A Wine Connoisseur's Dinner

Mr. A hosted a wine dinner last Friday night in our home. He has been collecting wine for years (think baseball cards!) and is part of a"wine club" which meets every couple of months to have tastings and share the wines from their cellars. They call themselves the BNO wine club, short for "Boys Night Out."

When it came his turn to host, he wanted to make the evening special with a full-on sit down dinner. So he hired our daughter Ashley to cater the event.

THE TABLE SETTING:

My contribution was the tablescape. I know I've featured most of the dishes before, but wanted to use these plates again because of the grape motif.

I varied the color of the glasses, chargers, candles and napkin rings: Red, green and purple.

Holding court is this centerpiece of two dozen garden roses in this ice bucket.

I hate to admit it, but I literally threw this all together at the last minute!

I love how this photo shows how the glasses, roses and candles look like gems on the table.

THE FOOD:

Meanwhile, Chef Ashley is in the kitchen preparing the meal.

First, she set up her "Mis en Place."

This thin slice of Wagu beef will be used for an hor d'oeuvre.

Like this quinelle of Wagu beef tartar on a small toasted crostini.

Shots of sunchoke soup with a drizzle of white truffle oil were passed around.

Also, there was a selection of local artisan cheeses to round out the appetizers.

The first course was a little gem lettuce salad with creamy herb dressing garnished with avocado cubes, slivered almonds, radish, and shaved peppercorn pecorino cheese. Aaron acted as her sous chef.

The second course was a Tagliatelle pasta with morel mushrooms, peas and garnished with pea shoots.

Finally, the main course was rack of lamb on a bed of pearled barley with golden raisins, arugula and goat cheese.

Chocolate cake drizzled with blueberry puree and garnished with strawberries complete the meal.

THE WINES:

Everyone brought wine to share. The tasting becomes quite serious as everyone takes notes and rates the wines. I enjoyed listening to the banter back and forth as they discussed the various qualities of the wines.

This is a "flight" of Chateauneuf de Pape, 1988, 1989, 1994 and 1997.

The newest member is also the oldest member. At 81, Ben has been collecting wine since 1959!

He was very generous to bring this 1957 bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape.

Everyone was amazed that Ben brought this 1847 (that's right) bottle of sherry!

It's hard to believe that something this old could taste so divine!

The "Boys Night Out" wine group enjoying a gourmet meal and world class wines.

It was a fabulous evening!

I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

On Friday, I'll be linking up to Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday,

and My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

Saturday, I'll be joining Laurie at Bargain Hunting with Laurie for Favorite Things Saturday.

Be sure to visit each of these blogs for more tabletop and food inspiration.

Check out a new meme called Centerpiece Wednesdays at The Style Sisters.