August 8, 2015 Gruet Wine Dinner

August 8, 2015  Gruet Wine Dinner 

I went to Taj Mahal for lunch.  Pretty much the usual, a bit of rice, a piece of chicken tandoori, some mixed bean dhal, a kulcha, and a spicy chicken curry in a tomato sauce with lots of raita.  

We had signed up for the Gruet Wine Club members Al Fresco dinner last week when we visited the Winery.  So we dresses in our suit and cocktail dress and drove out at 6:30.  We arrived a little before 7:00 and were served our glass of the wine of the month, the newly released Chenin Blanc, which a little drier than the first one produced two years ago.  I figured why this one is drier, when Laurant described the still rose served as the second wine course of the meal.  He said that he wanted to make a good Rose and this year he mixed Chenin Blanc with pinot noir.  Well he picked my two favorite grapes and the result was a lovely,slightly dry elegant French style rose.  So I was happy to drink a slightly dry Chenin Blanc. 

A bit after 7:00 we were seated in the small courtyard beside the door to the tasting room were there were six or seven tables that were lit with candles.  There was a musician playing music and about 25 persons.  We sat with Diane and Patrick, who were newly weds, having been married three years and living in Santa Fe.  

The hor d’ouvre was a cheese puff that was served with Gruet’s 43 three year old Blanc de Noir champagne.  Laurant explained  that it is called 43 because it was ranked Number 43 on Wine Spectator’s top 100 wines of 2014, which is the most highly rated wine ever produced by Gruet.  

The first course was a little strange. It was described as a cold peach soup,nut it tasted of lemon zest, cream and wine.  Sort of a creamy peach zabaglione with grated lemon zest.  It was seved with the Chenin Blanc, which was lovely.  

Then we were served glasses of the rose and Laurent spoke about how he liked rose and hoped to make more in the future.  I clapped and said that I thought it a perfect rose, which I do.  Serving a refreshing wine between courses is a very French way of serving dinner.  

Next was the Chardonnay with Maryland crab cakes with a thinly shaved fennel, mandarin orange slice, and arugula salad.  We hated the Chardonnay but I loved the crab cake and particularly liked the wafer thin fennel strip.

The entrée was soon served, a rack of three lamb riblets with mashed potatoes with their skins on.  Suzette was sure the lamb had been sous vided, because they've recall so uniformly cooked. The lamb and potatoes were served on a puddle of Demi-glacé that was really lovely.  We were served a glass of Pinot noir and Laurent told the story of how when his father had a stroke and was in the hospital in France in 1999, Laurent drew off a sample of his first pinot noir and took it to the hospital for his dad to taste and his dad liked it and that was the last sip of wine his dad tasted because he died within a week.  I liked the Pinot noir with the lamb and Demi-glacé. 

Finally we were served a lovely zabaglione again with lemon zest, with fresh strawberries and blueberries and a glass of Demi-sec champagne. 

This was the best wine dinner I have attended in years.  There are two types of wine dinners;?those that are supported by the winery and  those that are not.  The winery supported dinners are about half the cost of non-winery supported ones, because the wine is free.  This dinner was $65.00, with tip and tax included, which is less than ½ of the normal $125.00 per person cost of most wine dinners, mainly because the help were all employees of the winery, the dinner was hosted by the winery at the winery, and all the wine provided for free by the winery.

I know when a meal is great. It is when you feel better when you stand up after the meal than you did when you sat down. This was one of those meals.  

After dinner around 9:30 we went home and soaked in the hot tub and the had cognacs.

Bon Appetit