Our evening started on the lower level of the Mandarin Oriental with all the wonderful passed canapes. The fresh, fruit forward and low oaked chardonnay was a welcome treat and worked with almost everything from the exciting and various sushis to the delicate trout mousse served between two thin sweet potato phyllo-like chips. While the BLOOD SAUSAGE TART was magnificent, the big mistake was the FOIE GRAS RAVIOLI which may have been decadent and tasty, oozed way too much oil from the deep frying and subsequently decorated my lapels with several nasty stains!
We moved upstairs for the seated dinner to a beautifully decorated private dining room with wondrous art and a great display of the Lemelson wines. This was my first experience with these top-notch Oregon Pinot Noirs, and I can't say enough of how impressive they were, not to mention the descriptions and engaging anecdotes from their owner, Eric Lemelson. He bought the land in 1990, planted vines five years later and built the winery in '99 in the North Willamette Valley. It is amazing how quickly he has mastered the production of such quality wines.
The crunchy baby pig was a wondrous starter made brilliant by the caraway beet jam and cherry-beer glace. The first Pinot was the non-designated blend called "Thea's" named for Mr. Lemelson's mother. The wine was lush and intense in the nose and totally full of massive fruit flavors. Thea must be very proud! It had a huge explosion in the mouth, and this 2003 will work wonderfully as an intense sip-alone red, or paired with almost any food.
The CHESTNUT SOUP was rich and creamy and we all asked why it was not served first. The ultimate reason was to pair it with the first single vineyard Pinot. The STERMER Pinot Noir is silky and smooth and oh so subtle, just like the soup itself. We all decided it was an extraordinary pairing and ultimately, did not mind the soup after the pork!
The skate wing was a delicate dish, yet the lobster cannelloni had a big enough flavor and bang to match up to the MEYER Pinot with its big cherry taste from the intense volcanic soil.
The Roast Lamb Barbier was a treat with its many different aspects. The Meat had a magnificent crusty coating (called a farcie, meaning stuffing) made of veal sweetbreads and caulfat (what is that?). The high elevation CHESTNUT HILL Vineyard Pinot came off as truly elegant and as before, was a masterful pairing from Sommelier Christopher Hile.
The dessert was the only let down of the evening. I adore Floating Islands (aka Oeufs a la Neige) and really did not enjoy this pineapple-coconut version very much. The RIESLING was a nice wine, but I couldn't help wishing for a sweeter dessert wine, so I simply finished my meal off with another glass of that ecstatically elegant Chestnut Hill Pinot along with some of the tasty post-dessert munchies.
I can't WAIT for the PAUL HOBBS dinner in APRIL! I'm flying to Chicago right now as I write where I will report on BLACKBIRD and EVEREST this weekend!
Passed Canapés served with LEMELSON Chardonnay 2003
Warm Chipollini, Apple and Blood Sausage Tart
Crispy Apricot and Goose Foie Gras Raviolis
Escargot, Prosciutto, Rosemary and Fennel Jam
Chef Juan, Banquet Sous Chef
Chilled Sweet Potato and Smoked Trout-Caper Rilette
Sushi Fantasies
Chef Erwin, Gardemanger Sous Chef and Chef Ogawa, Sushi Master
First Course
Crackling Kurobuta Baby Pig, Caraway Beet Jam, Cherry-Beer Glace, Semolina Roll
Chef Michael, Banquet Sous Chef
Lemelson 2003 Pinot Noir Thea's Selection
Second Course
White Asparagus Truffle Mousse, Chestnut Soup
Chef Jason, Executive Sous Chef
Lemelson Pinot Noir 2003 Stermer Vineyard
Third Course
Olive Oil Poached Skate Wing, Lobster Cannelloni, Caramelized Turnip Puree, Roasted Root Vegetables, Carrot Lobster Emulsion
Chef Rannae, Main Kitchen
Lemelson Pinot Noir Meyer Vineyard
Fourth Course
Roast Lamb Barbier, Crisp Lamb Confit, Goat Cheese Flan, Wilted Baby Spinach, Garlic-Mint Chutney
Chef David, Chef de Cuisine Café MoZu
Lemelson Pinot Noir 2003 Chestnut Hill Vineyard
Fifth Course
Pina Colada Floating Island
Chef James, Executive Pastry Chef
Lemelson Riesling 2004
Mignadieres
Culinary Coordinator
Christian W. Schmidt, Executive Chef
Sommelier, Christopher Hile
Last night was a revelation, as I had never enjoyed the wines of Eric Lemelson from the North Willamette Valley in Oregon ever before. Starting with the delicious crisp fruit forward Chardonnay to the superb Pinot Noirs I was totally impressed. Mr. Lemelson spoke at length about how he bought his first vineyard in 1990, planted it in 1995, built the winery in 1999 and has been making totally organic and extraordinary wines for less than a decade!
We started the evening with lots of fantastic passed hor's d'oevres in the grand foyer on the lower level, then proceeded upstairs to an intimate private room with beautiful artwork and a wonderful display of all the wines. While the various sushis were exquisite, my favorite was a salmon roll with a dab of mustard on top. The adorable smoked trout mousse was presented between two small square sweet potato chips and was irresistible. Sadly, the deep fried foie gras ravioli oozed tons of oil all over my suit as I bit into it. I did not look pretty for the remainder of the evening!
Upstairs, we sat down to a long evening of wonderful conversation, wine talk, food and THOSE PINOT NOIRS! Thea's Selection is named for Eric Lemelson's mother and is a blend of all the various vineyards. It has an intense nose and huge flavor with a big explosion in the mouth. This wine will work wonderfully as an intense sipping red just alone, or paired with many different types of food. The slice of crackling pig was indeed a perfect pairing, crunchy and tasty with some dried cherries and that superb, yet non-invasive cherry-beer glace. The caraway beet jam on the side was to die for! Perhaps the only change I would have made in the meal would have been to reverse the two courses (and, of course, eliminate the grease from the ravioli), but the logic here from the chefs was clearly to work with the WINES FIRST. The second Pinot from the STERMER VINEYARD, thus was a silky, smooth and subtle wine, easily discerned from the soils it grows in. We were all mightily impressed with this perfect Pinot, and its pairing was ingenious in the rich, silky, smooth Chestnut Soup. So,
if we had started with the soup and gone on to the baby pig, the food might have progressed logically, but the wines would have not. A dilemma, no doubt.
The MEYER Pinot exhibited huge cherry flavor from its intense volcanic soil and was perhaps just slightly too big for the oh so delicate skate wing and lobster canneloni. The dish was superb, one of the highlights of the evening and an ingenious combination of so many wonderful parts to make the whole. Even the individually sculpted mushrooms showed such intricate work from the kitchen.
The meat course was virtually impossible to finish, and again exhibited a masterful combination of elements. The Roasted Lamb had a "hood" of farcie (stuffing) made up of veal sweetbread and caulfat (I never heard of that) that was simply ideal with the "elegant" CHESTNUT HILL VINEYARD Pinot Noir. It was hard to choose which part of the dish was the best.
By dessert I was so full I had only one bite of the unexciting Pina Colada Floating Islands. I adore floating islands and truly wish it was a simpler, more traditional concoction of the egg whites on creme anglaise. This was just too much at the end of such a big meal. The Riesling was also an odd pairing, as I would have easily preferred a late-harvest of the same wine! Mr. Lemelson said that they had tried to produce some sweet wines, but the vines had, alas, just rotted, rather than sweetened. So, my dessert was a little bite of the Mignardise and some more of that superbly "elegant" Chestnut Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir,
before heading home totally enlightened by this newfound vineyard and the chefs of the Mandarin Oriental!
