Let's make a toast to 2011!

Last night, Jim and I celebrated the New Year as we do every year with our dear friends Dave and Kathy. Back in the day when money was tight and we were just starting out, making the New Year's Eve dinner at home was our preference. Then when the girls were little, we changed from New Year's Eve dinner to New Year's Day brunch. Well, the girls are in college and have New Year's ideas of their own, so we are back to having dinner together, just the four of us. It has been a lovely tradition that helps us to catch up on news and ponder possibilities in the new year.

This year it was our turn to have dinner at our house. Jim and I wanted to do something a little different, so we decided to put on our own wine and food pairing dinner. So here is what our menu was and our choice of wines to go with each course:

Appetizers: Garlic shrimp/cocktail sauce, Bruschette/rosemary and sage bruschette toasts paired with Damiani's 2007 Sparkling Wine.

Course 1: Warm Spinach Salad with pears, pecans and Gorgonzola cheese paired with Anthony Road 2008 Semi-Sweet Riesling.

Course 2: Lobster bisque with Standing Stone 2007 Reserve Chardonnay

Course 3: Lobster Ravioli. Here's where personal preference made a difference in the wine we chose. If the sauce was butter/wine sauce the wine choice was to continue the Chardonnay. If it was the vodka sauce, the choice was Van Duzer 2002 Estate Pinot Noir.

Course 4: Beef tenderloin, grilled asparagus and twice baked potatoes. Wine: Whitehall Lane 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Dessert: Cheese cake with Raspberry drizzle and Standing Stone 2008 Vidal Ice.

Midnight: Pillitteri Estates 2008 Sparkling Icewine Cabernet.

It was a wonderful evening. My daughter and I watched Julie & Julia as we prepared the food - just to get in the Julia Child frame of mind. Jim and I mapped out time frames - when to turn this on, when to put that on or take that off. At 6:30 our guests arrived, we poured the Damiani's and the celebration began. OK, so the Damiani sparking wine was a LOT drier than we anticipated or remembered. It was a wonderful, clean,crisp sparking wine. We liked it a lot, but debated whether a sweeter champagne would have paired better with the shrimp. The jury is still out on that one. However, we LOVED the Riesling with the salad. Great choice. As was the Standing Stone Reserev Chardonnay with the lobster bisque. Home run on those. The lobster ravioli choices were great. Jim and I had pondered/obsessed about whether a Pinot Noir could go with the lobster ravioli with vodka sauce. Everything we read said Chardonnay or Champagne with lobster, but the Pinot was outstanding with it! Of course the Cab Sav was perfect with the tenderloin and the ice wine with the cheese cake was also a really nice pairing. Finally our special sparkling ice wine that we bought in Niagara on the Lake was the perfect way to end a great evening with good friends! The evening was a success - really fun to plan and execute! So happy 2011 - may your year be filled with good friends and good wine!