Holiday Party – Wine and Food Extravaganza

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Happy Holidays 2019Last night, our neighborhood wine club — the Birch Bay Wine and Food Society — held an amazing holiday dinner. More specifically, talented chefs and volunteers in the neighborhood prepared a wine and food extravaganza. Details of the menu are below. But first, we just have to share our new favorite rosé, which we tasted for the first time at the dinner.

It’s one of those times when you sip, and then shake your head, wondering why you have never tasted this wine before.

2017 Edmunds St. John Bone-Jolly Gamay Noir Rosé

2017 Edmunds St. John Bone-Jolly Gamay Noir Rosé The New York Times named this 2017 rosé as the best rosé in the United States. We’ve tasted many rosés over the years, and this one definitely deserves the accolades. Berkeley winemaker Steve Edmunds is known in California as the ultimate winemaker’s winemaker. This was the first time we tasted Bone-Jolly, but it will not be the last.

Holiday Dinner Menu

All we can say is wow. This holiday dinner showcased dedication to the highest quality ingredients, paired with creativity and top-notch wines.

Appetizers and Bubblies

  • Phyllo brie bites with apple cider jelly
  • Shrimp in wonton cups
  • Bites of prosciutto, pear, and blue cheese
  • Stars Peralada Rosé, Spain
  • Berthelet Champagne, France
  • 2017 Ginglinger-Fix Cremant d’Alsace, France

Amuse Bouche

  • Oysters Rockefeller or Portobello Mushroom Rockefeller
  • La Cetto Brut, Baja, California

Soup, Salad and Bread

  • Carrot and Vanilla Bean soup with fresh citrus
  • The aforementioned wine: 2017 Edmunds St. John Bone-Jolly Gamay Noir Rosé
  • Butter lettuce rosettes with warm mushroom dressing (made with homemade red wine vinegar, aged since 2014!)
  • Chardonnay Herb Focaccia (Chardonnay was used instead of water to make the flour)
  • 2015 Terre Coeur Pinot Noir, Oregon
  • 2016 La Chanterelle Syrah, Bellingham, WA

Main Course

Cider-brined pork roast with chestnut-and-black-truffle stuffingThere are no words to adequately describe this course, but we will try anyway. Imagine whole pork loin roasts with stuffing made from sourdough bread, chopped chestnuts and black truffles. Add a 20-hour reduction gravy made with Sicilian marsala wine and a dozen McIntosh apples. These apples just melted into the gravy.

Furthermore, English peas, Gin-fried sugar snap peas (Bombay Saphire gin), sweet potato slices and lemony pea vines topped the pork.

Two delicious wines complemented this sumptuous course: 2016 Avennia Gravura Red Blend from Washington and 2014 Von Strasser Napa Cabernet.

Dessert

Wrapping up this food and wine extravaganza – a beautiful hazelnut-crusted cheesecake with candied hazelnuts and blackberry drizzle. The hazelnuts grow in nearby Lynden, and the blackberries grow right here in Birch Bay. Instead of wine, a light, refreshing, low-alcohol (6%) cider was paired with the dessert: Eric Bordelet Cider, from France.

Finally, our dear friend Jenise Stone (chef extraordinaire with an awe-inspiring palate) organized this spectacular holiday party, assisted by her wonderful husband, Bob Stone. And almost 40 people contributed their time and talent in cooking, decorating, and so much more.

What a wonderful way to start the holidays! What a wonderful place to live!

Cheers!
Margot and Dave