Annual German Wine Dinner at Delius

Saturday, August 29, 2015

These dinners featuring German wines have been an event for a lot of years at Delius. www.deliusrestaurant.com.  Allie the wine rep from Rudy Weist Imports was there again. Looking quite summery in her bright orange dress, Showed off her surfers body. Allie surfs almost everyday. Her cousin was with her tonight. He just moved to California from Chicago by way of Florida. Brandon said he thought he could get used to dinners like this really fast. He was a lot of fun. Also shared the table with Ray & Barbara so we had a very lively evening.

We started out the a glass of 2009 Raumland Cuvee Marie-Luise Brut Blanc de Noir. Mineraly, crisp, green apple, black cherry and a touch of nectarine. Good enough that I bought the 2 bottles that were left.

First course: Crab, Avocado and Golden Beet Napolean with frisee, grilled serrano vinaigrette and toasted almonds. Exceptionally good, just the right amount of bite to it and a beautiful looking dish.
Paired with a 2013 Gunderloch Jean Baptiste Riesling Kabinett. A very good pairing. The Riesling had a touch of petrol on the nose, good acidity and a bit on the dry side. I also had some of the Sket with this dish and it was a winner also.

Second course: Crispy Skin Loup de Mer, basil broth, fennel, baby heirloom tomatoes and lemon oil. Another winner. The broth was very good, full of flavor. The fennel was not strong. Fish was cooked perfectly. Paired with a 2013 Wagner-Stempel Pinot Blanc Dry, Siefersheim.  A decent pairing but the Rielsing and Sket we just had went better with this dish. It is nice to save some wine and hold it over to the next course to compare.

Third course: Caramelized Spaetzle, Duck Confit, grilled king oyster mushrooms, brown butter, garlic chips. To me this was by far the best dish of the evening. Loaded with flavors, rich, decadent. So glad the portion was not huge. This dish was exceptionally good. Wine was a 1994 Schloss Schonborn Riesling Auslese, Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg. The wine had a touch of petrol on the nose not quite as much as the other Riesling we had. But the color was beautiful, had good viscosity and mouth fell, well balanced and rich enough to stand up to the duck. A perfect pairing.

Fourth course: Grilled Hangar Steak, red wine reduction, farm risotto, roasted carrot puree, cipollini onions, fried carrot garnish. Normally by this time in the dinner I will take a bite or two and have them box up the rest to take home. But one bite led to another and so on. Before long the plate was clean. The carrot puree really set this dish apart and the risotto was perfect, Another excellent dish from the kitchen. A 2012 Schnaitmann Lemberger 2 Star was the wine selected for this dish. A good pairing. German red wines are usually on the lighter side and are made to go with food and this  one was perfect for the dish.

Dessert was a Black Forest Cheesecake. Light and a nice ending to a rich meal. The cake was served on a rectangular plate and Delius's logo (the 3 glasses) was stenciled onto the plate with powdered cocoa. I thought that this was a cool touch and hope they do this more often.

Another dinner at Delius that was exceptionally good. I even ate the damm frisee that was with the Napoleon. Granted it was small but it still was frisee.