Arte Cafe and Trinitas Cellars Wine Dinner

Wednesday,  March 27, 2019

Another dinner at Arte Gafe in Cerritos.  New winery for me. Trinitas Cellars in Napa Valley. Owner Garrett Busch is a local from Orange county.  He along with the winery's chef Ralph Perrotta were in attendance tonight. A whole new different group of people tonight. Must be club members mostly. Sold out dinner. 

Started out with a Scallop Crudo in a lemon, lime, orange sauce with a Togarashi-Apple Salsa. Scallops were perfectly cold cooked and the apple salsa was the right touch.  Paired with a 2017 Trinitas Sauvignon Blanc. Wine was a bit tart for me. Very grapefruity but did pair well with the scallops.

Second course is a Roasted Butternut Squash bisque with vanilla toasted almonds and topped with fresh crab. Very good bisque. Nice nutty flavor and the crab was the prefect touch. Wine was a 2015 Tinitas, Stanley Ranch Vineyard,  Chardonnay.  A small amount of oak. I personally would not want to drink it by itself but with the bisque it covered up the oakiness of the wine. This wine did not have that awful buttery, vanilla nuances that a lot of chardonnays get but still too much oak for me.

Next was a Carmalized Scottish Salmon on wild mushroom ravioli in a roasted walnut sauce and drizzled with a pinot noir reduction. Salmon was cooked like it should be. Nice and moist. The mushrooms added just the right amount of earthiness as did the walnuts. Paired perfectly with the 20915 Tinitas, Stanley Ranch Vineyard, Pinot Noir. But I was not impressed with the pinot. Just did nothing for me.

Favorite wine of the evening, a 2014 Trinitas, Mysteriama, red blend. 46% old vine Zinfandel, 27% Carigane, 17% old vine Petite Syrah, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot and 3% Mataro. Quite an assortment of grapes. This wine was priced at $21 for the evening so I bought 4 bottles.  Paired very nicely with the Hanger Steak on Pomme Rosti with carmelized onions and gorgonzola crumbs

Dessert is a Lemon-Vanilla Panna Cotta with a raspberry coulis. Good flavors and the panna cotta was smooth and creamy.  A 2014 Trinitas Sblam Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc was poured. Not overly sweet. A nice finish to the meal.

Several bottles of wine were given away during the dinner. This is always a good touch that Arte Café and the wine distributors do. For the price Arte Cafe's wine dinners are the bargain of the area.