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``Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it."Anonymous
Party
Come to the wine party! There are no wine police, so you can make any party into a wine party. The difference between a wine party and another party, is that wine is center stage. Whether it’s because you’ve invited someone knowledgeable about wine to share their expertise or whether you’ve elected to have a selection of wines for invitees to try and to make tasting notes and comparisons about, it’s a wine party when wine is the guest of honor.
So where to start. Hmmmm. Better start with the number of guests we expect to entertain. For that matter, it’s very easy to have a wine party where the hosts and the guests are pretty much the same. Let’s plan one of those, shall we?
We’re going to assume that this party is a group of co-workers from an office or perhaps a group of neighbors at a condo / townhome complex. Let’s assume that either the conference room at work or a clubhouse is available.
We are going to set up the room so that there are five focus tables, one in each corner and one in the center. We are going to use some 3 section display boards we found at an office supply store (no names unless they want to become paying advertisers) on which, leading from the top left section to the bottom right, we will fasten literature we have acquired over the years that pertains to the wines that we are having tonight and the regions or states from which they come. We will make photocopies of a few wine related articles we have collected over the years (make them brief ) that we’ll use as the springboard for discussions as people circulate and sample the wines at each table along with the food with which we have paired the wines.
We plan to have four different wines, including the Kir and six foods, including the decadent chocolate brownie chunks.
Generally I don’t mention specific years or vineyards when talking about the wine components of a gathering, but I’m going to depart from the norm.
Wild Vines is a (flavored) Chardonnay. Add half a cup of Finest Call Peach Puree to 1.5 liters of the Wild Vines. What we now have is known in France (and a few places in the US) as peach Kir. Kir is one of those funny, charming wine tales. As the story goes, the French found themselves one year with a rather large quantity of white wine that was somewhere between plain and awful. What to do? Some enterprising Frenchman thought of adding flavor to it, giving it a name and the rest is history. I have found the Kir above to be refreshing when consumed in small quantities and a perfect summer aperitif. You can add different flavorings to the different Wild Vines wines or, what the heck, strike out on your own and experiment with other combinations.
We will also be having a Chenin Blanc, a Chateauneuf-du-Pape (one of my favorite wines-yummy) and a bold Tuscan red, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from the village of Montepulciano, lesser known but quite close to the more famous Montalcino.
Next, we’re going to choose the foods to pair with our wines of the evening
We are assuming people will circulate in 5 groups and then congregate back near the center to yak about the wine, the food and the fun. As a result we will plan on medium sized disposable plates to go with near finger food, messy but enjoyable.
Start a group at the first table and circulate in order. Serve in the order written.
Wine: Kir A Flavored white
Food: Bibb lettuce, mandarin orange, almond salad. (not quite finger food)
Wine: Les Hauts de Treytin Dry, still white Bordeaux
Food: Shrimp in red picante sauce
Wine: Chateauneuf-du-Pape A Full Body, still red
Food: Grilled chicken chunks w/tequila marinade
Wine: Vino Nobile Sangiovese A Full Body still red
Food: Half Italian meatball on a bun w/smoky cheddar
Dessert Piece de Resistance Un-iced Chocolate brownie chunks which we will have with a small glass of the Chateauneuf-du-Pape!
You can have this as a hosted party or have different people bring an item (sort of a modern pot luck) or even split the cost among the attendees with someone coordinating. Doesn’t get any better than this.
"May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you're dead."
The Cellarmaster at
Reds N Whites
Recipes
Wine: Kir Wild Vines and Finest Call Peach Puree
Food: Bibb lettuce, mandarin orange, almond salad
- Two large leaves of Bibb or Boston lettuce per person. (= 1 portion).
- ½ teaspoon chopped red onion per portion.
- ½ teaspoon coarse chopped celery per portion.
- 1 teaspoon sliced almonds per portion.
- 1 teaspoon Extra fine granulated sugar per portion.
- ¼ cup mandarin oranges per portion.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Place ¾ of the sugar and all of the almond slices over low heat with ½ teaspoon butter, stirring as required until sugar has heated enough to lightly coat the almond slices. Remove from heat and sprinkle with the remainder of the sugar, stirring to lightly coat all pieces. Place the lettuce leaves on plates and spread orange slices, celery and red onions over them. Sprinkle almond slices lightly over all, add dressing and serve.
Dressing
1 teaspoon salt, ½ cup vegetable oil, 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley, 4 teaspoons sugar, 2 Tablespoons vinegar, dash of Tabasco
Wine: Chenin Blanc A Fruity, still white
Food: Shrimp in red picante sauce
- About 4 large or 6 medium shrimp per portion.
- ¼ cup Heinz Chili Sauce per portion.
- 1 teaspoon horseradish per portion.
- ¼ teaspoon limejuice per portion.
- 4 to 10 drops Tabasco Chipotle Sauce (To your taste for heat)
Dissolve ½ cup salt in a quart of water and soak shrimp in water for ½ hour. Rinse shrimp well, peel and devein. Place shrimp in 2 quarts of boiling and boil until pink and clear tissue has turned white (Don’t overcook). Mix other ingredients together and place shrimp alongside sauce on small plates. Provide either toothpicks or plastic forks to dip shrimp in sauce.
- ¼ oz. Sour cream per portion.
- ½ teaspoon chipotle powder per portion.
Mix sour cream and chipotle powder and set aside. Rinse & pat dry salmon fillet removing any stray fish scales from flesh side. Add hickory chips to charcoal or smoker box. Spray aluminum foil with oil and place salmon, skin side down, on aluminum foil. Place over coals at medium temperature or height adjusted to achieve medium temperature. Grill until flesh begins to change color to light pink at edges. Carefully turn salmon over and grill for another 2 minutes. Remove from grill and remove skin. Cut in 3” squares and serve with chipotle sour cream.
Wine: Sancerre Cherrier &Fils-2003, Sancerre, France
Food: Garlic puree on bread
- One fresh garlic clove per person. (= 1 portion).
- 1 loaf baguette or narrow French bread, sliced.
Remove white outer husk to reveal garlic cloves. With sharp knife, cut tips from cloves while leaving cluster of cloves intact. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Bake on cookie sheet or ovenproof dish in preheated oven at 350 ° until cloves are easily pierced by fork and spreadable (about 30 minutes). Serve individual clusters with bread slices and knives to spread on bread.
Wine: Chablis Gerard Tremblay-2002, Poinchy, France
Food: Chicken scaloppini on a stick
- About 2 oz. boneless chicken breast per person. (= 1 portion).
- ½ cup chicken broth per portion.
- 3 teaspoons lemon juice per portion.
- 1-teaspoon cornstarch per portion.
- ½ cup flour, salt and pepper to taste.
- ½ tablespoon butter and ½ tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil per portion.
Mix chicken broth and cornstarch until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Add lemon juice. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium until sauce thickens. Pound chicken breasts until about 1/3 inch thick. Dredge each thoroughly in mixture of flour, salt and pepper. Add butter and olive oil to skillet and heat skillet to high, short of smoking and add chicken breasts. Sauté until edges begin to brown, turn and continue to cook until both sides are browned. Remove from skillet and cut in 1” strips. Cut strips into 3” lengths and insert toothpick in each curling strip into semicircle. Cover strips lightly with lemon sauce and serve two strips per person.
Wine: Pinot Noir Estancia-2003, Monterey, CA
Food: Roast beef sandwichettes
- About 2 oz. Deli roast beef per person. (= 1 portion).
- ¼ cup mayonnaise per portion.
- ½ teaspoon horseradish portion.
Mix mayonnaise and horseradish thoroughly and spread lightly on split roll. Add two slices of Deli beef to roll and cut into eight pieces. Serve two pieces per person.
Dessert: Piece de Resistance Unfrosted Chocolate brownie chunks which we will have with a small glass of the Pinot Noir!
