Chateau St. Michelle Wine Dinner

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A small local restaurant held a wine dinner tonight. Sabastiani's, www.sebastianis.net, The menu looked good so Toby & I signed up for it. I have been to this establishment several times and the food can be a hit or miss.

When I walked in I saw Kyle Twitchwell, the rep for Chateau St. Michelle there. I had met him before so it was good to see him again. I will say that Sebastiani's is very generous with their pours and the portions on the food.

Bread was served to half the people and the rest of us had to wait until new loaves came out of the oven. I know they like fresh bread but waiting 10 to 15 minutes for bread is beyond my scope.

First course was "Coza Al Forno", baked New Zealand mussels with a ginger-garlic butter. The dish was nice. It was served with 2005 Chateau St. Michelle Semillon. It was a good pairing and this wine was very good. Clean & crisp.

Second course was "Canelloni di Aragosta", petite canellonis filled with ricotta cheese, red bell peppers and lobster. The sauce was a shallot cream sauce with melted mozzarella. The wine was 2006 Chateau St. Michelle "Canoe Ridge" chardonnay. The canellonis were made with lasagna noodles but when they cooked then, apparently they did not put foil over the pan so the tops were a little crispy and I found it a little tough to cut. I do not like tough pasta. The filling was very good and the sauce was excellent. This could had been a superb dish with just a little more care. The chardonnay was a little on the oaky side and that is not my thing. I will say that the sauce on the canellonis cut the oakiness out of the wine and it did pair very well.

Third course was "Pepperoni Ripene", stuffed red bell peppers with ground lamb, golden raisins and basil with a "delicate" pink sauce. I think the sauce had red bell peppers in it to give the sweetness and the color. This was paired with 2004 Chateau St. Michelle "Orphelin" red blend. My take on this dish - the peppers would have been better served after perhaps roasting the skin over an open flame before stuffing them. This would have added a smokiness and sweetness to the pepper and also would have made them more tender. I found mine was to much "al dente". But the lamb filling did not pair well with the wine unless you had some of the pepper with it. The Orphelin wine is a blend of 9 grape varietals. Mostly grenache and syrah. I has had this wine before and I like it. This wine was the only one I bought. Toby and I split a case so it brought the price down to less than $14 a bottle.

Last course was "Vitello Saltimboca", veal scalopine with prosciutto, sage and a veal demi-glaze with a little cabernet. This was served with the 2005 Chateau St. Michelle "Indian Wells" cabernet sauvignon. My time this dish came out I was beyond full, I has one bite to the veal with the sauce so I could see how it paired with the wine. It was a decent pairing but not as good as the 3 other courses.

I wish they would have served one canelloni instead of two, a smaller stuffed bell pepper and one slice of veal instead of two. The portions are very generous, but too much. If they would have had smaller portions then perhaps they could have put in a small desert. It would have topped the meal off. I took my entire last course home with me.

The seating at Sebastiani's is "festival". We were at a table with 3 couples. The man sitting next to me was quite "interesting". He was telling me the wines that he buys and that he does not pay more than $10 for a bottle. Your "grocery store" wino. He had an interesting look on his face when I told him the majority of my wines were in the $40 range. Toby told him that once he drank a really good wine he would not want his $10 wines. I don't think it made any impression on him. But it takes all kinds.