Brad Ballinger

What's with the "hors concours" designation, which translated means "out of competition"? And, just for kicks: Baron Cristal Extra Dry - $5.99 (is someone going to think this is Roederer Cristal?) Marwood Select Spumante - $5.99 (it's Spumante, not Champagne -- cuvee for the Italina market indeed) La Terre Chardonnay - $12.00 bottle price in restaurants (it's not Domaine La Terre; La Terre is a brand of Canadaigua that is primarily a restaurant glass pour) Silver Ridge Chardonnay - $8.99 McGuigan "Black Label" Chardonnay - $7.99 Olivet Lane Chardonnay - $14.99 Monchhof Estate Riesling - $13.99 Salmon Creek White Zinfandel - $6.99 (and what would hors concours mean for White Zin?) McGuigan Merlot - $7.99 (there is no "gold medal" designate merlot from McGuigan -- maybe the wine won a gold medal at an easy competition) McGuigan "Black Label" Shiraz - $7.99 Domaine du Vieux Parc "L'Alouette" - $8.99 (this has to be the Baron de L'Alouette listed) Silver Ridge Merlot - $8.99 Clay Station Shiraz - $12.99 Poppy Hill Cabernet Sauvignon - $9.99 (I have no idea where the "grand" fits in) Silver Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon - $8.99 Chateau Paradis, Cassuil Bordeaux - $17.99 Cloverdale Ranch Merlot - $16.99 Marwood Ruby Spumante - $5.99 There is a Louis Palais "methode traditonelle" (i.e. not technically Champagne) but I couldn't find a price, I'm sure Hans Beehmer is a typo (just as Oliven Lane was). I have no idea about Marquis des Reys/Champagne a la Peche (there's simply got to be something else more recognizeable but not as uppity sounding on the label).

I can think of a few options: Greco di Tufo wines from southern Italy Fiano di Avellino wines from southern Italy Ribolla Gialla wines from northeast Italy White Rhone wines made from Marsanne and/or Roussanne (or their California equivalents) Viura (Rioja Blanca)

Here are some other wines that generally get recommended: Zinfandel since it's an American wine to go with an American holiday (although recent research has shown that the grape used to make zinfandel is actually Croatian in origin, or something like that). Riesling either from Alsace or Germany (and you could also include Australia). Sparkling wines, which is what I usually serve. Beaujolais Nouveau since it comes to the market one week before.

Yes, the anatomical reference of the term is the rounded bottom of a hollow organ. But at allwords.com, the word "fundi" also has a South African tribal etymology that means "teacher."

In her great cookbook, Vegatarian Cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison devotes a couple of pages to pairing wine with vegetarian cuisine.

Hey, if the wine didn't upstage the food for better or worse, I'd say it was a good match.

I bought a bottle of Effen Vodka for a friend of mine who celebrated a birthday recently. He normally likes Ketel One while his wife prefers Vox. So I decided to see if I could find a Dutch vodka that they would both like. Well, plus we could laugh about "make me an effen martini, dammit." Aside from the gag and gimmickery, the vodka was quite good -- very clean, smooth, and pure.

Florida Jim will probably respond with a list of Beaujolais wines he favors as long as your arm. I'm surprised that Balthazar wouldn't offer Bojo be the glass. What reds by the glass are they pouring instead? But Beaujoalis is starting to increase in popularity among wine lovers and casual wine drinkers alike. And people are starting to see producer names other than Dubouef. The wines are terrific food wines given their acidity levels, brightness of fruit, and usually light-handed oak treatment, if any oak at all. In this country, there is a bit of a hurdle for the wine to overcome -- educating people that there is GOOD Beaujolais wine that is nothing like Nouveau. And when that's been accomplished, we can move on to Beaujolais Blanc. Edited to add: Mike, if you pop down to Chambers Street Wines, you'll find a wonderful Bojo selection.

jackal10 made the comment, FWIW. For bubbles in the price range (in fact, they're all under $15) I'll start another list: J. Laurens Cremant de Limoux Brut Blanc de Blancs Charles Baur Cremant d'Alsace Brut Francois Pinon Vouvray Petillant Brut Louis Bouillot “Perle d’Aurore” Cremant de Bourgogne Brut Rosé And a Bugey Cerdon for the kiddies (kidding, kidding)

Sauvignon Blanc, Verdejo, and Viura (for those keeping score). And it's a great crowd pleaser under $10.

Dining out at a restaurant where you actually sit down for more than 30 minutes is – in North America – still something closer to a special occasion than not. In many other regions of the globe, dining out is done more frequently, and less expensively. With apologies to those eGullet Society members who reside elsewhere, this installment of Wine 101 is going to focus on the restaurant wine experience in North America. There may be some similarities to restaurant dining elsewhere in the world, so I hope this isn’t entirely exclusive. Going out to dinner at a place that doesn’t offer a kids’ menu usually means a wine list will be placed on the table along with the menus. Some restaurants list the wine and other beverages on the actual menu, but most still have a separate piece of paper, folder, or even book. I have seen diners play a variation of “musical chairs” as they attempt to avoid sitting at the seat whose place setting includes the wine list. And for the unlucky individual who loses the game and gets stuck with the list, there is sometimes the ill-fated attempt to slyly slide it over to someone else’s place setting. Of course, some dining room managers are aware of this and simply place the list in the middle of the table where everyone pretends to ignore it. So how did we get to this place? In the United States (maybe Canada, too, but I honestly don’t know), bottles of wine almost always cost more than the entrée – sometimes quite a bit more – so that means there’s a large risk associated with ordering something priced so extravagantly. Also, most diners likely see more names and types of wine with which they are more unfamiliar than familiar. Those two elements can result in a fair amount of perspiration and angst for the person stuck ordering the wine. Compound that with the perception in the U.S. that we have to get a food and wine pairing exactly right, and it becomes much easier to understand why people think they’ll get cooties if they pick up the wine list. So here are some thoughts to consider next time you find yourself in the position of *gasp* having to order wine in a restaurant. Ask for expert help. If you are in a restaurant that has a sommelier on staff, you’re in luck. There is an expert on site who has – more often than not – tasted each of the wines and sampled all of the restaurant’s cuisine. So if you are a male, drop the machismo and “ask for directions.” If the sommelier asks if he or she can recommend a wine, engage in the conversation. They are throwing you’re a rope; don’t hang yourself with it. You can help the sommelier make a better recommendation for you if you tell him or her what you plan on ordering, how much you’d like to pay, how you’d like to “pace” the wines (do you want to stretch out one bottle through the entire evening? start with one wine then move onto another? have a couple bottles open to compare?), and what types of wines you typically like or don’t like. It’s okay to say, “I usually drink XYZ Winery’s wines, but I don’t see them on your list. Do you have anything comparable?” Don’t be afraid to say, “That’s a bit more than I’d like to pay.” The days of the snooty wine steward are over. A good sommelier wants you to enjoy your experience and make a return visit. Shaming you won’t result in either of those things. Ask for less than expert help. If there isn’t a dedicated person on staff who handles the wine program, your table server may be able to help you. This will depend on several factors, however. How much general wine knowledge or training does your server have? Has your server tasted all the wines? Has your server tasted all the menu items? Does your server even like wine? Take caution here. There are some servers who, like you, may have an ego and want to appear confident, and may make a recommendation that doesn’t work for you. The good ones will do a good job, but good help isn’t that easy to find nowadays. Staff training regarding wine, if done at all, is usually done by a distributor. Most, not all, wine distributor reps are salespeople first and wine people second, and they’ve learned how to sound knowledgeable about their company’s portfolio. You will find that some restaurants only feature wines of one distributor, maybe two. It’s easier for them to manage it that way, and if you were busy taking care of everything that needs to be taken care of in a restaurant, and had a small staff, you’d be tempted to do the same thing. Anyway, the point I’m getting to is that the server may be able to “talk a good game” about the wines on the list, but not really have that much knowledge. You’ll need to rely on your ability to determine how helpful your server actually is. Do some advanced prep work. If you are still worried about your ego or making the right impression, you can always conduct a little preparation work. If a restaurant has a web site, often you will find a wine list available online. It may or may not be up to date, but it will give you an idea of what wines are featured. You can then telephone the restaurant (during a slow time please) and ask to speak with someone about the wine list. You can get your questions answered in advance and make a confident order when seated at the table. If the restaurant doesn’t have a wine list available online, and if it is convenient to do so, you can drop by in person – again, during a slow time or after making an appointment – to visit with the sommelier or some other knowledgeable staff member. If you are able to see the wine list beforehand – either via a web site or by obtaining a hard copy – you can also ask for help from anyone you deem knowledgeable to help you. Understand restaurant wine pricing. In a three-tier distribution system (producer/importer, importer/wholesaler, retailer) the product is marked up at every point of transaction. The final markup is done by the retailer (in this case, the restaurant), but all the markups affect the price the consumer pays. Some restaurants mark up wine more than others, but the mark up is anywhere between 50 to 400 percent the cost the restaurant pays to the wholesaler. I confess to not knowing why nearly every restaurant marks up based on a percentage of the wholesale cost, but they do. A very few restaurants mark up the same dollar amount for every bottle regardless of wholesale price. In essence, such a restaurant is saying, “We’ll make $X on every bottle of wine” and are generally hoping to make more wine-related revenue through volume than individual bottle margin. But let’s stick to percentage markups since that’s what you will face most of the time. In that practice, however, not all wines are treated equally. Generally, the lower-priced wines are marked up at a higher percentage than the more expensively-priced wines. So although the “sticker price” you pay may be lower, you are paying a higher markup and not getting as great a “value.” But value, in this model, is based on price alone, and we all know that higher-priced wines aren’t necessarily better wines. Find out missing information. I never cease to be amazed by how much information is either incorrect or missing entirely from wine lists. Too many don’t list the vintage of the wine. I understand one reason is because the same wine is bought every vintage as part of a large contract with a distributor, and the restaurant (or the restaurant’s headquarters) doesn’t want to reprint the list. If vintage year is important to you, there is nothing wrong with asking your server to find out the vintage year for you – especially if you are paying a 300% markup. Other lists may have the growing region or appellation missing or incomplete – California instead of Napa Valley, Bordeaux instead of St. Julien, Rhone instead of Cote Rotie, Germany instead of Pfalz, and so on. Don’t be afraid to ask to see the bottle or ask for more detail. If the grape variety is important to you, know that most European wines are labeled according to territory and not grape. You may have to ask what the primary grape is. But some wines (such as Cotes-du-Rhone) will be made from many different grapes (perhaps as much as 13), and, depending on the knowledge of your server, you may get an incorrect answer. I was once in the most expensive restaurant in Minneapolis and the server was listing the featured wines by the glass. She mentioned one being made from the grape “chianti.” Take advantage of the presentation. After you’ve ordered the wine, your next pressure-filled moment is dealing with the presentation and tasting ritual. Please don’t view it as something to get through as quickly as possible. What you learn during this part of the wine service can have an impact on how much you will enjoy your evening moving forward. The server will almost always show you the bottle before opening it. This is done so you can confirm that it is, in fact, the wine you ordered. Double check the producer, vintage, region and/or grape variety. If any of the information is incorrect, let your server know. There could be a chance that the wrong bottle was pulled or that the wine list is incorrect. If the latter is the reason for the inconsistency, you will have to decide if you want to stick with the bottle the server is holding or order a different wine. Again, remember the markup you are paying. You are entitled to be picky. Once you’ve approved of the selection, the server will remove the cork (or unscrew the cap since more wines are being bottle with screw cap closures nowadays). You may or may not be handed the cork. If so, check to make sure it is moist on one end. Anything the cork would tell you about the bottle being flawed is going to show up when you taste the wine anyway, so the cork thing is really not a big deal. The server will then pour a taste for the person who ordered the wine. At this point, you are tasting the wine primarily to determine if there is something wrong with it. See the Wine 101 topic Disgusting Things in Wine for a primer here. If the wine is not flawed, you can give the server the “okay” to pour it for all seated at your table. If it is flawed, you have the right to send it back. Sending a bottle back should only be done if the wine is flawed. A bottle should not be sent back simply because you don’t like it. Some places will be gracious and take back a bottle simply because the customer doesn’t like it – perhaps if the sommelier recommended it – but that’s up to the individual restaurant, and I would never expect it. Let me add a couple of other suggestions regarding the presentation and tasting ritual based on experience. First, I always smell the empty glass before the wine is poured for tasting. At one restaurant in Boston, I smelled something like mildew coming from my glass of wine. My wife’s glass of the same wine was fine, however. It ended up that the wine was okay, but my glass had been washed or dried with a towel that should’ve been in the laundry. Second, some people only smell the wine, and proclaim it okay for pouring. That may look impressive, but it’s not very effective. When you taste a wine, you also learn something of its temperature. Many restaurants don’t have the best storage conditions, and I’ve had whites that have been served too cold and reds that have been served to warm. Tasting for temperature will tell you if you need to ask for an ice bucket for a bottle of red wine or to have a bottle of white left on the table instead of in the ice bucket. Manage the wine with dinner. Some people in the restaurant business aren’t going to like me for writing the following. Some won’t like it because it is true. Others won’t like it because they don’t want to be associated with the few bad apples that threaten to spoil the bunch. Ask that the wine glasses be filled no more than halfway, less if the bowl part of the goblet is large. And let the server know that you will pour your own refills. Restaurants make a lot of money on wine sales. The odds are that if the bottle you ordered is emptied before you have finished dining, and the server asks if you’d like to order another bottle, you probably will because your not done eating yet and/or you don’t want to appear cheap. Pouring larger fills and frequently topping off your glass will empty the bottle sooner rather than later. In some instances, the bottle will be kept at a place other than your table. If that is the case you can instruct your server that you’d like the bottle to last you through the first course, the entire dinner, whatever. Leftover wine. How to deal with wine remaining in the bottle varies from legal jurisdiction to legal jurisdiction. In some places it is pefectly legal for you to re-cork the bottle and take it home with you. After all, you’ve paid for it. But some jurisdictions (Chicago is one) require you to leave the wine behind even though you’ve paid for the entire bottle. It may be helpful for you to know the laws in your area beforehand, which may determine whether or not you order another bottle of wine or not after your first one has been emptied. An alternative to by the bottle – by the glass. Because wine prices are marked up to the degree they are, buying wine by the glass may be more affordable. But there are some practices to know about with respect to by the glass programs as well. A standard bottle of wine is 750 milliliters, or roughly 25 ounces. A standard pour for a glass of wine is five ounces, which is always the volume given when figuring out how many drinks of alcohol contribute to your blood alcohol level over a certain period of time. Some restaurants will pour more than five ounces, some less. Most – not all, but most – of the glass pricing in restaurants is structured so that after pouring and charging for the first glass, the restaurant breaks even on that particular bottle. Everything else is profit. Another factor with glass pours is which glass you are getting – the first one after the cork has been pulled or the last one after the bottle has been opened for who knows how long, or a glass of a different wine altogether? It isn’t unreasonable to ask. Ask how long the bottle has been opened. Ask for your glass to be from a new bottle. Ask that the glass be poured at your table rather than in the bar (where you can verify you are getting what you ordered if you have any doubts). With a glass as with a bottle, you can ask for a taste first. You can send a flawed wine back. If after you ask for a taste, you think the red wine is too warm, ask for the bottle to be chilled a bit before your glass if poured. And if the restaurant doesn’t want to afford you the same courtesy is would extend to its bottle-ordering customers, you don’t ever have to go back. Remember than wine contains alcohol. If you drove your vehicle to the restaurant, that is something to consider. It also let’s you politely inform your server that you would like to have one bottle last throughout all the courses. Well, that covers a lot of ground, but probably not all of it. If you’ve made it this far, you are probably of the mindset that food is better with wine than without it. And you can best optimize that experience for yourself and others if you are more knowledgeable and comfortable regarding the responsibility of picking up the wine list.

Questions like this tend to bring out my jaded side. Usually, the first part of me wants to respond with something like "does it really matter?" And I have that response for two reasons -- 1) your guests are there for the wedding event, not the wine; and 2) at most wedding receptions I've ever been to, people seem to be glad to get anything alcoholic to drink for free. But I won't give into my dark side here. The main thing you want -- especially if you'll be limited to one label, two at the most -- is something that won't offend your guests perceptions or their palates. Note, this isn't the same as something they will like. Your wine just has to be something that they can live with, and they have to have a choice of white and red. Whites in the price range: Champalou Vouvray Trimbach Riesling Fairhill Downs Sauvignon Blanc Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis But you'll have guests who think that all white wine should be Chardonnay. Give 'em a Macon from Latour. Reds in the price range: My choice would be just about any good Cotes-du-Rhone, but others include: Saintsbury Pinot Noir Moris Farms Morellino di Scansano Remelluri Rioja And for those who think that all red wine should be Merlot, Woodward Canyon is probably at the top of your range.

Recycle. Well, you asked. But I do have two signed bottles that are as of yet unopened. I have no idea what I'll do with those once they are empty.

Mary Baker (aka Rebel Rose) created a thread below in the non-Pinned section about starting a Wine 201 series. We already have a continuing Wine 101 series, and there seems to be enough interest in diving into some additional wine-related topics that would deepen eGullet Society members' understanding. Possible topics, mentioned in Mary's thread, include malolactic fermentation, fining and filtering, whole berry v. whole cluster fermentation, and micro-oxygenation. Some Society members also added to the list suggesting yeasts used in fermentation, and establishing ABV (alcohol by volume) levels. Mary and I would like to use this Pinned thread as a collecting place for other topics Society members would like us to make part of either a new Wine 201 series or our existing Wine 101 series. By the way, topics in development for Wine 101 include "Making Sense of the Wine List" and "Sparkling Wines." Although the subjects suggested thus far for a Wine 201 series relate to the production of wine, we can consider other industry subjects such as wine importing or consumer subjects such as the considerations of charitably donating or bequeathing wine. As most of you know, Mary works for Dover Canyon Winery in Paso Robles, California, and has been a valuable resource regarding the wine industry. I had a small stint importing over five years ago, but almost all my experience with wine is from outside the industry - as a consumer, and I was asked to contribute to this forum from that perspective. For some of the topics in the Wine 201 series, however, we will likely draw on experience and expertise from others - both industry professionals as well as some of our knowledgeable Society members. Thank you for your enthusiastic response to a Wine 201 series. And thank you for your trust in us to be a resource for you as you seek to learn more about wine. Brad Ballinger Edited to add: I'm unpinning this topic to see if it gets more play. But anyone can reply or add onto pinned topics as long as the thread is open, which this one was.

Actually, in my past job I developed an Executive Team Building activity that was wine-focused. Spouses were included. The basic set up was a bit of wine-related education followed by tasting. During the tasting portion, the larger group was split into teams, and each team had to try and guess what the wines were that they were being served using the information they had been given up to that point. They were also given critic-written tasting notes of each wine. Of course, the debried was more focused on their skills and behaviors with respect to decision-making, listening, collaborating, etc. But it was a fun event, everyone learned something about themselves and wine, and I ended up with a lot of e-mails about wine questions throughout my tenure there. To be able to do an event like this, however, requires that all can participate. If there is a team member who doesn't or can't drink alcohol, then you can't do the activity.

It's a complicated issue that has crept up in a number of threads in this forum, and has been the cause for starting others (such as this one). What makes winemaking modern rather than traditional? You'll get a lot of different answers to that question. For example, if technological advances are such that winemakers can control malolactic fermentation, is it modern winemaking if they choose to do that if there wines struggle to undergo malo naturally? I honestly don't know. Rioja has traditionally been made with American oak. If a producer uses French oak (which for some makes the wines appear less "woody" and not more), does that mean the producer is more modern even though the wine might come across as less "global"? Again, I don't know. But what I understand globalization to mean is that a wine is produced in such a style that it could come from anywhere on the planet. And some would build on that to add "and made from any grape." I would say that globalization almost certainly requires using "modern" winemaking techniques, but that using "modern" winemaking techniques does not de facto produce a globally-styled wine (if that makes any sense). As to you question of what percentage have "moved" from traditional to modern, I can only answer an ever-increasing amount. But we also need to factor in that the majority of most new labels on the market are made in a more global style comparatively. But there are still plenty of wines on the market to appeal to all tastes. And I suspect it will continue to be that way for a long time. Some people use an acid test of modern looking label + heavy glass and/or odd shaped bottle = must be modern. That probably works more often than not.

Short answer -- more "traditional" winemaking takes place worldwide than "modern" winemaking. Of course, an overwhelming majority of those never make it to the global consumer market.

Racking is done primarily to clarify the wine and separate it from the lees. Oxygenation is a by-product of racking, but not the main reason for doing it. In fact, care is taken during racking to control or limit the amount of oxygen that is introduced to the wine. While micro-oxygenation can occur during racking, it is rarely the primary reason for racking wine, and there are ways of micro-oxygenating a wine other than racking.

I found the article to lack focus, and it's a bit unclear as to the point (if any) its author is attempting to make. It jumps from riesling and sugar to wild yeasts to oak chips to California to Bordeaux. But I'll attempt to comment on German riesling wine production. Riesling is arguably the one grape that shows off terroir more than any other (although others will cast a vote for pinot noir). The labeling of German wines reflects this in that the paradikat wines have labels that give information as to the vineyard, the village in which the vineyard is located (and some vineyards span across more than one village), the region in which the village is located, the grape, the amount of sugar present in the grapes at harvest, and (where appropriate) if the wine was vinified dry (trocken) or off-dry (halbtrocken). That's more than you get from just about any other wine label, and yet people complain that German wine labels are confusing. Perhaps a case of too much information? The complaint from Lowenstein about quality being measured by sugar content may be a bit misleading. Quality designations are based on minimum sugar content present in the grapes at harvest -- from lowest to highest: kabinett, spatlese, auslese, beerenauslese, and trockenbeerenauslese. The prices of the wines generally increase with the sugar content quality designation. But some kabinetten in recent vintages have been declassified auslesen (made from grapes harvested at auslese ripeness). Again, there's a minimum amount of sugar that must be present at harvest for the wine to legally be labeled with one term v. another. What I do find interesting is that this is the first I've read about German winemakers complaining of globalization. I didn't realize that the German-produced riesling wines were under attack from "competition" since there is hardly anything else remotely comparable (in my opinion, of course). The only thing I can extract from the article is German producers complaining about winemaking practices with wines made from other grapes that are gradually taking share away from their sales.

By chance, I happened to come across the source I read a few years ago for my making the above comment. Click here for a post by Siduri Wines' Adam Lee on another forum for more information.

The white truffle thing explains much. Those Italian wines will be perfect. And both the white truffle theme and the high brow wines explain the $750 price tag. By my "statement" comment, I simply meant to imply that a large number of B&B drinkers will debate the traditionalist v. modernist philosophy long into the night. Most are either on one side or the other with very few fence walkers.

That's a fair comment. And an answer is probably somewhere in the middle. You may benefit from knowing something about aged Baroo in this instance that will help you enjoy the wines. Knowing information on the exact wine may or may not add much value. So let me add what little bit more I can. Bartolo Mascarello produced (his daughter runs it now) very traditional (rather than modernist) wines. They will be treated with old oak in large botti, and not be as extracted as modernist wines. Same with Giacosa. Same with Giacomo Conterno (Aldo Conterno is more modernist). You are drinking older wines from traditionalist Barolo and Barbaresco producers. Whoever put the wines together is making a statement. I'm sure you know something of d'Yquem. It's the only Great Grand Cru wine in all of Bordeaux. The grapes for Sauternes are sometimes picked berry by berry, which means huge labor costs, which translates to expensive wine. As Sauternes age, they gradually lose their honeyed sweetness and show more of a burnt sugar sweetness like the topping of a creme brulee. But this bottle of d'Yquem should come across as fairly young yet.

An earlier note of mine on the 1997 Clos Mogador:

I'm sure many of us envy you going to the dinner and tasting the wines. But I'm a bit clueless as to how any of our impressions of these will affect your experience. You're going to taste them regardless and form your own impressions I'm sure. But, to indulge you, I've had two of them. Krug Grand Cuvee -- Don't know if your bottle will be from the same assemblage or not, but the Krug Grand Cuvee Multi-Vintage wine is one of the best bubblies out there. I actually got to taste this side by side with the 1989 vintage wine, and preferred the Grand Cuvee. Incredibly balanced and seamless. Chave Hermitage Blanc -- Aged Hermitage Blanc is one of those dividing wines -- people either really like it, really don't, or just don't get it or care to get it. Don't expect a lot of fruit, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Look for the complexity and layers of whatever the wine offers you. The 94 from Chave is one of my favorites from this producer in the 90s. You are in for a real treat with the older Italian wines. Don't be thrown off by the orange-ish/brown-ish color some of them may show (particularly the Mascarello). The wines will be anything but thin.

Will your merlot wines be from all over the world (California, Bordeaux's Right Bank, South America, Italy, Australia)? If everyone will have eaten dinner, I'd focus more on cheese, and I'd go for hard, nutty cheeses. If you want more protein, a nice presentation is thinly sliced medallions of lamb tenderloin on crostini with a horseradish cream or bearnaise topping (or put the sauce between the bread and meat). I'd also go with thin breadsticks packed with cheddar and herbs.