One of the burdens and privileges of being the winemaker is the institution of winemaker dinners. Depending on the restaurant and organizers these can range in pleasure from something close to combat or dinner with the in-laws, all the way up to one of the nicest evenings you’ve ever spent. This past Friday I drove up to Carmel for a Wino dinner at Le St. Tropez. Wino is an organization started by Jerry Mead many years ago, and I believe that the Carmel group has been meeting for close to 30 years, (here’s a link to their website). Carmel is a cute and pricey little town as I learned from the shockingly expensive $18 martini I had pre dinner, but I tried not to let that minor sticker shock upset my evening.
The restaurant was packed to the gills with 70 people attending. The cuisine, as you can tell from the name is in a southern French style. We began the evening with passed appetizers and the ’08 No Oak Chardonnay. The first course was an endive salad paired against our ’08 Estate Chardonnay. While I am normally very leery of salads and wine pairings I have to say hats off to the chef in this case as it was a truly lovely combination. Another notable hit was the duck cassoulet with the ’07 Syrah. I also brought up from the winery a case of the Legacy Viognier dessert wine. I particularly liked that the chef knew to serve it as a course of its own after the dessert which was a sorbet in pastry. Most dessert wines don’t really pair with dessert they’re much nicer savored by themselves afterwards. The crowd was an informed and knowledgeable one and it was stimulating both to give the general descriptions of the wines as well as the more detailed individual discussions at the tables. My hotel was a few blocks away within easy walking distance so I was able to enjoy the many glasses of wine and an after dinner Cognac with relative impunity.
- Larry
