Argentine Wine Dinner

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Delius Restaurant and Wine Country hosted an Argentine wine dinner tonight. This dinner had been sold out for weeks. Delius really pulls out the stops when it comes to the food dishes for their themed wine dinners.

Being a single diner you are seated at the wine rep's table. This has distinct advantages. Usually better pours of the wines and sometimes additional wines that are not offered to the rest of the mortals. Tonight there was an additional bottle poured but since I did not write the name down and I am posting this 2 weeks later, at my advance age, I cannot remember the name of the wine. I have so many notes off the menu sheet that I'm not sure what they are. I have a name, Garagiste written down, possibly that is the name of the wine., but I doubt it. I also have a note about a wine dinner in the valley in August. Molly Ducker wines from Australia at Leias Restaurtant. Other than that I know nothing. (Which sometimes is best)

Tonights dinner started out the "mini empanadas" served with 2006 Terza Volta Sauvignon Blanc. The empanadas were filled with potatoes and olives. The crust was very tender. Nice pairing. The wine was not too acidic and had a nice light citrus/tropical taste to it.

Next up was "scallops with a leek-pancetta saute and creamy corn sauce". As always the scallops were cooked to perfection. The wine with this dish was a 2006 Terza Volta Malbec Rose. This was an excellent pairing and one of the 2 favorite wines of the meal.

A "wild mushroom soup with parmesan crisps" was seved with a 2003 Maestre de Campo Merlot. The soup was wonderful but the wine really lacked something. I just could not get anything out of it. I felt it was very mediocre. I had them pour me the next wine that was to be served and and liked the pairing much better.

Next wine was 2004 Terza Volta Malbec which was paired with "pork tenderloin on roasted opnion and white bean ragout". Again cooked to perfection and married very well with the ragout. I liked this pairing a lot and as I indicated this wine went better with the soup than the merlot. This was the second wine I realy liked.

The main couse was a "herb crusted rack of lamb with a rosemary red wine sauce" . Louise always shines when cooking lamb or duck. Perfect again. This dish was paired with 2 wines. 2004 Terza Volta Cabernet Sauvignon which I did not like at all. Again I thought it was a very mediocre wine. The second wine as 2003 Bates Red Blend (malbec, merlot, syrah). This was a better pairing and a much better wine.

Dessert was "dulce argentino". A baked dough strip with a sauce and strawberries. It was an original Argentian dessert but left me unimpressed. It tasted good but somehow it just didn't "seduce" me like good desserts are supposed to do.

I looking forward to the upcoming year for the the "themed" dinners. I especially looking foward to the "Stolpman Wine" dinner in April. Stoplman wines are some of my favorites and as I understand from Peter Stolpman there will be some "library " wines at that dinner.