Anyway, the point of this blog is that over the past five years, we've only done a handful of wine dinners each year for various reasons. All that is about to change now that we have Clarissa, our new winemaker, who is great at hosting them. I've also got more staff now, so it gives me time for things like this. Expect great things.
Monday night was our dinner at Trattoria Uliveto in Orcutt, and it was truly one of the best food and wine pairing experiences I've had recently. I love Uliveto because it's a warm, welcoming place with awesome Italian food. But for this dinner, Chef Alfonso Curti pulled out all the stops.
The first course was a tuna tartare paired with our 2009 Cork Jumper Blanc de Blancs. It was unique because he mixed the fish with avocado (love!) so the creaminess really balanced out the effervescence of the bubbles.
Next, Alfonso indulged me with one of my favorite pairings In. The. World. Bacon and 2011 Rosé of Pinot Noir. If you haven't tried it, you should. This bacon wrapped scallop dish was a perfect summer starter, and one of the favorites of the evening.
As if we weren't already happy enough, the third dish, which was a sweet corn ravioli with a porcini cream sauce, pretty much made the night. You know those moments when you match a wine and a dish perfectly? I mean so perfectly that your mouth sort of sighs in relief? That's what happened with a sip of our 2009 Estate Chardonnay. I'm still thinking about it.
The fourth course had everyone asking questions, because it was sea bass paired with our 2009 Mesa Pinot Noir, which is a bit unconventional. I don't believe in the whole "white wine with fish" thing, so asked everyone to give it a try and be open minded. And it was perfect together because there was just enough pepper; a wimpy white wine would have been disappointing. By the way, do you know how hard it is to cook fish perfectly for 70 people? Kudos, Chef.
Stuffed, but pressing on, we moved to a moist and succulent quail at my request. I had a quail risotto there that I fell in love with a while back, and since the birdie goes so well with our Pinot Noir, Chef put this together as a fifth course. Delicious would be an understatment, but I'm running out of descriptive food words in this post. Something about the gaminess of the bird with our earthier single clone 667 2009 One Palm Pinot just works really well.
There was dessert. Chocolate cake, a berry tartlet, and...drumroll, please!...a cannoli. Chef doesn't make his cannoli super sweet, so it was magical with our off-dry 2011 Riesling. Magical, I tell you! Everyone in the place went home happy, and I'm looking forward to another awesome five years full of exactly this type of evening.
A huge thank you to staff member Jules Reuter, pictured here with his lovely fiancée, Penni, for the awesome photos.
A truly fabulous dinner and pairing. Yes, bring on more :)
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