Stream of consciousness rather than any sort of detailed notes (be they WTN, BTN, or STN) as that's how the evening occurred for me . . . a bunch of friends, lots of frenzy in the kitchen as I cooked, and a wonderful time. The slicing, dicing, and knifework mostly done before the guests arrived, I put my heart and soul into extracting the pulp from the passionfruit for the dessert. As my friends arrived, I popped open the NV Foreau Vouvray Brut and emphasized how much this wine could change as it opened up. I've had it before (this wine is a contender for one of my top wines for 2010) and it was expressive, delicious and complex straight out of the bottle. But when I returned to it later it was absolutely heavenly. This wine rocks my world. My last two friends having arrived I introduced the second round with a bottle of the NV Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) FRV 100 and explained that for the rest of the evening, folks were responsible for filling their own glasses. Lots of positive remarks on this one—and the earthy notes made a great start and great contrast to the sparkling vouvray.
The festivities being started, I kicked everyone out of the kitchen and folks started nibbling at the Miang Kam—a fun dish based on using chinese brocolli leaves as miniature plates to stack condiments of ginger, shallots, toasted coconut, peanuts, and Thai chilies into a bundle with some shrimp sauce. When I remembered, I popped open a bottle of the Dupont Saison as a good pairing, but more on that below. A frenzy of activity as some friends were boiling the water for the pan with the winter squash flan, while others worked on sauteing the parsnip croutons for the soup. Riesling time! The 2008 Karthäuserhof Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg Riesling Kabinett was smoky, interesting and had dobs of character. My friends were still giving me 'wine feedback' at this point and the wine had plenty of fans.
The 2003 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spätlese Trocken** was a wine I can only faintly recall—structured, complex, really very interesting—but my attention was diverted as I prepared the greens for the main course and had friends dollop out the parsnip and ginger soup with parsnip croutons. As we sat around the table and discussed what the heck a parsnip is, I introduced the 2007 Peter Jakob Kühn Rheingau Riesling Quarzit. When I tasted it when I opened it, it did not feel giving at all and felt like it screamed for time. Never returned to it, but I have faint recollections people passing and repassing it around the table and it disappeared before I thought to return to it—so that's a good sign. Nonetheless this is the only bottle I had second thoughts about opening—might be a wine offering even greater rewards for those more patient than I. Back to the kitchen to unscrew the 2008 Font-Mars Languedoc Picpoul-de-Pinet a good deal of which ended up being used to saute the jerusalem artichokes with rosemary—but there was some of this left the next day and I really enjoyed it. Very simple, clean delicious expressive tangy fruit. Quite yummy and held together for a few days—impressive for a modestly priced wine. To prepare the shallot, juniper berry and wine reduction sauce for the flan, I sacrificed a cup or two of the 2006 Domaine de Fenouillet Beaumes-de-Venise Terres Blanches, a blend of grenache and syrah. A straightforward but deliciously fruit-focused but still structured wine. Quite delicious, though it stood apart stylistically from what else was on the table. Once the assembly line we had going in the kitchen put together the winter squash flans (with cinnamon and cumin, yum) with the reduction sauce, the bed of chard and spinach and the wine-glazed jerusalem artichokes with rosemary, I introduced the 2004 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett which was just plain delicious—versatile and fun.
At some point earlier I had opened some reds, which some friends had moved on to—the 2008 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais Cuvée l'Ancien Vieilles Vignes was giving and really easy to drink, while the 2006 Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py Javernières was noticeably more soil-focused and more 'serious' in some ways. As we enjoyed the main course, I remembered the beers and had a little minicomparison going on between the Saison Dupont and Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux for my beer geek friend. We both agreed there was no comparison—the saison was more focused more precise and more delicious while the winter release Avec les Bons Voeux showed its alcohol and just felt blowsy. Interesting. After a quick and easy salad of savoy cabbage with apples and walnuts and a simple lemon-apple cider vinaigrette, there were plenty of cheeses on the table and folks comparing this and that. My housemate had stepped up to the plate and saved the day earlier in taking the lead on completing the preparation of the passionfruit souffles as I frantically did other things. He brought a Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen whose bacony flavors were well-appreciated by others at the table and did, not surprisingly, really well with the cheeses. The surprising thing was how well the rauchbier did with the passionfruit souffle. By popular acclaim and with my enthusiastic assent, that pairing was without a doubt the best pairing of the evening—stunningly delicious. As the survivors retired to the sitting room, I returned to sample the 2007 Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese* that I had my housemate open as I has one of those neat vinolok glass closures. Probably the most residual sugar of the night and when I arrived to appreciate it, it was stunning. Smelling salts stunning. People wondered if I was okay stunning. It was like drinking sunlight. As the evening winded to a close with the consulting of bus schedules, I found some willing co-conspirators to share a bit of the Delamain Delicate et Légère Cognac Grande Champagne—delicious, complex, and a welcome finale for my first dinner party in my new pad.