Thursday evening I dined at The Fig Tree Restaurant (one of my favorites in an older several-story house.) This was one of 19 wine dinners around town and featured Andrew Will wines from Washington State with Chris Camarda, winemaker and owner. One profile calls him "Seattle's original garagiste, making wine in a 600-square foot space on Queen Anne that was little bigger than a railroad boxcar." He now lives and vinifies his wine on Vashon Island. I did not take notes during the dinner but instead chatted with Sam and Nancy who sat across from me. We had six wines (one white and five red) and seven courses counting dessert. I barely touched the fifth course and told the server not to bring me the sixth course but to hold off until dessert (the dessert was worth it.) We had VIOGNIER with grilled Spanish octopus (my first octopus) over squid-ink spaetzle with spicy tomato sauce. I found both the octopus and the spaetzle tasty. Nancy, sitting across from me, loves Viognier and was enamored with the wine.
Next, TWO BLONDS Vineyard red was served with lamb carpaccio. I'm not certain of the vintages we were drinking as it wasn't noted on the menu. The 2011 Two Blonds is 48% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The third course was Portobello Wellington stuffed with ricotta and spinach over ratatouille and truffle vinaigrette served with CIEL DE CHEVAL red blend. This was my favorite wine of the night although at a previous tasting with Chris Camarda in Raleigh some years ago the Sorella was my favorite. The 2011 Ciel de Cheval is 52% Cabernet Franc and 48% Merlot from the Ciel de Cheval Vineyard. The average age of the vines is 25 years. This was mellow and food friendly and I would have liked to purchase a few bottles but at $63.99 it was beyond my budget. It is listed at $57.00 a bottle from the winery.
The fourth course was leg of lamb ragu with fettucine, smoked eggplant and Parmagiano Reggiano accompanied by CHAMPOUX Vineyard blend. The 2011 vintage is 54% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Franc and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon.
A course of gnocchi with collard greens and Italian sausage was paired with CABERNET FRANC.
The course I skipped entirely was oxtail ravioli topped with braised short rib and hen of the woods mushrooms. I did have the SORELLA red wine which uses grapes from the Champoux Vineyard. In 2011 the blend is 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. I liked this one but thought it could use more cellar time while the Ciel de Cheval was more approachable now. The Cabernet Sauvignon in the Sorella is likely the reason this needs to age some more. This was offered at $57.99 while it is priced at $70.00 from the winery. I'm not sure why some of the wines were less expensive direct from the winery and some were more expensive than winery price.
Dessert was a very yummy blueberry jaconde (a type of sponge cake around mousse or jelly filling) with lemon curd and sorbet.