March 23rd. I’m looking outside at the snowflakes
swirling around the house and thinking about how much it feels like February! When
will this winter end? My mind starts to drift back to February – Valentine’s
Day and the phenomenal Winemaker’s Dinner we enjoyed at Fox Run.
The Barrel Room softly lit with
strings of white lights… the long table decorated warmly with grapevines and candles…
the tantalizing aroma from the kitchen…. It was so good to be back at Fox Run
Vineyards for a winemaker’s dinner! Chef
Brud Holland created
a 5-course dinner to knock the socks off the Valentine’s Day guests. Winemaker Peter Bell paired the perfect Fox
Run wines with each course. This dinner
was exceptional!
As we entered, we were greeted
warmly and given a glass of sparking wine by Scott and Ruth Osborn – the winery
owners. Locally made cheeses (Muranda Cheese Company, Waterloo),
breads (Wide Awake Bakery) and
sausage selections (Autumn’s Harvest,
Romulus) filled the appetizer table. The 30 guests chatted, renewed
friendships, and claimed their places at the table.
We sat down and met our surrounding
dinner companions as the first course was served: Autumn’s Harvest Cornish Game Hen and a
Biscuit with Riesling and Sweet Onion Gravy.
The earthy, rich flavors of the game hen paired beautifully with the Fox Run 2010 Reserve Chardonnay. I might have
thought that Riesling would have been served as there was Riesling in the
gravy, but the Chardonnay was the perfect savory match. Peter spoke of “umami” in his wine description and it was clearly evident in this
pairing. (Check out Umami –the “beautiful
taste, Jon Rowley’s discussion of the meaning of umami at http://jonrowley.com/2010/09/02/umami/). This wine and this food pairing enabled both
to be the best that they could be! I could have stopped right there, but there
was so much more to come!
Course 2:
Scallops with Freekah Risotto, Verjooz glaze
and Micro Greens paired with the 2012 Gewurztriminer. Again a home run! The floral notes of the Gewurztriminer didn’t
give a hint as to how well it paired with the richness of the scallops, “risotto”,
and tangy Verjooz. Verjooz is a product
created by Tina Hazlitt (Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards)
and the late Deb Whiting of Red NewtCellars from half-ripe Cabernet Franc grapes. While “verjus” has been around since the
Middle Ages and is used world–wide, there are only a handful of producers of it
in the U.S. It can be used in recipes calling for gourmet vinegar, lemon or lime. When used as a
replacement, it becomes harmonious with the wine served due to it’s pH level. While various grapes can be used to make verjus,
Verjooz uses Cabernet Franc grapes because they are food friendly. This article
gives a great overview of Verjooz: http://www.fltimes.com/arts_and_entertainment/article_62115342-9abf-11e1 The “Freekah” Risotto is made from Freekah, which Brud
Holland describes as “a green wheat which is harvested, sundried, toasted and
cracked to cook faster. It cooks up like
barley and is high in fiber.” He substituted it for the arborio rice used in risotto
– thus the name! Delicious and local.
Course 3:
Duet of Tenderloin- Herbed Beef (with fresh thyme) and Pork Tenderloin (with dried
rosemary), and Farmer Ground Polenta. The meats, cooked to perfection, paired
scrumptiously with the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon. (a fantastic year for Finger
Lakes reds). I couldn’t decide which
herbed meat combination I liked better, they were both so delicious! I savored
each taste of the wine, the meats and the polenta.
Course
4: Finger Lakes Caesar Salad, which was
a wonderful marriage of Finger Lakes Fresh Hydroponic Romaine served over oven
roasted root vegetables with just the right amount of Caesar dressing and Muranda Asiago-Provolone cheeses. Now what would you pair with this? Riesling
maybe? Probably Pinot Noir wouldn’t be your first choice but with the root
vegetables to bring out the earthiness, the 2010 Pinot Noir was perfect.
OK by this
point I was ready to be rolled home – so much good food! But there was one more surprise to end the
evening: Trifle, Truffles and Tuiles!
This was Chocolate Raspberry Trifle – Chocolate Cake, Raspberries Dark Chocolate
Truffles and Tuiles (Crisp Wafer cookies). Throughout
the evening, Brud was assisted by Chef Christian Thirion, (described by Brud as
a “Renaissance man” who originally trained as a pastry chef in France) The
Tuiles was a successful joint effort of recipes, measurements and alliteration!
Such a decadent dessert combination was
made even more so when paired with Peter’s Fine Old Tawny Port. An absolute firework finish to a fabulous
meal.
Wow – what
an evening! There was a wonderful sense of community throughout - from using
locally sourced ingredients to new friendships forged at the table. And isn’t that what great food and wine
relished and shared among people is all about? We are so blessed in this area
to have such talented, creative artisans who share their gifts with each other
and (thank goodness) with us! Thank-you Fox Run! Cheers!
P.S. A special thank you to Brud Holland for his help with the
culinary details of this post. Brud, a
“Renaisssance Man” himself, is very approachable and can be found at various
food and wine pairing events in the Finger Lakes.
Many of the locally sourced products used in
this dinner were obtained through Finger Lakes Farms
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