Call for 2012 Wine club themes

I'm planning out my wine club's 2012 themes. What are some good ideas?

Caymus dinner

Mr. Lush and I (along with Mrs. G) went to the Caymus Dinner at a local grocery store, Schnucks. (actually, the dinner featured the Wagner Family of wines, including Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon & Conundrum, the Belle Glos Pinot Noir, Meomi Pinot Noir, and the Mer Soliel Chardonnays)

The menu:

 
The winemaker/owner, Chuck Wagner:

 
The food:

The smoked trout paired well with the unoaked Chard (the Silver), really brought out the flavors, but it was really smoked butter bomb with the oaked Chard. The shrimp paired better with the oaked chard, but it wasn't nearly the spot on pairing as the trout.

I missed taking a pic of the Coq Au Vin, but it was far better with the Belle Glos Pinot; the Meomi was really heavy vanilla/marshmallow. (I've had other vintages and its not the same, so its possible it was too young - it was a 2010)

The dry aged ribeye was also fantastic. (although of course I wasn't able to order it my preferred "purple rare" ;) it was exceptionally tender - we used a butter knife to c ut it! It was paired with (shocker!) the Napa Cabernet (cheaper one; runs about $60ish) and the Special Selection ($110ish), both 2009. The Napa Cabernet was also pretty heavy on the vanilla, but it was young, so one hopes it would mellow and balance out over time. The Special Selection Cab was great - although of course it needs age as well- it was a more typical "cabernet sauvignon" with dark fruit, casis, etc. We've personally never had luck with the heavy vanilla going away with age, but its worth noting that we haven't had a ton of them - we're talking 3 or so, max. The Special Selection was better with the ribeye, but both were good. (we splurged and bougth a bottle of the Special Selection; the dinner was a good deal and we got a 6 bottle mixed pack so we got it for 10% off)

And for dessert- POPCORN ice cream with the Condunrum. (It was AWESOME!)

Here's us with the winemaker:

Mr. Lush bought a bottle of 2003 Caymus back in 2007, and I asked him when we should drink it. He said to email him - he'll go home and have some and let us know. (man, do I wish I could just pop home and open a bottle just because!!) When we visit Napa in January we hope to see Chuck again and of course, have some more Caymus!! All in all, good times!!

Rappin with Andrea Robinson

As promised, here’s the info on the Cheese Seminar at the NYC Food and Wine Festival.


The Cheese Seminar was led by Laura Werlin and Andrea Robinson. Now, I’m not sure if they were trying to top Mark’s sabering, but this seminar started with Andrea rapping. Yes, RAPPING. Luckily, I had a much better view of her and got a good shot.

 

Awesome, right???

Here’s the pairing menu – now, they told us that some of the cheeses might pair better with other wines, so this would be an experiment for all of us and to find what we liked. And it was – some pairings were spot on, some paired better with other wines (in my opinion) and some just didn’t pair perfect with anything.