Dinner and a Dehydration

As this weekend comes to a close it is time to reflect on the events of the past two days. From slightly inebriated valet parkers to overdoses of Riesling, Walla Walla has delivered yet another wine-filled, 72-hour journey.

Overlooking the Blues

April 10, 2010 will forever be written down in history as the day on which the third La Porte Brune dinner was held. This month’s feast took place high above the Walla Walla Valley in the home of Walla Faces. The five course meal included thrills, a few spills, and some risotto.

La Porte Brune #3

The wines were all delicious as expected, including the super-yeasty Crement du Jura and the somewhat-bretty Brunello. The Pouilly-Fuisse was fantastic and so was the Alaskan Halibut, but combined they were the weakest pairing of the night. We agreed the dish needed a more acidic wine, as the combination caused the Chardonnay to come across as flabby (which is absolutely never true). That said, it was still a better pairing than anything I’ve come up with in the comfort of my own kitchen. The best pairing of the night went to the Walla Faces Syrah with the Lamb Ragout, however, this may be due to the fact that we had significantly more of the Syrah available than the other wines and therefore had much larger pours.

The Nightcap

Chef Andrae Bopp tossed out stellar dish after stellar fish and ended on a high note with a delicious canolli paired with a pink Moscato d’Asti. As far as I know the 40 people attending the meal and the staff are the only souls to have tried a pink MdA. It had something going on; something which is beyond the level that typed words on a screen can describe. Actually, I’m just lazy.

For the nightcap hosts Rick and Debbie Johnson donated six bottles of a 2003 Brunello. It was not a bad way to end the night, and as far as I know the valet parkers successfully delivered all of the cars as well.