Thanks to all who responded to my earlier post for suggestions as to what would work well with fondue. Unfortunately I didn't see the Apremont suggestion until just now, but I think we made due pretty well with what we had:
Spinach salad w/ tiny cherry tomatoes, goat cheese and walnuts, w/ a raspberry vinagrette dressing.
Cheese fondue (gruyere)
Granny Smith Apples, button mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, thinly slice carrots and french bread for dipping.
Chocolate Fondue (bittersweet Giardelli w/ a touch of Baileys)
Biscotti, strawberries, bananas and marshmallows for dipping.
Chocolate brownies (these had just a touch of saltiness to them, which I found really appealing because I like the sweet/salty combo).
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The wines we sampled were as follows, and the descriptors are a conglomeration of what different people noted. Having relatively untrained noses/palates, some of our observations vary greatly from what is typically used to describe some of these wines, but I guess that's part of the fun of the learning process!
Cave de Saumur 2005 Lieu Dit Les Pouches We started with this before the food came out, and found it very refreshing and dry. Appearance was of pale straw; baked bread and green apples on the nose; unripe blueberries, lemon, other citrus on the palate, high acidity. Noted that this would probably go very well w/ seafood or by itself on a hot summer day.
Huber Gruner Vetliner 2005 Pale straw; very interesting nose of fungus, wet leaves and moss lay just under the overiding citrus scents; tart and acidic, almond and pear flavors. I liked that this wine really brought out the sharpness in the cheese fondue.
Schoffit Alsace Chasselas 2004 Vielles Vignes Forgot to note appearance. This wine had one of the most interesting boquets I've experienced - very perfumy and floral, w/ violets, rose, basil and lavender. It was almost sensory overload. We tasted thyme, capsicum and I noted some petrol/plastiscine. We decided that this might go very well w/ a highly herbed dish. I really liked this wine, because it was just so different, but it could easily become too much after more than one glass.
Ravenswood 2004 Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel Deep garnet hue. Nose of plums, raspberries, vague vegetal nuances, highly oaked and buttery. Black fruit on the palate, w/ medium tannins & acidity, high alcohol, full bodied. Other than this being a bit over-oaked, I liked this wine. It went surprisingly well w/ the brownies, and I think that was due to the sweet/salt thing I like.
Trevor Jones "Jonesey" Port By this time most of the party had given up on attempting descriptions, we all just wanted to enjoy the food and wine without thinking about it too much. That said, everyone seemed to enjoy this port. It was fine w/ the chocolate, but much better just on its own. Good QPR, I took the remainder home w/ me.
Domaine Pietri-Gerard Banyuls Cuvee 1998 This was probably the biggest success of the evening as far as food/wine match - thanks for the suggestions on this. The nose on this dessert wine almost reminded us of sherry, and the flavor just made the chocolate explode - very intense (in a good way!). I left the remainder w/ the hostess, who seemed to enjoy it even more than everyone else.
And thanks to all the guests for their contributions of material and labor, and for putting up w/ my annoying badgering for their observations...I'm not sure if they knew when they accepted the invitation that we were going to have to "work" versus just eating and drinking, but I think we all enjoyed ourselves. Hopefully they'll be on board for the next get-together and will continue to play along in the learning process.