Wine Night!

John and I have decided to start having a wine night with some good friends of ours. We offered to host the inaugural event. I was in charge of choosing the wine theme. C'est vrai! I got lots of library books on wine for guidance. Eventually, I settled on wines from the Alsace region of France. This is a variety that I was unfamiliar with and since our wine night is all about exploration, learning, and fun, I thought this was a good fit. In hindsight, I should have gone to the wine store prior to selecting the theme. We had to go to 3 wine shops before we found any of the: Riesling, Pinot Gris, or Gewurtraminer from this region. Our guests had to go to 4. Whoops! Sorry, guys. What troopers! Don't you just love getting invited to someone's house and being sent on a wild goose chase?

Anyway, in all of my research, I found out that Asian foods pair well with these wines. I made Crab Rangoon from Spark People (low fat!) and John made Thai Chicken Pizza from Rachael Ray. I eschewed the "no new recipes for company rule" and it paid off. I'm not abiding by that rule anymore. These were both delicious. And my guests had seconds so I think they liked them too! I also had a cheese tray. Here it is. It's the only thing I remembered to take a picture of. Can you believe it? I was so mad at myself. The cheese plate says 'Le Fromage' but it's covered up.

Oh, and a veggie tray! I used this dip from Martha. Lemon thyme. Also low fat. Holler! I had every intention of making fondue but we had a little incident and the chocolate ended up with the consistency of dirt. Curses! Luckily, I had also assigned dessert to my guests. They brought yummy cherry and chocolate cheesecakes. And left us with the leftovers. Thanks, guys!

Now, onto the drinks..... All three wines were from 2007. Not sure if that was a good year or what but they all tasted good. And I think they all retailed for around $18-$20. There were others that were way more expensive but we were not on champagne budgets tonight. Hosting wine night is plus pricey!






This was the Domaines Schlumberger Pinot Gris. It was very mild tasting. Super citrusy. Lots of lemon and on the bottle, "A well structured, elegant wine with a dry character."











Here is our Riesling from Pierre Sparr. This was a crowd pleaser and it was dry as well. The bottle says "Floral with scents of lime and apple." A similar flavor palate to the Pinot but a completely different taste.









And finally, and my favorite, a Gewurztraminer from The Furst. This was the best label. It talked about the artist's painting of the girl/clown on the front and how she was despondent. We all got a big kick out of that. Gewurtzes have a very interesting taste you don't normally find in other whites.




So, we learned some lessons for this first wine night but overall, c'est si bon! Can't wait until the next one!