Pairing a Reciota della Valpolicella 1994

Hi, Let me first say Thanks so much for being here and allowing me to ask real experts for some answers!! I am preparing dinner for some friends this weekend, they gave me an idea of what they would like to have on the menu but most importantly the wines they plan to serve....

for the hors d'oeuvres
1998 champagne
1995 champagne

starters
1988 meursault
1989 Puligny Montrachet
1993 Chablis Grand Cru
1995 Chablis

Main dish
1976 Pauillac
1978 Pauillac
1985 Califoria Cabernet
1995 Chateau Margaux

dessert
1994 Reciota della Valpolicella

Menu, they would like to have carpaccio of sea scallops with truffle oil ( no citrus element? )
main dish either lamb or venison filets ( Can't decide, sauce? cranberries? or keep entirely away from tartness? )
sides sauteed forest mushrooms, celery root puree
cheese platter with the same wines
a matcha green tea cake for dessert ( I have a bad feeling about this one ) I need help on how to pull this off with neither the food or wine suffering please.
Can this work???

Hi Frances! Welcome to the FLDG. You obviously know how to eat and drink well, given the meal you're planning - that's one heck of a wine list.

On the dessert pairing, I would also be concerned on matching the green tea cake with a Recioto. Seems to me that the wine would be a bit much for the cake. I'm not sure what a really good pairing would be, though - I tend to drink wines like that by themselves. I've paired simple chocolate truffles (made with butter and good chocolate only) with Banyuls and that's worked well. Maybe something along those lines?

I'm sure someone with more experience in this will chime in shortly. Hope to see you around here frequently.

Frances
Welcome and do let us know how the wine & wine/food matching goes.

My thoughts - I'm no expert but enjoy these challenges and learn every time from them.
- Lamb is pretty traditional for good Bordeaux, so might be my choice to allow the wines to shine. Venison os very tasty as well though. Good to see the mushroom side dish. I'd be wary about going too strong on a fruit sauce (for risk of clash), but would choose something quite subtle (even a simple gravy, albeit perhaps with some truffle...).

- Cheeses. Be very wary here. Wine and cheese is often a match made in hell. I'd tend towards subtle hard cheeses (gruyere, comte, beaufort etc.) and some blue cheeses would be a disastrous match (though might make a good yin/yang match with the Recioto). However I do personally enjoy nibbling slowly on cheese at the end of the reds, so the idea is still a fine one IMO.

- Recioto. Barring the yin/yang match mentioned above, I suspect that chocolate based dishes would be an option, but personal preference would be small & flavour-packed, otherwise I'd worry about it all being too rich.

Definitely interested in other's views on this

regards

Ian

Frances:

Suspect the meal will be great no matter how it is paired.

But regarding the Recioto, I would suggest you follow the Italian model, and use it in small quantities at the end of the meal, but separate from dessert. A small glass of recioto, by itself, as a vino da meditazione would be most appropriate, I think. Something that doesn't have to dance carefully around a dessert but can shine on its own---or perhaps with a little helping of cantuccini di mandorla?

[Jenise]

So, Frances, we meet again--welcome! What a great lineup of wines.

Re the scallop carpaccio, yes to my tastes re the citrus. Lightly of course, but the acid will brighten the food and a bit of lemon will speak to elements in the wines you list. You could add it on its own or make it a constituent in an aioli that you drizzle about for contrast.

For the main, either of the meats should make your guests very happy. I've had a lot of successful berry sauces with clarets, but the older the wines the milder and more subtle you want that berry note to be. With a meat like venison in particular, a small handful of fresh fruit like raspberries, blueberries or fresh currants added to a brown sauce at the last minute can provide a satisfying fruity pop without adding any sweetness, and it plates beautifully too. Your side courses are perfect.

Cheese and wine--what the others said. I love a cheese course, and I find ports and white stickies better suited to cheeses, but that doesn't stop me from serving either cheeses or great dessert wines like recciotos. I've not had a green tea cake so can't speak to that element of your menu.

You Guys are so great to be supporting me in my angst! I don't feel so alone now!
So, I thought maybe you'd be interested in my menu ideas?
Nibbles
Fresh goat cheese stuffed grapes
Edamame tossed with roasted sichuan peppercorns and fleur du sel
Sugar and spice salmon bites with mustard dip
Lemon and parsley choux puffs
Date canapes with foie gras and pomegranate glaze
**
Carpaccio of Sea scallops dressed with white truffle oil ( something missing here, but what? the citrus or ...? ) ( Actually I think caviar or sea urchin would be a dream here albeit very pricey one!! )
Clear chilled tomato water sips
**
"Lamb shanks or loin of venison" marinated with black peppercorns and pomegranate reduction served with it's juices
or
Chestnut crusted " " shallots and red wine sauce
or
" " rubbed with rosemary, pan juices deglazed with red wine, dried cranberries

** Sides: Celery root puree, Wild mushrooms sauteed with root veggies ( Jerusalem artichokes, Crosnes if i can find them )
**
Cheese selection including Vacherin or Mont d'Or
**
Dessert
I'm currently dropping heavy hints that we should serve the Valpolicella in question after dinner with perhaps Bittersweet chocolate truffles ?
Or maybe replacing the Matcha green tea cake with a Italian style nut cake ( hazelnt, walnut , pistachio or almond ) or an aniseed flecked almond cake, roasted figs with a touch of honey or maybe persimmons, pears or apples alongside, going either with the sweet red Valpolicella or the champagne??
There you have it, fire away

I was thinking, for the Scallop carpaccio what if I add tiny diced preserved lemon? would that work? with the truffle oil? or too overpowering?

Guns a-Blazin' Grossman here!

No, actually, I like your menu a lot. I would merely tweak: drop the spicy edamame (much too difficult with wine), agree with your idea for tiny diced preserved lemon on the scallops, definitely prefer the rosemary-cranberry prep on the lamb/venison, consider adding a Brillat-Savarin (3creme) or Saint-Agur (blue) to the cheese board, insist that the recioto goes alone, and I'll take a nut confection over matcha any day of the week.

Best of luck. Let us know how it goes!

Hello Grossman
Thanks for the response!
Hmmm ....So You think the edamame's are gonna be too spicy?
And the Salmon? I was planning on adding cayenne or at least paprika and hot mustard powder to the marinade or dip for the salmon.
I like also the rosemary/cranberry pairing and the nut cake as dessert but.... it's not my anniversary
Still waiting on them to come 'round....Anyone have any recipes for a nut cake that could work for this menu? I'd be mighty pleased to have a looksee

O Help me My friends insist on having the Valpolicella with dessert and they insist on the green tea element.......

Frances
I'm not familiar with green tea cake (nor particularly familiar with green tea itself). However a thought occurred, that some artisan chocolate makers have made very successful combinations of tea flavour and chocolate (I'm reminded of this as we picked up some Pierre Marcolini chocs on wednesday - his earl grey sticks in my memory). I'm speculating - and it is pure speculation - that such a combination could be made to work for dessert and which might bring the Recioto more into play.

regards

Ian

Hmmm ....So You think the edamame's are gonna be too spicy?

Yes, and beany flavors are dubious, too.

And the Salmon? I was planning on adding cayenne or at least paprika and hot mustard powder to the marinade or dip for the salmon.

A sprinkle of hot is fine; my imagination of the beans was rather more... you were going to saute and include the whole peppers, right?

Still waiting on them to come 'round....

If they won't listen to reason, well, as you say, it's their anniversary. Let them have it their way.

O Help me My friends insist on having the Valpolicella with dessert and they insist on the green tea element.......

Oh well. I'd go along with their wishes. I might also have some nice little truffles available, too, though.