I need help again.

[porkpa]

I'm cooking a tasting dinner for eight tomorrow evening. This is what I'll be serving. Please recommend a type wine for for each course. I appreciate all advice and help.

Lump Crabmeat cocktail served with both remoulade and cocktail sauces.

Caesar Salad.

Arctic Char, served with a medley of snowpeas, mushrooms and water chestnuts.

Rack of lamb, port and red wine sauce. Served with baked potato madeleines.

Assortment of cheeses, fruit, nuts accompanied by raisin pecan bread.

Opera cake served with Graeter's raspberry choclate chunch ice cream.

Capuccino served with chocolate pistatio(?sp) biscotti.

Thanks for the help.

Porkpa

[Elissa]

i'll give you recommendations if you give me tastes

[porkpa]

Lissome,

C'mon over!

Porkpa

[Craig Camp]

OK Lets try this

Aperitif and with the crab - Brut Champagne - like Joseph Perrier

with the Artic Char - Alsace Riesling - like Trimbach

with the lamb (because of the sweet sauce) California Cabernet Sauvignon - like Iron Horse

take the Cab right into the cheeses when the Cab is gone go into some port like - see below

With dessert - Graham's 20 year old tawny

[Lesley C]

How about a Banyuls for the dessert?

["T"]

Banyuls, what a wonderful and original choice. Most go for Port but Banyuls is an excellent idea. In fact I may pick some up at work on Sunday.

[Elissa]

I'm in Craig's camp, except would prefer a Ribera del Duero with the lamb. Pesquera

porkpa: where and when?

Edited May 10, 2003 by lissome (log)

[porkpa]

Lissome,

Hanover Pennsylvania. This evening, 7.00 PM.

Porkpa

[Florida Jim]

Lump Crabmeat cocktail served with both remoulade and cocktail sauces.

-Champagne or premier cru Chablis; with Champagne probably the better choice as the cocktail sauce may have sufficient spice to defeat the Chablis

Caesar Salad.

-water

Arctic Char, served with a medley of snowpeas, mushrooms and water chestnuts.

-Austrian riesling or Gruner veltliner; if the vegetables are lightly cooked, I'd go with Gruner - no wine I can think of matches as well with al dente vaggies and it will work very well with the Char

Rack of lamb, port and red wine sauce. Served with baked potato madeleines.

-Classic Bordeaux dish but I might also use a well aged Amarone if the sauce is to be a significant part of the dish. And frankly, I like northern Rhones with lamb.

Assortment of cheeses, fruit, nuts accompanied by raisin pecan bread.

-Amarone or tawny port; if its me, its Amarone

Opera cake served with Graeter's raspberry choclate chunch ice cream.

-Capuccino and espresso

A very nice menu albeit a bit heavy on the sweets. I'd stop with the cheese tray. But I'm getting old and fat; hence its a contextual thing.

Best, Jim

[Lesley C]

Drop the dessert and add a thin-crust apple tart to your cheese board. It's my new favourite way to finish dinner.

Then crack out some serious chocolates with the coffee.

OK, then we'd be looking at another wine.

[porkpa]

Here's what we had to drink:

(1)Lump Crabmeat cocktail - 2000 Benchmark Winery, Thirty Bench Chardonnay. Clear and crisp. Enjoyable to a person who almost exclusively drinks reds.

(2)Caesar Salad - Water

(3)Arctic Char - Williams Selyem, 1997 Pinot Noir, Coastlands Vineyard. A wonderful wine. Much more body than most pinots. The number one wine of the evening for me.

(4)Roast Rack of Lamb with port red wine sauce - 1993 Penfolds Grange AND 1994 Caymus Cabernet. I and two of the others preferred the Caymus. The other five liked the Grange best. Two awesome wines.

(5)Cheese, fruit and nut plater with raisin pecan bread - 1996 Fonseca port. Pretty darn good, but not as good as it will be ten or even twenty years from now.

(6)Opera cake accompanied by Graeters raspberry chocolate chunk ice cream - Lakeview Cellars 2000 Reisling Ice Wine - Ambrosial!! When we finished that bottle I searched the cellar and found a bottle of 1997 Villa Mt Eden late harvest Chardonnay, a very good drink for less than ten bucks.

In order of preference this is how I liked the wines.

(1)1997 Williams Selyem

(2)1994 Caymus

(3)2000 Lakeview Cellars Icewine

(4)1993 Grange

(5)2000 Lakeview Cellars Ice Wine

(6)1997 Villa Mt Eden late harvest chardonnay

(7)2000 Thirty Bench Chardonnay

(8)Water

Seven wines and not even one loser. The food was almost as good.

Porkpa

[Elissa]

thanks for the generous invite Porkpa and glad you enjoyed your matches.

x