Tercero Wines at The Winery in Newport Beach

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Larry Schaffer of Tercero wines posted on Facebook about this private dinner at the Winery Restaurant in Newport Beach.  www.wineryrestaurant.net     He indicated a few seats available and I grabbed one.  I had the evening available as this was the first year since it's inception that I did not attend the Wine & Fire weekend in Lompoc/Sta. Rita Hills.  I had such a rough time last year with my knees and hips that I decided it might be time to hang this event up. Everything comes to an end at sometime.

Driving down the coast to Newport PCH became a parking lot. I think everyone in CA was heading for Bolsa Chica beach.  I did make it by 6:10 which wasn't too bad considering.

I had not been in the building since it was the Villa Nova years ago.  I will say that they did a great job of transformation. The wine cellar when you walk in is 2 stories high and quite a sight. I definitely need to come back and have dinner in the dining area.

We started out with a glass of 2017 Aberration in the bar area before being seated for dinner.There were 20 of us tonight and we were seated in a side room. Lot of people, lot of voices and extremely noisy.

The menu was Prix Fixe with a couple of choices.  I started out with the Scallop and Watercress Parmesan Risotto. Excellent. Loads of flavor. Scallop cooked perfectly. Four wines were poured for this course. 2010 Grenache Blanc, a lot of Petrol on the nose but paired well with the scallop. 2104 Grenache Blanc, a bit more acidic. 2013 Verbiage Blanc and 2014 Verbiage Blanc. All wines went well with the food but I am not a fan of White Rhone wines. The other selection was a Wild White Shrimp with wild mushroom risotto

Next was a salad course. I chose a Arugula with fresh figs, balsamic vinaigrette and goat cheese because I am not a fresh tomato eater. The other salad was a tomato  with burrata. Again 4 wines were poured. 2015 Mouvedre Rose,   2017 Mouvedre Rose, 2015 Cinsault and a 2016 Cinsault. Preferred the 2015 Rose over the other three selections. The 2016 Cinsault went better with the salad than the 2015 Cinsault.

Main course was Angus Beef short rib with zinfandel reduction over black truffle mashed potatoes and asparagus. A lot of flavor in this dish. Meat was very tender and flavorful. Almost went for the rack of lamb but I just had lamb the other night at Arte.  Of course we had short rib also at Arte. Only the powers know why I choose what I did. Wines for this course were 2010 Verbiage Rouge, 2014 Verbiage Rouge, 2007 Grenache Watch Hill Vineyard and a 2013 Grenache Watch Hill Vineyard.  My preference was the 2010 Verbiage Rouge.

For dessert we had a cheese plate with toast and some fruit.  A 2006 Grenache Blanc was the wine. Very light Petrol on the nose and the palate.

A really nice dinner and interesting conversations with people that know a lot more about wine than I do. An enjoyable evening.  Larry is doing a dinner Sunday night in the Pasadena area and Jolie will be the cougar at that one.  We like to share.