The Reserve Room does Food & Wine Tastings, in which their chef and his crew prepare interesting small bite dishes to pair with each of their wines. I only did a wine tasting there, but will certainly want to go back for the food and wine tasting in the near future, because all the dishes looked and smelled fabulous, with innovative flavors and interesting pairings.
I enjoyed every wine I tasted, but there were some standouts. The 2007 Saralee's Vineyard Viognier was quite amazing - a delicious nose, a very smooth and full mouth feel, lots of butterscotch with hints of vanilla and tangerine. I loved it; I bought one, and can't wait to serve it. Chef Max even gave me his crab cake recipe to pair it with!
The crew also let me have a little vertical tasting, so I could compare the 2006 and 2007 Ricci Vineyard Zins. Wow! I loved them both. They were each quite spicy, the '06 showing more black fruit (cassis, leather, hint of vanilla in the finish, very smooth), while the '07 had more red fruit notes (red currant, rasberry) and was perhaps a bit more complex. I was particularly intrigued by the dish being paired with the '06 Ricci Zin - Shaved chicken breast with smoked heirloom tomato salsa cruda - I asked Max about this, and he explained it's the smoked tomatoes that pull it all together with the Zin. An idea to experiment with!
Finally, I loved the 2005 Los Chamizal Cab Franc, soft and luxurious, with currant notes. Max brought me a sample of his Niman ranch skewer with molé spiced shell (yes folks, that's chocolate covered beef - how creative is that?), which was incredibly delicous, and a perfect match with the wine!
1 comment:
Sounds like a wonderful time! The food pairing sounds like a great way to go.... next time for sure!
Post a Comment