Yesterday was my sister’s birthday, however we celebrated it on Saturday cause I can’t drink three bottles of wine on a Tuesday and be a productive member of society the next day. Lucky for us, our favorite place on earth, Frogtown Winery, was having their Harvest Dinner.
We arrived in Dahlonega, GA around 3:00 and checked into our room at the Park Place Hotel. After a brief, but intense, monsoon which conveniently waited to fall just as we were getting our bags out of my car, we unpacked and enjoyed the complementary bottle of Oak Leaf Cabernet the hotel graciously offered. This fine wine can be procured from your local Wal-Mart for around $4.00 a bottle. Never ones to turn our noses up at free wine, we drank every drop.
After the cheap bottle, we were ready for the good stuff, so we made our way to Frogtown.
That's us in the mirror. I'm the one in the yellow cause having a loud voice just isn't enough, I suppose.
We found a table and were soon joined by Ron and Deborah. You couldn’t ask for two nicer, funner people to share a good dinner with. They were awesome and made the whole experience even more enjoyable. Really, if I didn’t already have parents I would ask them to adopt me (I gave them my web address and told them to tune in today, if you couldn’t tell. Hi, Deborah and Ron! You rock!).
Anyway, we were served a four course dinner with wine to complement each course. Here’s the menu:
House Smoked Salmon with Spicy Creme Fraiche and Crostini paired with Frogtown Rose 2008. The Rose was dry and not too sweet and was excellent with the spicy creme fraiche.
Baby Arugula Salad with Scallops and Grain Mustard served with Frogtown Vineaux Blanc 2008. Those scallops were perfection and even though I’m not big on white wine, I enjoyed this pairing.
Medallions of Peppered Pork Tenderloin with Wild Mushrooms with Kritzer Family Reserve Merlot 2006. You can never go wrong with pork and Merlot. Or just Merlot, for that matter. Especially this Merlot.
Lamb Chops over Currant Minted Couscous and Grilled Asparagus served with Frogtown Tannat 2006. The Tannat is big and bold and was excellent with the lamb.
For dessert they had a buffet of half a dozen different pies, tortes and cakes. I managed to sample three of them, but by then I feared for the button on my pants.
There is no better way to experience how a wine can complement a dish than attending a dinner such as this. I know that I don’t ever take the time to pick out just the right wine to go with my spaghetti and meatballs at home and I probably never will. However, I do appreciate the art of wine and food pairings and really enjoy when I can let the experts make those decisions.
I mean, would you trust any decisions made by these two?
The one on the left, maybe. But, definitely not the other one.
