By Rick Riozza
The last time we did up France, we were covering the 2015 French Open Tennis Championships at Stade Rolland Garros. And if you remember, we visited three famous but different wine regions that were only a day’s trip away from the tournament in Paris. En France, we enjoyed Champagne, Chablis and Sancerre.
Alors! This time, we can stay put, catch the BNP Paribas locally at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, and can again delightfully enjoy Champagne, Chablis, Sancerre—along with fabulous red wine from Bordeaux and the Rhône, at the long-awaited Vive La France Wine Pairing Dinner, this Saturday March 19, 2016 at the Pinzimini Restaurant located in the Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa in beautiful Rancho Mirage.
Readers of this column and the valley’s foodie residents are very well aware of the popular and continuing wine-dinner series “Le Serate di Vino” (Evenings of Wine) that show-case the immense talent of James Beard Honored Executive Chef Joel Delmond and his stellar crew of Chefs de Cuisine. These are elegant, lively, and fun evenings where the theme is to match world class wine to world class dining. It’s always one of the treats of the year.
And, as your somm-confident, I am honored as well to bring you the news of this major wine-pairing event. So here’s the deal right up front: The cost of each dinner is incredibly $99 plus tax and gratuity! This Vive La France wine dinner includes a Reception, where Ahi Tuna and Foie Gras is served along with Lanson Black Label Brut Champagne, and Four Dinner Courses following that are paired with the French wines of your dreams.
My son Paolo, resident foodie and neighborhood chef, recently caught up with the Chef to get his personal insight on this dinning event. And by the way—who other than our beloved Chef Joel, who began his culinary studies in his native France, do we wish to experience authentic French cuisine!
At the Reception, the Fois Gras will be shaved over the Ahi Tuna with compressed pear and dehydrated black olive to give the appetizer a complexity of sweet, salty, and savory nuance. It’s the perfect match for the Brut Black Label Lanson Champagne.
This is the consummate Champagne for Champagne lovers. It’s lively in the flute with its fine stream of persistent bubbles, with aromas of nectarine, pear, lemon curd and subtle ginger and floral accents. The bouquet continues onto the palate with ripe orchard fruit and citrus, which create a sensation of opulence while maintaining a cleansing lightness. Honestly, we could continue quaffing this bubbly throughout the meal, and everyone would be happy—but, we’re here to consider a lot of great French wine.
For the First Course, we’ll be treated to Frisée Lettuce with Smoked Lardon with warm crottin de Chavignol, with an apple cider vinaigrette on levain toast. This very-French goat cheese salad will meet its heavenly match with the fresh and bright 2014 Joseph Drouhin Vaudon Chablis.
This Drouhin Chablis is a light/medium bodied French Chardonnay with fresh scents of grapefruit, apricot, and apple, with crisp tastes of lemon, lychee, citrus, and hints of mango. Interestingly, last year, we had this same incredibly tasty salad and wine at the vineyard restaurant in Chablis! Chef Delmond definitely hit the Burgundy-mark on this course
Paolo can’t stop talking about the evening’s Second Course. He says, “just when you thought a puff pastry dish was so 1980’s, this Vol-au-Vent blew me away! The pastry was prepared perfectly—crispy, buttery, light but luscious with its savory mixture of precious morel mushrooms, firm and delicious veal sweetbreads, in a rich and blissful Armagnac sauce that was fit for a king!—a comfort dish to the nth power.”
The wine chosen to match such a crowning dish will be the 2013 Robert Cantin Les Pierblancs Sancerre. This wine is the quintessential French Loire Sauvignon Blanc with its classic quenching and cleansing character that is light but flavorful, and brisk. This cuvee is known as the “poet’s wine” where generations of artists past enjoyed this famed Loire wine in the Paris bistros.
The Third Course will feature a country French Roasted Rabbit Saddle in Dijon Mustard sauce with Cipollini onion atop broccoli leaves. Roasted rabbit is the traditional French entrée for the new spring season that outshines chicken as to flavor and textures.
And of course, the culinary match made in heaven will be the pairing with the famed Domaine Vieux Lazaret Chateauneuf-du Pape from the Avignon region in the south of France. For you wine enthusiasts—simply speaking, the producer and name of this wine is enough. For those who have not experienced this wine of the ages—saddle up!
And concluding with the Dessert Course, we will be treated to a Raspberry-Yuzu Mille-Feuille. French artistic pastry, beautifully layered with fruit and dollops of the Yuzu pastry cream. Ooh là là!
And, featuring a dry but fruity Cru Bourgois Bordeaux, the Château Saint Ahon Haut-Médoc. Pairing a classic red Bordeaux with dessert is très français by the local Bordelaise who find no need of a sweet wine for patisserie enjoyment.
Bon Appétit and Cheers! À bientôt!—see you there!
7 p.m. in the resort’s Polo Room. The cost of each dinner is $99 plus tax and gratuity, with limited seating available. Reservations are required asap by calling (760) 770-2150 or via email to pinziminips@westin.com.
