A Story About Betty’s Pinot Noirs

The last time we went north to stay with Betty, her and I combed through her wine cellar while Hubs was at work.  She had some older Pinots that she wanted to get opened, so of course I offered to do a dinner for them.  Who wouldn’t?  2004 Ken Wright?  Yes, please.  Wine people problems.  And of course all of the various Pinots were made with Betty’s fruit.  I mean, tastings like that come along very rarely.  Speaking of rare, I settled on lamb for this event.  So we made a list and I took it home and made a menu to match.  Well, I matched it as best as I could without tasting the wine first, but based solely on what I know about her fruit and what I know of the various vintners and their style choices.  It was kind of a challenge and there was one vintner I was not familiar with so I had a wild card bottle to deal with.  I decided to roll the dice and go with my gut.

Well, we did the dinner last weekend.  It was lovely to get away.  Betty’s house is one of my favorite places to go to unwind.  She put together quite the guest list of wine people old and new.  Some of the faces I haven’t seen since I moved to Oregon ten years ago and it was a kick to catch up.  It was fantastic to talk about grapes and this year’s vintage and who’s building what where and who’s sold and who hasn’t while we sipped Elton Chardonnay on the deck over my pate and a stone ground mustard a girlfriend of mine made.

Next came the amuse bouche.  I did a lamb meatball in black cherry sauce over jasmine rice perfumed with herbs d’provence and paired with the O’Brien ’12 Pinot Noir.

Then we had a little crunchy salad of cucamelons and lemon cucumbers from my farm, Walla Walla onions from Brosi, artichoke hearts I had roasted in lemon and olive oil, shaved kohlrabi, and some cherry tomatoes one of the guests brought on baby greens with an Oregon honey balsamic vinaigrette, which was paired with a Lavinea Pinot Noir.

Time for a break with some pomegranate sorbet….mmmmm….

Finally it was time for dinner!  I had spied some nice sized shitake mushrooms at the store earlier so I tossed them in some marinade and roasted them earlier in the day and hid a cap under each slice of lamb.  I roasted the lamb leg in a crust of minced garlic, rosemary from my farm, dijon mustard, black pepper, and olive oil.  I positioned it on top of three thick slices of Walla Walla onions and poured some white wine into the roasting pan.

And then I roasted it on 350 for about an hour.

I made a dark roux and added merlot, some thyme from Betty’s garden, and the pan drippings from the lamb roast and spooned it over each individual mushroom.  I served the slices of lamb with baby potatoes roasted in duck fat and my own herbed Himalayan salt blend and finished the potatoes with truffle oil.  I topped it all with some salt and pepper asparagus roasted in olive oil.  We poured the ’04 and the ’06 Ken Wright Pinot Noirs.

Betty and Hubs went up on the hill and picked a bucket of blackberries for me while I prepped dinner earlier that day because I really wanted to do that berries and cream I had discovered with Elizabeth one night after dinner in the Gypsy Corner.  It’s just some fresh made vanilla whipped cream topped with blackberries, a pinch of lemon zest, a pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of Maldon salt flakes, and splashed with some really good cognac.  This time I hid a little bite of brownie under the whipped cream.  We all decided we needed more O’Brien Pinot Noir for this.

I finally sat down and had a little bubbly with the guests.  Happiness is seeing people satiated from a fantastic dining experience, laughing and chatting and clinking glasses.  This is where the good stuff happens….the embarrassing yet hilarious stories come out.  One guest serenaded us.  Miraculously, the weather was cooperating and the night was gorgeous out on her deck.  Hubs had a fire going in her outdoor fireplace and it was just perfect.  I could have slept out there.