and was 'older' than the Shafer. The Hillside Select was deep, dark fruits
and a brushy, woodsy tone to it. Shafer's wine is still youthful, too.
We had an old bottle of a "mystery" wine so we had a cheese course to
pair with it...
A bottle of Sandrone's 1985 Barolo "Cannubi Boschis."
This was mature, but still vital and alive. To call it excellent would be
understating its quality.
I think Charles was attempting to "blind-taste" the wine and he
correctly postulated that it was not a Muscat or Riesling.
Then it was time for a little surprise...candles in the shape of wine bottles,
with special labels.
Sant' Drone
& Barbara d'Alba
T-Bone Despagne
Tolmach Apple Pie and Killa' Vanilla Ice Cream with
Kiona 2004 Chenin Blanc "Ice Wine."
Yum!
Eddie Munster (or Charles Neal) helping himself to another scoop of Killa' Vanilla
Ice Cream.
Luciano tells about his plane ride from Italy.
Thanks to Lucy and Jonathan for the assistance!!!
And thanks to our guests for coming to dine at our wine & food marathon!
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