Australian Wine Dinner

served with a baked aged-Brie torte with raspberry and strawberry. Aromas of honeysuckle and citrus fruits from the Chardonnay with notes of strawberry and red flowers from the Pinot Noir. No dough-like sensation on the nose, instead a bouquet of roasted nuts and nougat. Crisp, precise and focused.

served with Wild Halibut encrusted with toasted cashew, scallion and lemon zest on a bed of toasted hominy and diced day-boat scallop hash. This wine proved to be a near perfect pairing. The absence of malolactic allowed the wine to bring out the highlights of the fish as well as the lemon zest and toasted cashews. The wild ferment added complexity and body which went wonderfully with the texture of the hominy and scallop hash. The underlying acidity was very refreshing - the wine was quite balanced overall.

This was my favorite pairing of the night. Served with a cast-iron seared Veal Flat Iron steak with creamy melted leek Marsala sauce and Napa cabbage compote. The aromas are primarily floral with rose petals, black cherry, nutmeg and cream. The Tempranillo is co-fermented with the Viognier which adds silkiness to the texture and rounds it out quite well with a dollop of Grenache. Easy drinking and well balanced.

The wine was a bit tight on first pour, but opened up nicely in 15 minutes. Paired with an herb roasted duck leg stuffed with shitake mushroom with a black pepper syrup. Served with mascarpone sweet potato and hoisin bbq reduction. A medium + bodied wine with notes of cedar and ripe red fruits - some earthiness in the background. Not overly complex, but with a pleasant mouthfeel, this wine needed more umph to power through this complex dish.

A youthful Cabernet that requires at least a one hour decant. Served with Argentinean spiced Buffalo tenderloin with an espresso-chocolate chipotle sauce, horseradish water cress, potato puree with a tomato-cilantro vinaigrette. The wine was complex enough to highlight the dish, but was too young to get past the primary black pepper/green bell pepper aromas to observe much fruit. Wonderfully textured with a medium + persistence and great structure.

served with an ancho chile flan, with almond hippen crisp and orange reduction, the wine powered thru the heat of the ancho chile dusting and proved to be a great textural pairing to the flan. Notes of orange zest and caramel highlighted the orange reduction. One of the better pairings for this very sweet sticky.