I specifically say the June BYOB since Chuck holds a BYOB every month. Not that it's a bad thing but when you think "Ultimate", you think of rare and old wines like aged Bordeaux and Burgundy. Or wines that are very difficult to procure. But with the June menu, the wines suggested were rustic, country wines. Not First Growths or Grand Crus. But it was fun none the less. This month's menu looked like this:
Crispy Home-made Arancini
with lump crab, cheddar cheese, roasted artichokes & truffle sauce
SUGGESTED WINE: Dry white wines (Italian Vermentino, southern French Picpoul, Chablis, Macon Chardonnays sor roses)
Braised Pork Belly
with Tuscan white beans, parsnip puree & grilled Alii mushrooms
SUGGESTED WINE: lighter, rustic reds—Italian “country” reds or sangiovese/barbera,
Southern French, Greek or Spanish “country” reds
Horseradish Crusted Short Rib
with home-made fettucine, baby kale & roasted garlic demi
SUGGESTED WINE: Californian Zinfandel, Syrah based reds, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Cahors/Malbecs.
You can have some real fun being creative with this pairing!!!!
Mango Panna Cotta
with raspberry gelato
We started the evening off with some bubbly, a NV Alfred Gratien Brut from Epernay. Nice citrus peel and mineral on the nose with a very clean finish.
For the Crispy Home-made Arancini, our table poured a flight of 4 wines; a 2009 Ferret Pouilly Fuisse, a 2009 Droin Chablis Vaillons 1er Cru, a 2009 Evening Land Rose and a 2010 Urbanite Caliberico.
They all worked with the starter but I feel that the Chablis and Caliberico's fruit was enhanced with the dish.
For the Braised Pork Belly, our flight of 4 included: a 2000 Fattoria Isole e Olena Cepparello (pure sangiovese), a 2000 La Poja (primarily Corvina Veronese), a 2010 Domaine Temoier Bandol and a 2011 Domaine Gramenon Poignee de Raisins.
I though that the Gramenon would work the best due to its fruit since we were having pork belly but the two Italians worked the best with the pork belly accentuating the fruit in each wine. And boy was that a brontosaurus sized pork belly!
With the Short Rib, the flight of 4 included: a 2000 Aldo Conterno Barolo Gran Bussia, a 1989 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape, a 2002 Chateau Rostaing Cote Rotie and a 1999 Castello dei Rampolla Sammarco.
With just the beef itself, the Barolo and Cotie Rotie were the two winners but once you included some of the horseradish, all four wines simply had their acid accentuated... in a bad way. So we also uncorked a 2004 Brochelle Vineyards Paso Robles Zinfandel which also held up to the strong flavor of the horseradish. And since the Short Rib was very rich, you wanted to get some horseradish with each bite. And BTW, the Short Rib was also brontosaurus sized!
We ended the meal with the Mango Panna Cotta paired with a Byrrh Gran Quinquina (wine mixed with herbals), a 2003 Hestan Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2011 Sexual Chocolate blended red wine. I guess Chef Keith thought that since the main courses were so huge, we wouldn't be very hungry by the time dessert arrived because dessert was pretty tiny... though tasty none the less.
And then things got a little crazy. A fellow table-mate brought a 1970 DRC La Tache to uncork though it didn't look very promising. If it was in perfect condition, the web price was quoted as $17,000. However the ullage or air space was roughly about 4 inches. That's a lot of oxygen to turn the wine. And it was heavily oxidized more like vinegar than wine. Oh well, thanks for sharing anyway!
My French Brother then uncorked a 1999 Jacques Selosse Blanc de Blanc Extra Brut Grand Cru. WOW!! no, make that 80 font in BOLD with fifty exclamation marks! Candied citrus peel, candied ginger, mineral with a touch of coconut scented brioche. WOW! Doomo arigatou my French Brother! Chuck said only a dozen or so bottles made it to the USA.
Chuck then uncorked a 2000 Noel Verset Cornas. WOW SQUARED! Verset is my FAVORITE red wine - the way Syrah was meant to be vinified. Of course since the absolute last vintage was 2006, bottles of Verset go for the $300 range. Black olive, old leather, pebbles, a touch of tar with a smooth palate flow and absolutely delicious! Mahalo Sir Chuck!
We then ended the evening (actually it was late night at this point) with a bottle of Demoiselle Rose and Jacquart Brut Mosaique. Another great evening at Vino with good food and wines and most importantly, great friends!
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