Sunday, November 8, 2009

4 Seasons Fall 2009

After several flase starts for unhappy reasons, half the group assembled at Becker's for the Fall 2009 4 Seasons gourmet food & wine dinner. We missed our comrades TERRIBLY, but getting a double wine pour helped ease the pain a bit!



We started with an excellent vintage Champagne from Kim & Jim:
Henri Mandios '93 with some excellent cheeses including a tasty Vermont goat cheese. We toasted the birthday couple, Dave & Lynda, and sang them a Happy Birthday!

Moving the party from the kitchen to the dining room, we settled in for a tasty salad of arugula & figs with a delicious dressing. This was paired with another Becker wine: 2008 La Cote de Jury Sancerre which stood up well against the dressing.

We moved on to skewers of shrimp & a terrific squash soup paired with the final Becker wine: a 2006 Chassagne Montrachet which was breathtaking it had such extraction! The soup was one of the big hits of the evening -- fresh & organic all the way.

Dan & Kathy brought a 1987 Chateau Margaux, one of the five 1st Growth wines from France -- it had aged very well and led to much interesting conversation. Kathy had prepared a wonderful food pairing of crostinis with roast beef. By this time the party was pretty much out of control!

Then Dave & Lynda brought out TWO rustic apple tarts made from a recipe in Katie Lee's new cookbook. Dave paired that with a 2003 Domaine des Baumard Quart de Chaume chenin blanc dessert wine. The pairing was so good that many people had to have a second helping of the dessert just to convince themselves that the pairing was as good as they had imagined.

Lynda & Dave opened birthday cards & presents amid oohs & ahhs galore.

All-in-all a very successful 4 Seasons dinner & many thanks to our host & hostess, Jim & Kim Becker for a great evening!