Philly Winemaker Dinners - 2005

[percyn]

The Philly Wine Festival is coming soon and that means many restaurants will be hosting winemaker dinners on May 2nd and May 4th.

Lets use this thread to see if a bunch of folks from eG would like to get together (too far out for ISO thread) and if not, we can at least "virtually" share our experience with others

[percyn]

Most places are sold out, though Brasserie Perrier seems to have some slots open and I currently have a reservation for 2, but my wife is not that keen on attending. If people are interested in going to BP, please PM me and I can check into expanding the reservation.

The event starts at 6pm on May 2nd.

Cheers

Percy

[shacke]

(posting help from Capaneus appreciated!)

I had a fantastic time at Jake's last night. I went with 3 other folks, new and old friends who are very wine oriented. Luckily for me, they all know Michael Twelftree very well (although an Aussie his importing company is is Philly) and I go to talk to him quite a bit.

It was a marathon session to say the least. Got there at 7 and left at 11:30 and we were the first ones outta there. Each course was great and reaffirmed my feeling that Jake's - although a long established place that I had ignored for years - it is still very good and just has been drowned out over the years by the Philly restaurant explosion and the collapse of manayunk in general.

I was able to get through all the wines, luckily I teetotaled a bit through the first few knowing I was interested more in the later "bigger" wines. I have to say, and many agreed, that the Lily's garden and Bella's garden shiraz were really the winners. Both are great robust wines with lots of fruit and are well balanced. Lily's is a bit "softer" and I prefered Bella over it. The weirdest wine was Sophie's Garden which had overt nose of herbs, mint and horseradish (yes I swear it was horseradish). Twelftree admits it is a strange wine and I actually have a bottle sitting in my house (oh well) that I would probably save for a real herb infested entree.

I was really waiting to try the Ares and Aphrodite (first offering of 100% cab from two hands). They were both so young - the aphrodite was bottled just 6 weeks ago. I admire those folks who can drink this stuff either so young or in the barrels(ie Parker) and get an idea what it will be like in 10 years. Parker had called the Aphrodite perhaps the best cab in Australia ever and I couldnt get past the heat of the alcohol and the tannin - yet I am no Robert Parker. Besides, these latter 2 wines are a fortune (~125) and I can't imagine it being a better value than the Bella's garden - a terrific wine at a third of the price.

Oh and the food! The squab was immensely tasty and I am a sucker for it. The beef cheeks with roquefort souffle was so creative and I wish there was more of it! The lamb for the last course was the least exciting but admittedly I was getting hammered, tired and engorged by then! Although the dessert sounding a bit odd, the flavors married beautifully and I left not a drop. By then I had considered it my "midnight snack"!

I was offered a ticket to the Philly wine Festival grand tasting today as a friend called this morning with an extra but I have no more energy for the time being. It was all I could do to get to Capogiro Gelato for a bitter chocolate/marscapone piccolo today!

Evan

[mike volker]

We attended the Marchesi di Barolo dinner at the Joseph Ambler Inn. Appetizers were served on the patio (froze our you know what's off for an hour). Grilled portobellas, ahi tuna, three kinds of sausage, and stuffed calimari were served with a nice Gavi and Barbera d'alba. Finally inside(warm) the next course was semi-smoked salmon with a dolcetto d' alba. Second course was three pizza's with entirely forgettable toppings and another Barbera d'alba. Third course was roast beef with onion something and pickled ramp with a '00 and '90 Barolo cannubi. If you've never had ramp count yourself lucky. Dessert was three cheeses with honey, biscotte, and something else, served with a '99 barolo. All in all a very nice evening. The food was interesting and the wine was nice. It was just a tad long with a 6:30 start and 11:15 finish.

My problem is that I just don't get Barolo. Nice wine, but for those kind of dollars give me a Bordeaux anytime.

Best,

Mike

[shacke]

The 2006 winemaker dinner schedule is now available.

I will be at the Feudi Di San Gregorio dinner at Penne.

Evan

[KatieLoeb]

The 2006 winemaker dinner schedule is now available.

I will be at the Feudi Di San Gregorio dinner at Penne.   

Evan

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Evan, thanks for posting this!

The Feudi Falanghina remains one of my favorite wines. I hope they are serving it for your dinner. I think you'll love it too!