The Hawthornes Enjoy Another Six-Course Wine-Paired Dinner At The Saltbox Café.

WINNER DINNER!

The Saltbox Café

October 6 and 19, 2016

Tonight features 
dinner in Madrid -
the wines and cuisine of Spain.

The menu is the inspired creation of Chefs Amanda and Randolph Sprinkle.

Our servers were April Wolf and Mike Dinkle.

And Cindy and Kerry of Tryon Distributors were on hand to present our wines.

There were two Madrid dinners,
the first held on October 6, which the Hawthornes attended,
and the second, held October 19.

Rosie withheld posting immediately after her first dinner for three reasons:

1)  I didn't want to spoil the dinner for attendees on the 19th.

2)  I had issues with Charter internet (Who doesn't?) and my Linksys broke.  Trip to Staples.

3)  I was lazy.

It would probably paint a truer picture if you listed those three reasons in the opposite order.

 

Chef Randolph Sprinkle, 

looking quite fetching in his rather flamboyment traje de luces,

or "suit of lights," 

 welcomed us to the Saltbox Café  

for their six-course wine-paired dinner,

inspired by Madrid.

Chef Amanda was rockin' it in the kitchen,

but we never got to see her.

:-(

Rosie arrived, dressed to kill and for the kill.

What?  You missed me?

Our first course is Whipped Crema de Calabres with Black Walnuts on Brown Bread/Marinated Cured Olives in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fig Balsamic and Caramelized Onions/Air-Dried Salami, paired with Marques de Gelida Cava, Catalonia.

About the wine:  Kerry, as always, advises us to try each wine prior to and along with each course so we can see how the wines meld and marry with the meal.

Spain, we learned, is an amazing old world European wine-producing region, with the Carthaginians and Phoenicians producing wines there in ancient times.  It wasn't until the Romans conquered the Iberian Peninsular, renaming it Hispania, that serious wine production began in all the different and varied micro-climates and regions.

We're starting tonight off with a festive bubbly, a great sparkling wine  - a Cava.  This sparkling wine, Hispania's anwer to Champagne, is from the Catalonian region in the northeastern zone of Penedes above Barcelona in some of the highest vineyards around.

These wines are produced in the méthode champanoise in which the second fermentation occurs in the bottle.  This is what gives you the effervescence or bubbles. They are aged for 3 - 4 years before release.  The cava is a traditional blend of several Spanish grapes - Xarello, Parellada and Macabeu, along with some Chardonnay and Pinot Noir thrown in as well.  The name, "cava," refers to the stone cellars or caves in which the wine matures. The producer is Marques de Gelida, a 6-family grower that's had roots in this area since the 1600s. 

Kerry described this cava as having nice apple and pear tones along with a little brioche with the yeast. It's refreshing, clean, and a festive way to start off the night

Chef Randolph:  With this Cava, we decided to explore some cheeses and charcuterie of Spain, a very tapas style of starter.  Whipped Calabres bleu cheese was paired with toasted black walnuts and spread on a traditional brown bread.  Dried salami as a side and black olives in a sherry vinegar with onions completed the dish.  Calabres is the "bleu cheese of Spain," just as you'd consider Rocquefort the "bleu cheese of France," or Stilton, the "bleu cheese of England."

This was a perfect melding of flavors - salty olives and salami, sweet figs and caramelized onions, toasted nuts, heavenly whipped bleu Calabres topped with chopped chives, all flavors grounded and balanced by an earthy brown bread.

Now, the photographs of Amanda and Randolph's culinary delights speak for themselves, so I'll address our wines.

Rosie's Wine Notes:  Our first wine is a brisk and bubbly amusement.  I just wanted to slap its cheeks with a fly-swatter as it tapas(s)ed-danced like a mad little fairy in stilettos, staccatissimo, across my willing, wanting, and wanton tongue.  My tongue still tickles.

I'll be putting this together at home.

OK.  Go ahead and laugh.

I was inspired by the Saltbox Café

and I made a half-assed attempt

to create something along these lines.

It was quite good

and satisfied my need for salt for the next 2 years.

You may make fun of me,

but I don't see anybody else out there

tapass-ing around.

Our second course was a Bodie Island Oyster with Gazpacho Vinaigrette and Five Herb Salad, paired with Malaga Muscat Seco Botani, Andalucia.

Kerry explained that our second wine selection is a rather unique white wine and quite the "food white."  It is the first of two wines from the Bodega region. 

 Geographically, we travel down from where we had the Cava in northeast Spain above Gibraltar, down east of Gibraltar and along the southern Spanish coast to an area called Malaga.  Malaga is an older region and one of the first areas where the Carthaginians planted grapes.  The grape varietal they brought centuries ago was muscat. 

 This is the first of two wines tonight we are having from this region, the second being our dessert wine.  The grape varietal brought here centuries ago was muscat and this wine is 100% Muscatel de Alejandria.  This is the first time in the modern era that anyone's done a dry white wine in Spain from this particular grape varietal and it's one of the rarest versions of muscat Alejandria because it is produced dry.  Most muscats you come across are very sweet, like our dessert wine tonight, so this wine is special.

Botani is the name of the wine and the winery is up in the Sierras, or hills, which are a little cooler and are conducive to producing grapes that still can retain some nice acidity.  If you notice with this wine, it's very light, crisp, a bright wine with fruit tones, some nice green apple, with a white blossom on the nose.  (Did Kerry say "white blossom on the nose?")  This is unoaked, so it's very clean and fresh, a great food pairing white wine.

Chef Randolph was surprised when he tasted this wine.  It had a nice fruit nose to it, but was completely dry.  There was no sweetness there.  Bodie Island oysters provided the sweetness. The minerality of the wine paired nicely with the oysters.  This was finished with a gazpacho vinaigrette, light on the acid just so it wouldn't mess with the wine too much.  The gazpacho was basically a salad puréed like a soup, which provided a bit of acidity.  Five fresh herbs offered a bit of green bitterness and a lot of fragrance to the whole. Chef Randolph mentioned mint, basil, chives, sea beans, and didn't remember the last herb.  He left that up for us to identify!

Now, I think I know what four of the five herbs are - basil, mint, parsley, tarragon. Could've sworn I tasted tarragon. And I thought I tasted oregano.  But I was stumped on the something else in there.  They were crisp little stalks (You can see them in the photo above.) which tasted like nothing I've ever had before.  Rosie was quite intrigued by this.  Turns out they were sea beans.

 From Google about sea beans:

Sea Beans grow wild all over coastal North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Sometimes called "poor man's asparagus",  sea beans are not seaweed, as it is often mistakenly described, nor is it a bean, which it slightly resembles.  Sea Beans are the small, fleshy stems and branches of salt-tolerant and salty seacoast plants in the genus Salicornia, which is in the beet family. 

Sea Beans can be eaten raw or cooked, with a flavor that can best be described as intensely salty, with a fresh asparagus-like aftertaste. When fresh, Sea Beans are crisp and crunchy like snap peas and can be eaten raw or briefly blanched, giving them a fresh, briny flavor. If slightly wilted, sea beans can be refreshed with a brief plunge in ice water. 

Sea Beans naturally go great with all kinds of seafood, as they intensify the sea aroma. Use Sea Beans in summer salads, in stir frys, and tempura battered (yes!) Sea Beans also make a great stand-in for green and yellow wax beans.

Loved this oyster with the Gazpacho Vinaigrette.  Six more, please.  My request was ignored.  :-/
Not to worry.  I'll be working on this for the Hawthorne table soon.

Rosie wants sea beans.

Bottom line:  Where does Rosie find sea beans?



Rosie's Wine Notes:  Our wine was light, crisp, sassy, and whimsical with forward fruity tones.  Oh hell.  This wine was just plain forward.  It assumed too much.  It was audacious, brazen, contumelious, and just downright cheeky. It was an uppity wine, and Rosie, being uppity herself, gladly partook of this impudent, presumptive, overconfident brew.  Pert and perky, this wine was well-handled, like a fermented Cockney bar maid with a perfume rivaling the aroma of paradise.

From back to front - Nohea, Chef Amanda, Chef Sprinkle, and Isaac.

Such a pretty dish!

Speaking of pretty dishes - Mike and April.

Chef Randolph plating Course Three.

Chefs Randolph and Amanda plating.

I love being behind the scenes.

 

Our third course is Grilled Spanish Mackerel and "tapanesca" with Balearic Salpicon, paired with Avancia Cuvée de O Godella, Galicia.

Kerry explains we're traveling now from Malaga on the southern coast of Spain to the northwestern corner - Galicia, which is the area overhanging Portugal and a corner surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.  Historically, this is a very rugged and remote area and, for centuries, was only accessible by sea, and later by rail line that would go over the mountains. Now, it's a bit more accessible and the Spanish go there for vacation because tourists to Spain don't know about the area yet, so the Spaniards have a place to "get away."  Now, if only the Outer Banks had such a place...

This wine is 100% Godello and the producer is Avancia. The Godello vineyards were planted in terraces on the mountain slopes.  This unique area is located along the Sil River which cuts veins into the steep slate hills running out towards the Atlantic.  

What all this means is that you get a medium body wine with wonderful, subtle minerality in the finish and it's balanced with great pear and fruit tones.  There's Chardonnay up front and it finishes nice and crisp with minerality.

Our wine was Avancia Cuvée de O Godello, Galicia.

Rosie's Wine Notes:  With all this slate minerality, I don't think I could've licked a chalkboard and enjoyed it any more than this wine...  Reminded me of wet stones and pebbles between my toes as I meandered barefoot down the crick to the river, occasionally sinking in sand.  I couldn't discern that certain je ne sais quoi note.  Could it be just wetness?  Damp quartz?  I will spend muchos noches and nachos trying to figure this out.  This wine was a tour de force in moisture- like licking the dew off Venus' ample bottom.  My tongue was just handed back to me - spanked and wrapped up in a pretty package, with ribbons and a bow.

According to Chef Randolph, he was originally going to pair this wine with the oyster because of the nice minerality to it, but upon "tasting more wine," he decided upon grilled Spanish mackerel and "tapanesca".   

 "Tapanesca," apparently, is the love child of a tapenade (olives) and a Romesco sauce (tomatoes, roasted peppers, olive oil, and I know some kind of nut and I'm thinking almonds or maybe some hazelnuts in there), but I have no idea what "Balearic Salpicon" is.  Since the only thing recognizable on the plate, besides the mackerel, is some type of cole slaw, I'll go with that for the time being.  What do I know?  Very little, it seems.

Ahh.  I'm learning.  

Salpicon is a mixture of blanched vegetables, with crisp, fried potatoes mixed with roasted garlic aioli.  And "salpicon" means hodge podge or medley in Spanish.  And the Balearic Islands are part of an archipelago of Spain near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.  And now it all makes sense.

Mr. Hawthorne took one bite, gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling, and said "Hmmmm... interesting."  That's what he does and says when he has no idea what he's eating but likes it.

I'm having to muscle April out of the way

so I can get my pictures.

Chef Randolph scoops out roasted bone marrow for our fourth course -  Roasted Bone Marrow with Wild Mushrooms (shiitake, oyster, crimini mushrooms) on top of Manchego Polenta with Garlic and Hawaiian Black Sea Salt.

Nohea plating.

The Saltbox Crew is a well-honed machine.

Our dishes keep getting better and better, if possible.

I loved the unctuousness of the beef marrow and

the earthiness of the wild mushrooms

balanced with the creaminess of the polenta.

This was like the Umami Express.
Is it considered bad form to lick one's plate?

Kerry introduced our fourth wine, our first red.  We're traveling back across Spain to the southeastern corner between Valencia and an area called Pinea.  Both are very hot areas and it's hard to grow fruit properly except where the hills are in Pinea at about 1800 feet.  In the low areas near the sea, it's very hot, just like Valencia to the north, and it's very hard to grow grapes there because they cook on the vines.

It is at this point, in my travels throughout Spain, that I realize a Power Point presentation is indeed needed so I will know where I am in Spain.

Up in the hills, producers can grow fantastic red wines and they have become quite well known for their blends.  It is possible for this fruit to ripen with just enough cooling breezes so that the red varietals do extremely well here.  This particular wine is from the region, Jumilla, the country, Murcia, and it is a grape blend of both Monastrell and Tempranillo.  Kerry explained that this wine is aged separately about 12 months in two different types of oak barrels - 45% American oak and 55% French oak.  Different types oaks have different grains and impart different flavors to wine.  The larger grain oak, like the American oak, can impart more broad, demonstrative flavors to the wine.  The French oak imparts more subtle flavors and more spice characteristics, like powdered ginger and cinnamon. Kerry also mentioned hints of vanilla, dark fruit, and mocha and described this wine as depthful, rich, with notes of blackberry, plum and spices, and earthy

Rosie's Wine Notes:  This unctuous umaminess was paired with Jumilla Veraz Alto de Luzon, Murcia, an assertive, deep, spicy, earthy wine which toyed with the unctuosity and umaminity of the mushrooms and marrow.

This was a brooding, melancholy wine with an attitude.  Velvety, smoky, and seductive, you know it came from a well-hung vineyard.  It does not play well with others, so it was perfect for me.  Do not allow this wine to inspire you to drunk dial your ex.  Very fine grapes gave up the ghost for this wine, so show it some respect.

A busty, juicy, plump wine with probably a BMI of 32, it has the distinct aroma of broken hearts and dashed dreams. Bottle to be finished immediately. Save the cork for a Pinterest project.

Nohea, Chef Amanda, Chef Randolph, and April.

And it was a treat to see Ashten tonight!

Chef Randolph admitted this was the closest they came to doing an actual red meat dish.  This wine just looked like it would pair so well with meat - for some reason - maybe it's the fall - he was very much wanting to do bone marrow, so they did a roasted bone marrow.  Maybe it's a Halloween thing!

They sautéed mushrooms with sherry and placed them over a creamy Manchego polenta with bone marrow on top. Mushrooms, Chef Randolph informed us, were introduced to Spain, along with olives, by the Romans.

 This was a meaty and rich dish!

The polenta with cheese is comforting and the perfect foil to that packin' punch of umami.

The gelatinous marrow is exquisite. The earthiness of the mushrooms pulls it all together. I want more.

I learn I'm not getting more.

Moving right along to our fifth course.

Chef Amanda, Nohea, and Chef Randolph.

Our fifth course is Cocido Montañes with White Beans, Organic Collards, Merquez Sausage, and Roasted Pollo paired with Muga Reserva, Rioja. 

Kerry introduced our fifth wine and our second red, Muga Reserva, as hailing from Rioja, probably the most famous wine-growing region in Spain.  It certainly produces some of the most classic iconic reds in the country.  Rioja is in north central Spain on the Ebro river.  It's a very continental climate right in the middle of Spain, so they do have some varying temperatures there.  It's an area very well known for their full-bodied reds and their aged, mature red wines. 

Our wine tonight is an unfiltered Reserva Rioja.  Reserva has to be aged at least one year or more in barrels and at least a year in bottles before it is released.  This wine is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, a great varietal, 20% Garnach, 7% Mazuelo, and 3% Graciano.  I swear, I would have gone with perhaps 65% Tempranillo and 25% Garnacha, 6% of the Mazuela and 4% of the Graciano, but what do I know?

This is a classy and elegant wine, and a wonderful way to have a second red for the night.


Chef Randolph paired this classical and stylish wine with a classical dish, Cocido Montañes, a rustic and traditional mountain stew.  The Saltbox spiced this stew up a few notches by giving a nod to the Moorish influences in Spain.  A lot of people don't realize that Spain has both Arabic and Middle Eastern influences. This particular stew is flavored with Merguez sausage, a lamb sausage seasoned with harissa, a Middle Eastern spice.  The warmth of cinnamon and clove and paprika add another dimension to this dish, and the collard greens and cannellini beans offer richness, heartiness, and authenticity.  It was a little bit of everything I wanted - all in one cup.


 Rosie's Wine Notes:  Full-bodied and firm, this wine had magnificent legs, rivaling those of any Fifth Avenue Street Walker.

  I read about this wine:  "... the most outstanding aspect of this vintage is the initial attack..."
I don't know about you, but I love the initial attack of a wine.

Let's talk about the initial attack.  This wine is an impressive dominatrix.  If this wine were a lady, she'd be really slutty; and I've found out that a little sluttiness never hurt a wine.  This wine executed a powerful paso doblé in my mouth.  It tramped and trampled my tongue. It was confident and thrust with reckless abandon. I was gobsmacked, and let me tell you, I don't get gobsmacked easily.

I want more of this too.



As you know, Rosie only comes for the dessert.
Just kidding.

Kerry said:  "OK, let's get the wine out of the way so Rosie can eat dessert."

All right, Kerry really didn't say that.  Rosie did.

But hurrying along, our dessert was paired with Malaga Victoria No. 2, Andalucia. And we've traveled back down to the southeast of the coast.  If you recall, we had an Andalucian Malaga wine with our second course, also from the muscat de Alejandria varietal.  This particular wine is a late harvest wine, meaning the grapes are left on the vine well past normal harvest time for a dry table wine.  They are harvested at the very last possible moment from the vine.The grapes are almost in a raisin-like state and the juice is very concentrated in flavor, so concentrated that when the grapes are pressed, not much juice comes out..  Fifteen pounds of muscat Alejandria grapes go into one bottle of this wine.  You'll taste apricot, honeysuckle, and just enough balancing acidity so that it isn't too sweet, making it a wonderful pairing with delicate desserts.

Of course, Chef Randolph admits he has nothing to do with the desserts. Chef Amanda presented us with this exquisite non-classical Sopapilla Cheese Bar.  Sopapillas are usually fried, but this was a baked buttered dough with a light cheesecake in between, served with a Brown Butter Sauce and local Colington Honey with a topping of whipped cream.  I know this Colington Honey quite well.  The bees feed in my yard throughout the day and I really think the apiarist should pay ME for the honey, but I digest....

Would you just look at that little pretty thing?

Once again, I had to push April out of my way to get a picture.

And that little girl is SOLID!

An intimate, tender moment between Chefs Sprinkles - dunking and scooping.

Rosie's Wine Notes:  This out-of-the-park cheesecake dessert was paired with Malaga Victoria No.2, Andalucia.  What a hedonistic, lusty, supple little wine! Enticingly layered and erotically scented with hints of apricot and honeysuckle, I believe this wine is into Yoga. I can see this wine in a petit Speedo - a tiny hamster hammock - gleefully swan-diving its way past my uvula, and silently and purposefully slicing through my gullet with the exquisite grace of an Olympic diver or the meticulous attentiveness of a playful mermaid..  For optimal enjoyment, I suggest serving this wine in large carafes and often.

Such concentration!

 Chef Randolph makes the rounds.

 He's quite the social butterfly.

 Our wines tonight.

April, Amanda-Chrysanthum-Head, and Yorick,

conversing at the counter.

Thank you Chefs Amanda and Randolph,

April and Mike,

and the wonderful Saltbox Crew 

for another deliciously memorable evening!

For a recap of our previous dining experiences at the Saltbox Café, please click on the links:

October 2014, we visited Spain.
November 2014, we visited Argentina.
December 2014, we visited Paris.
February 2015, we visited Chocolate. (Why yes, Chocolate is a country.)
March 2015, we visited Italy.
October 2015, we visited Germany.
December 2015, we visited Japan.

Also in December 2015, we enjoyed a Réveillon Feast.

And again in December 2015, we visited France.

February 2016, we took a road trip to California.

Also in February 2016, we visited Italy. 

March 9, 2016, we had a lovely visit to Chile.

March 29, 2016, we visited the Pacific Northwest.

April 20, 2016, we explored the vineyards of Oregon. 

September 2016, we enjoyed South Africa.

The Hawthornes Enjoy A Réveillon Feast At The Saltbox Café.

The Hawthornes have had the pleasure of attending The Saltbox Café's  6-course wine dinner events.  A country is picked and regional dishes are expertly paired with wines from that country.

For a recap:
October 2014, we visited Spain.
November 2014, we visited Argentina.
December 2014, we visited Paris.
February 2015, we visited Chocolate. (Why yes, Chocolate is a country.)
March 2015, we visited Italy.
October 2015, we visited Germany.
December 2015, we visited Japan.

This week we attended "A Réveillon Feast - Awaken in New Orleans." In French, "réveillon" means "awakening."  It's a tradition dating back to the early 19th century.  After fasting all day and returning home from midnight mass, the Creoles celebrated Christmas with a big family meal.  A feast would be prepared - chicken and oyster gumbo, game pies, turtle soup, breads, puddings, soufflés, lavish desserts.  Decadence was the name of the game.  Throughout the years, the Réveillon tradition was slowly fading out, and had all but disappeared by the 1940s.  In the 1990s, it was revived and transformed, with a few modifications reflecting the times.  The organization, French Quarter Festivals Inc., wanted to attract visitors to New Orleans during the holiday lull.  They approached local restaurants with the idea to promote special holiday menus, bringing back the Réveillon tradition.  The restaurants embraced this idea. The emphasis on the Réveillon shifted from family dinners at home to the tables of New Orleans' top restaurants, offering the Réveillon feast at a more convenient dining time during the day instead of the wee hours of the morning.

To understand Christmas in New Orleans, one must understand what it is to be Catholic in New Orleans. Being a Catholic whose roots extend back to France, Spain, and the Caribbean, one has equal amounts of faith, devotion, and mischief — faith that the Pope and his bishops are God’s representatives on earth. And devotion to God is evident in the magnificent New Orleans churches Catholics built across the city.

 Then there’s mischief. New Orleans was not founded by descendants of Puritans and other strict Protestant denominations of Christianity. Their relationship with God was somewhat more personal, and while they respected many (but not all) of the Church’s leaders, they still looked for shortcuts. Creoles read the letter of the law, then figured out how to do it their way anyway; celebrating Christmas is one of those experiences. The rules of the Church specified that the faithful had to fast from midnight on Saturday night until after mass if they wanted to receive Holy Communion. Europeans solved the problem early on in the middle ages; if you can’t eat until after mass, then have mass at midnight! Once mass was finished, the “awakening” – the Réveillon – could begin. Start the feasting!

I like it when I get a ghost in my pictures.


Upon seating, we noshed on a dark brown bread with walnuts and Craisins with pumpkin honey butter spread to slather on.

At the beginning of each course, the wine representative, Kerry, would give us a description and a bit of history of each wine, and then Chef Randolph would talk about what he's prepared.  Of course, I must offer my personal observations and tasting notes about the wines.

Our first course was a lovely, light salad - bib lettuce, hearts of palm, mixed herbs, (I tasted basil and parsley.) and a delicately battered and perfectly fried nugget of chèvre cheese.

 I was happy to see the hearts of palm on here, since I'd recently used these in a recipe my friend, Zzzadig, sent me - hearts of palm, tomato, red onion, avocado, lime, cilantro, and some other stuff.  It was quite good, but I could never get a handle on the taste of the palm hearts, which, by the way, come from the inner stalks of the cabbage palm.  If you look for them in the grocery store, they're around the jarred/canned artichokes.

  Anyhoos, back to the taste of the palm hearts.  When Chef Randolph stopped by our table, as he does with every table during each course, I asked him about the elusive taste of the palm hearts, and he described it as a blend between artichoke and celery.   Hmmm...   I need to get more palm hearts and taste test.

The chèvre was da bombe.  I forked into the golden nugget, and a primal ooze of gooey goat cheese flowed out.  Texturally delightful.

This course was paired with a Chateau Graville-Lacoste, Graves Blanc 2014.  This crisp wine perfectly complemented the richness of the cheese.  Just when you think you can't eat anymore of the cheese, the acidity of the wine cleansed the palate and I dove in for more ooey-gooeyness.

The wines were presented by Kerry and Cindy of Tryon Distributing.

Kerry's Comments:
 On behalf of myself and also Cindy of Tryon Distributing, what a pleasure it always is to be here for one of these fantastic wine dinners that The Saltbox Café puts on. Tonight - just a fantastic array of
wines and food courses to tantalize your senses and that's really what the Réveillon concept is all about.  Originally, after fasting the custom was to have a big, lavish meal for a day or so during the Holidays.
I'm going to talk about our wines as we go along.  I always like to mention at wine dinners, I think it's great for everyone to try a little wine prior to and along with each course.  It's fun to see how the characteristics of the wine and also the food course can kind of change, and  meld, and marry with each other as the night progresses.
A little bit about your first wine.  We do have a French theme tonight so we have all French wines from all different appellations.  This first one comes from an area in Bordeaux called Graves.  This is a 2014 Chateau Graville-LaCoste. 
 This is a white blend.  This area is in southern Bordeaux but it's on the left bank, very close to the famous Chateau Haut Brion.
 Grave is known for white wines and it's known for Sauvignon Blanc. It's a great varietal and also a little bit of Sémillon is great.  This one's unique because it's actually 75% Sémillon.  Sémillon usually has the most grounding quality of a white wine.  This also has a little bit of Muscadel in it.  Those are the three grapes. You'll find it really light, crisp, invigorating.  Has lovely citrus.  It's a great way to start the night off.

Chef Randolph's Comments:
 As a pairing for this wine, we put together a lovely, very light salad.  It was inspired mostly by Brazil and that area where there are hearts of palm trees. 
 One of the things you'll notice when you try it is that there's no acidity in the salad itself, because there's so much acidity in the wine.  The acid primarily comes from the hearts of palm themselves.
The goat cheese is fried and plated on top of the salad.  So the fried goat cheese takes a kind of plate with lots of acidity in the wine and a lovely extra virgin olive oil that has a high lemon facet.


Rosie's Realizations:
As for the Chateau Graville-Lacoste, oh my!  I believe they took my childhood summers in Bordeaux and bottled them.  N'est-ce pas?  I detected the faintest soupcon of asparagus and a flutter of pretentiousness.  The bouquet was ethereal - subtle nuances of meadow flowers, freshly mown lawn, and barnyard.  I believe the grapes, tended by weary Benedictine monks, were crushed by vestal virgins.  A sensitive wine with a hint of schnozzberry, it would be very easy to down the whole bottle without realizing. Elegant, harmonious, vegetal, and quizzical, yet decisive, this wine gave me quite the tongue-spanking.

On to course #2.

Poached salmon with Sauce Bavaroise and baby greens.  I must admit, I hadn't heard of Sauce Bavaroise before, so I had to look that up.  It's a Hollandaise flavored with crawfish and horseradish with a bit of spice. And it pairs perfectly with the salmon.  When Chef Randolph stopped by the table to see how we liked this course, I had to tell him, "I don't like salmon...  But I love this!"  Poached may be the way to go.  Salmon has always been ... too salmon for my tastes.  I may have to try this.  Plus I've got all that fresh dill in the garden.  Sounds like a plan.

Kerry's Comments:
This was paired with Domaine Roland Lavantureux, Chablis Vielles Vigne 2014.  Chablis is a region in France and for a wine to be a true Chablis it must come from the region, just like a Champagne technically must come from the Champagne region. The Chablis is 100%  Chardonnay which is the varietal used. What is really unique about true Chablis is the soil there.  It's a colder area of Northern Burgandy and the soil is exclusively chalk or calcareous soil, which is like a fossil soil, which imparts a wonderful minerality and acidity to the wine.  When you try the wine you'll notice a wonderful citrus core. If you notice on the label, this wine is classified as a Vignes Vielles, meaning at least 40-year old vines.  The vines in the particular vineyard are about 60 years old, meaning the vines produce less fruit but the fruit is more concentrated, so the juices, in turn, are more concentrated, leaving more flavor in the wine.

Randolph's Comments:
   With this wine, what we tried to do is ... to me this goes against what most Americans think of when they think of a Chardonnay which is American oak barrel usually several months, a big oaky wine.  This is so delightfully playful.  It's got citrus to it, so we paired it  with a classic poached salmon and we're finishing with a classic Sauce Bavaroise which is a classical preparation.  It's a Hollandaise basically but it's flavored with crawfish and horseradish and a little bit of spice to it.


Rosie's Report:
This Chablis was quite approachable.  As I swirled it, I listened to this wine sing softly in my glass. Oh, my goodness!  It's Roberta Flack, singing "Killing Me Softly With His Song."  That's the song in my wine glass!  I took the first sip and let the wine playfully roll around my tongue.  I tasted salty tears, misspent youth, and dashed dreams.  I detected a certain minerality and wet stone familiarity, although I couldn't discern whether the stone was granite, marble, slate, chalk, or flint.  The wine was profound, mellow, and opulent in character. I tasted aggressive notes of spring, followed by a certain oakiness with hints of dancing wood nymphs.  Inticingly layered and temptingly nuanced, this Chablis abounds with a complex, heady herbaceousness.  Along with soporific-inducing rosemary mid-tones and melodious cannabis undertones, this wine excitingly finishes with a delicate creamy oyster perfume surrounded by a bashful vanilla essence.  A delightful nacho aftertaste kicked in, along with a barely discernible marigold fizzle.  Unremarkable buckwheat undertones with a forgettable steel-cut oatmeal bouquet rounded out the afterglow of lollipop.  It was blissful.

Course #3.

Seared local tuna with baby potatoes and Sauce Bordelaise.

Now, Rosie floves her tuna and this was excellent.   Sauce Bordelaise, named after the Bordeaux region of France, is made with red wine, butter, shallots, demi-glace, and bone marrow and it is divine.

The wine pairing was inspired.  A red wine - Cave des Vignerons de Buxy, Mercurey 2012 - was served with the tuna.  Makes sense to me.  Tuna is red meat and, to me, it's like eating filet mignon.

I have to mention here, about the changing to red wine.  We were asked by Ashten, Mike, Cindy, and Kerry, and one of them a second time, if we had clean glasses so there was no cross-contamination with red vs white.  Yes.  We have clean glasses.  I love this attention to detail.  Personally, I've mixed both red and white wines in my tennis shoes with no regrets. 

Kerry's Comments:
This is a  Pinot Noir,  We're staying in Burgundy and Chablis is a satellite region of  northern Burgundy so now we go south to Cote d'Or, which is a famous, prestigious region, down to the heart of Burgundy called the Cote Chalonnaise.  The village and surrounding area where this wine comes from is called Mercurie.  This is done by the vignerons - a cooperative of vine growers committed and dedicated to quality vineyard work, hands-on  practices, and they come together and make wines under the Buxy label.

 Pinot Noir typically has less tannin.  Tannin is what gives you that astringent, fullness in red wines.  This is softer, more delicate, more approachable.  Very bright cherry.  Raspberry.

Chef Randolph:  
I really really love this wine, because it reminds me of a Beaujolais.  From my Pinot Noir standpoint, I would say Burgundy and that terroire (Did Randolph mention terroire or did I get that wrong on the recorder translation?)...  This has almost none of that.  It's almost... a negative sounding word... but insipid,"  And then  my recorder got too static and I couldn't understand a word of what Randolph said.  Until ... "Red wine... Pair with a fish...  Classical meat preparation...  Used local tuna...  Classic Bordelaise Sauce with veal stock reduction and bone marrow... Underneath is roasted  potatoes.

 Rosie's Reality:
Of course you want to know my take on this serious wine with less than confident tannins.  I discerned dark, haunting, brooding flavors, much like Heathcliff on the moors.  Notes of ashtray, rose petals, charcoal, stewed rhubarb, sweet pipe tobacco, and orange peel danced on my tongue.  Weighty, full-bodied, and structured with a firm skeleton, this wine exhibited a dense yet harmonious herbal character of medium body.  On the finish, there was that characteristic hint of gasoline, and I don't mean the unleaded stuff.  Exotic, funky, and hedonistic, this wine showcased a mango-fandango bouquet along with sadistic musk overtones and a spicy Cool Whip essence.  I must question the percentage of malo this wine went through and I also wonder in what type of barrel it was aged.   Mmmmm...  I can really taste the terroire.  Thank God for that.  Bottom line:  This was a lazy, obstinate, selfish, sullen, little bitch of a grape. 

 

Chef Randolph making the rounds.

Our 4th course was confit of Christmas duck with a walnut and raisin gingerbread with toasted pumpkin oil.  Confit is a cooking method coming from the French "confire," meaning, "to preserve."  Preservation occurs by slowly cooking meat, usually in its own rendered fat.  Muscle and connective tissue slowly break down and tenderize, becoming melt-in-mouth tender.

The wine chosen for this course was sublime, possibly the best red wine Mr. Hawthorne has ever had.
Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe, Chateauneuf-du-Pape Telegrammme 2013.

Here's Kerry's presentation of this wine:
"We still have quite a bit of 'awakening' to do... A few more courses to go.  This is a really special wine. We're going down from Burgundy to follow the Saone River on down south of Beaujolais. You've reached the Rhone Valley and so meet the Rhone River.  We go to the northern Rhone down to the southern Rhone Valley where this wine comes from, the appellation of Chateauneuf-de-Pape.  That actually translates as "castle or house of the new pope."  It was an appellation back when there was a dual papacy, or two popes, one in Rome and one in France.  The town of Avignon, just south of Chateauneuf-de-Pape, was where the second pope resided, in a walled city, so the appellation took on the name of the pope.  This is a special area that grows both red and white wine vines on thirteen approved varietals.

This one is mainly Grenache.  There's also Syrah, Mouvedre, and Senso all blended in.  So just four of the approved thirteen in this particular blend, done by the Brunei Family ,    one of the most prominent producers in Chateauneuf-de-Pape.  They own Vieux Telegraphe.  This is their second wine, or younger vines, release which is called Vieux Telegramme and  it really expresses that Granache character of a little pepperyness, spicebox, and it's really a fantastic food wine.


 Randolph's Comments:  This is one of my favorite wines...  I find it perfectly balanced and really kind of subtle.  We paired it with Amanda's gingerbread, raisin walnut bread underneath a confit of duck that's been finished with cinnamon and black pepper, and finally finished lastly with pumpkin seed oil and a little bit of chopped herbs on top.


Rosie's Musings:
 My thoughts on this wine?  It was bold, greedy, and assertive.  Dare I say ballsy?  Intense, tenacious, focused, balanced, persistent, structured, smooth yet grippy, this opulent wine is both sophisticated and dominating with an amusing unctuousness about it, along with a nefarious cayenne essence.  It reminded me of Arabian nights, jewels, dark satin, and the Moody Blues.  I detected an edginess in this seasoned, jaded wine that questioned my palate's ability to handle so much worldliness.  Hints of dank and dark basements and desperation crept in.  Although this excruciatingly bold and velvety wine is entirely too big for its pants, it was intellectually satisfying and I don't deserve to drink it.

Chef Amanda with Josh Naser helping out.

Onward to Course #5.

I saw lamb on the menu and immediately thought "Lamb!  Hot damn!"

Grilled lamb with cracked black pepper and demi glace served with roasted garlic and rosemary whipped potatoes and sautéed haricot verts.  I loved this.  I love lamb.

And I have discerned that the rising sound levels of the revelers is representative of increasing fellowship, joy, and total success.  The Saltbox Café is getting happier and happier.

Kerry's remarks on the wine, a Clos La Coutale, Cahors 2013:
On to the next wine.  Now we go to France down to the deep into the south west portion of France and to a town that was an ancient Roman center of commerce, originally - the town of Cahors.  The wines traditionally for 100s of years were known as the "black wines of Cahors" because they were so intense and deep and dark.  This happens to be the home for the origination point of Malbec, a great varietal.  And you have to have at least 75% Malbec in your wine to actually label it a Cahors wine.  This is by Clos La Coutale, the producer.  This is a 2013.  You can see as we're moving along,  look at the depth and darkness. The complexity of the reds is also progressing and this is really lovely and has some and has some nice dark "rooting" (Or did he say brooding?) fruit flavors.  Really a wonderful dinner course wine.  75% Malbec and 25% Merlot.

Chef Randolph:  
I just couldn't resist when I saw a French Malbec.  To me, a Malbec comes from South America. We have a big Bordeaux, which by the way, is the last one, so I put this one with the last meat.  It's simply a grilled lamb chop that's been tossed with a little bit of garlic, salt and pepper.  It's grilled and finished in the oven and served over a roasted garlic and rosemary potato purée with a classic peppercorn sauce.

 Rosie's Ramblings: 
 The lamb was paired with Clos La Coutale, Cahors 2013.  This wine was ambitious, fickle, deceptive, supple, agreeable, affable, fleshy, and heady.  Hints of Skittles and stale Halloween Kandy Korns left in a pillow case in the back of the closet, essence of gym socks in a bag, Kool-aid and Jello Shots, along with a spineless, sulky-like-a-teenager bubblegum pop.  Juicy, sweet, and large-scaled, if a bit unrefined, this wine is reminiscent of a Tahitian sunset.  I see outspoken cherries and chattering tangerines coalescing in a marriage of lasciviousness.  Introverted sushi essences battle with an extroverted soapy licorice bouquet and an embittered horseradish element.  They all welcome me to the bottom of the glass.  A full-bodied gingersnap aftertaste and banal egg overtones merge to produce fervent fruit undertones which intertwined with an odiously murderous bluefish aftertaste.  It was jammy and had a cat-pee component.  Like a discordant piece of music, this perky little fruit-forward wine begged for discipline, but yearned to spread its wings and fly away.  It pleaded with me, "Spank me!  Spank me!"  And I did.

A pensive Chef Randolph, waiting to describe our next course.

Course #6 - Dessert.

Bitter chocolate pot de crème with orange whipped chantilly cream, almond biscuit, and house-made cherry preserves.

At this point, I simply died and went to heaven.

This dessert course was paired with Chateau Belles Graves, Lalande de Pomerol 2011.

Kerry's remarks on the wine pairing: 
This is a Bordeaux where we started, this time a red wine. This is Chateau Belles Graves.  This is from LaLand de Pomerol.  That's the area or appellation in Bordeaux.  Bordeaux is a huge estuary area where the Gironde River comes in from the Atlantic.  Left bank of Bordeaux is where Graves was located - that first white wine.  This is over on the other side of the River. Pomerol and St. Emilion are famous areas there, but Lalande de Pomerol is just north.Very similar to Pomerol is that its soil is more more clay and sand than the left side where Cabernet Sauvignon is king.  On this right side, it's much more Merlot, so this is about 78% Merlot and the remainder being Cabernet Franc.  The Merlot has beautiful depthful cherry plum attributes.  Cabernet Franc has herbaciousness.  This is 15 months in French oak which really brings out a lot of complexity to it.  This property is pre-French Revolution property - a fantastic, elegant way to finish the night and a great way to be festive and celebrate this dinner.

Chef Randolph's Comments:
This last wine ... it's a tough one.  It's a beautiful wine and the reason it's actually at the end of this meal is I had to fit it in somewhere.  So I told my wife, "You gotta make a dessert that goes with this."  So, we're taking a chance here. She did a bitter chocolate pot de crème with an orange Chantilly cream on top of cherry preserves on the plate.  It may be a little sweet.  But if it is eat your dessert and finish it up with your wine!

Rosie's Revelations:
What can I say about our last wine?  HAH!!  Make that, "What can't I say!!!"  It was a model of weightless finesse.  Flamboyant, lush, erotically scented, voluptuous, provocative, flirtatious, frisky, lusty, pornographic ...  All come to mind.  We're talkin' Fifty Shades of Rosie!  Dark wild cherries, menthol, tire burn, diesel, spices, minerals, dirt.  This magnetic, insertive wine was like a sexy Hollywood starlet auditioning on the casting couch.  It was full-breasted, libidinous, and sported impressive legs.  In the mouth, it is juicy, full-bodied, and impossible to resist, with transcendent notes of intense luminescence and a lingering finish of soft rounded fullness.  Lavender undertones resulted in a lusty, free-love/Woodstock group hug, inducing a floral, denim, tie-died, herbal finish and you know what type of herb.  It boasted raucous leather mid-tones.  It had a positively lascivious shrimp flavor and fused cruel lemon essences with the satirical aroma of gin.  This is a passionate wine.  It is naughty!  It speaks to me seductively.  I shall heed, since I, too, am naughty.

Now, for the last course, and pièce de resistance... Baby Kallen!

 As the Hawthornes always say, every meal is a celebration of life.
Tonight was an amazing celebration.

 
April came by and she and Mike served up precious little Kallen - 13 days old.
This course was paired with Colington Breastmilk 2015.

 

Kallen works the crowd.
Nothing like a newborn to amp up the AWWWW and AWE factors!

From left to right - our wonderful server, Ashten, new Mommie April, the top of Daddy Dinkle's head, (And Mike is one of the most attentive servers ever!), Josh, Amanda, and Baby Dinkle.

Auntie Amanda is taking this Aunt Business very seriously.
Kellan is working his Auntie!  He already has her wrapped around his little finger.
And I know "that look."

Too cute for words.

I noticed the Saltbox gets its straws from Sysco.

Those cheeks!
Those lips!

Merry Christmas!

Thank you, Chefs Sprinkles, for another amazing night of food and wine.
You rocked it!
A Réveillon Feast indeed!

 Home at last in my fat pants - the Joe Boxer "Spooning leads to forking" ones Mr. Hawthorne gave me for Christmas a few years back.

















 Please pass me the bladder of my CardBordeaux so I can squeeze out the last drops...