Delius Restaurant and The Second Tercero Wine Dinner

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Larry Shaffer from Tercero wines made the 3 hour trek  to Signal Hill to pour his wines at dinner tonight at Delius Restaurant, www.deliusrestaurant.com.  The menu is the same but the wines will be different from the dinner a few weeks ago so it will be an interesting comparison.

Got to the restaurant and saw Larry in the bar. Went over to talk with him and he said that the restaurant said I was not doing the dinner tonight. This was a shock to me since as soon as Dave sent me an email with the date I replied to him to sign me up. Lesson to be learned "do not rely on the owner to take care of things" without a follow up to Fred. So I ended up sitting with Tim & Maria who are great dining companions. Would have been interesting to see the back room shuffle trying to set up a place setting for me before we were seated. Later in the evening the subject of the Whiskey tasting  next Wednesday came up. My name was not down for that also. So Dave said he would make sure they had a place for me (it is sold out).

Again the menu is the same as last dinner , just the difference in the wines. And a whole room full of new people in attendance. I was the only repeat. Dinner again a complete sell out

We started out with Seared Wild Scallop, White Corn Pudding, Roasted Pine Nuts, Micro Basil. Paired with a 2012 Tercero Viognier. Good pairing as last time. The scallop seemed sweeter but the Viognier went well with the dish as did the Grenache Blanc did a few weeks ago. I am not a Viognier fan, in fact I am not a white Rhone wine fan, but this Viognier was not overly floral and quite good.

Second course was the Rhubarb Apple Stuffed Pork Loin, Watercress, Raisins, Celery Root Puree. This pork seemed to me to be a lot more tender than last time and had more flavor. The Watercress was all right. Not a huge fan of that either and unless you cut it when you put a forkful on your mouth you have all these damm stems sticking out. The Celery Root Puree was just the right touch. A 2013 Tercero Mouvedre Rose was poured. This wine was just bottled Friday and still a little in shock. But the potential is great. This one of my favorite wines that Larry makes. I bought six bottles of it. Probably should have bought a case. I may think about it and contact Larry to change my order before it ships. It seems strange to some to have a rose with pork but it was a perfect match. This rose is not sweet and has a lot of body to it.

Third course was set down. Rack of Lamb, Creamy Polenta, Brussels Sprouts, Blackberry Coulis. Delius does such a great job with rack of lamb. Had a rack at Franco's Friday night and it was good but this one tonight is so much better. Not gamey at all,  great flavor. Picked up the bones and cleaned them off as did a lot of other people. The polenta was perfect. Paired with a 2010 Tercero Larner Vineyard Syrah. Beautiful wine. This dish was very consistent to what we had last time.

Fourth course , and I am still eating - Grilled Flat Iron Steak, Beluga Lentils, Roasted Baby Carrots, Juniper-Rosemary Demi and a 2010 Tercero Mouvedre. Great wine. I first tasted Tercero wines a several years ago at a Santa Barbara wine tasting at Wine House in Los Angeles.  Came across the new kid on the block, Larry Shaffer and was blown away by his Mouvedre. Have followed him ever since. Don't buy enough wines from him but I think that may be changing. A lot of the wineries that I buy from are all starting to taste alike and that needs to change. Don't know if it is my palate or the winemakers trying to be like someone else. But a change is coming. This dish was also consistent to what we had last dinner. A perfect pairing.

Dessert was different. A Warm Anise Cake, Strawberry Coulis ad Caramel Ice Cream. Very good.

Sat at the table and talked while Larry went around and filled orders for people that were taking wines home tonight. Dave cam up with clean glasses and a couple bottles of wine. Larry joined us and we sat there until about midnight and talked. Interesting to hear what is going on in the Santa Barbara area wine industry.  So many really good wines showing up and it is getting hard to justify paying higher prices for some of these wines. Many, many really good wineries that have fair pricing are available. Quit looking at the "cult" wines that you would not know what they are if brown bagged and no label was there for you to be influenced by.

 This was a  really late night for me. But a very enjoyable evening