Our food and wine pairing party on New Year’s Eve

Michael and I were looking for an inexpensive way to enjoy New Year’s Eve. We wanted to have some fun with friends and family and drink a couple of glasses of wine, so we decided to have a wine pairing party. Our idea went like this, we pick up our newest cookbooks and select a few recipes, then dash to the store to get food and wine. We then prepare the recipes, and finally we try the pairings.

For our New Year’s wine pairing party we decided to serve boiled saltwater shrimp with cocktail sauce, dates stuffed with Stilton cheese wrapped in Serrano ham, mushroom and artichoke escabeche, beef short ribs, and acorn squash risotto.

We decided to save some time and buy the shrimp directly from Central Market on Lamar. We made the mushroom and artichoke escabeche and the beef short ribs from scratch. The recipe for the escabeche was in Paul Gayler’s book, The World in Bite Size: Tapas, Mezze And Other Tasty Morsels. The beef short ribs were prepared using a recipe borrowed largely from The French Laundry Cookbook. We bought the squash risotto at Pasta and Co as a last minute addition for a vegetarian guest.

The wines we selected for our first pairing party were: Elk Cove Winery Pinot Gris 2007, Toffoli Prosecco di Conegliano, Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru 2002, Robert Mondavi Winery Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Argyle Spirit House Pinot Noir 2005, and Domain Du Duc De Magenta 1er Cru Chassagne-Montrachet “Morgeot” Monopole Clos de La Chapelli Louis Jadot 2004.

We started with the shrimp, and both the Elk Cove and the Toffoli paired well. If you used the tomato based cocktail sauce with your shrimp, the clear winner was the Toffoli Prosecco because the Prosecco handled the tomato/horseradish combination better than the Pinot Gris. If, however, you like your shrimp without cocktail sauce, the Elk Cove came out on top. Interestingly enough, the Argyle Pinot Noir paired well with the shrimp and cocktail sauce combination.

Perhaps the most interesting pairings developed around the Stilton cheese-stuffed, Serrano ham wrapped dates. The Elk Cove paired well with the cheese/date combination, but it almost “overlooked” the Serrano ham. Conversely, the Mondavi Cabernet emphasized the ham while it tolerated the cheese and the date.

The mushroom and artichoke escabeche seemed tailor made for the two Burgundies. The natural earthiness of the mushrooms paired nicely with the earthy tones in the “Morgeot” Monopole and the Chambolle-Musigny. The Monopole was a little brighter than the Chambolle, but this dish didn’t need the extra acid.

The beef short ribs were very rich and were prepared using wine. Reduced wine dishes often require very large wines to overcome the reduced wine essence in the sauce, so we expected the Argyle might be the right wine for the ribs. However, the Argyle lacked the acid necessary to pair with the richness of the ribs. Once again, the two Burgundies paired the best, with the Chambolle being the clear winner.

The vegetarian risotto was a nice accompaniment for the ribs, but the sweetness of the acorn squash did not pair very well with red wine. However, it paired nicely with the Elk Cove Pinot Gris.

The New Year’s Eve wine pairing party was a great success. We got to eat some really good food and taste some good wine. We are planning more food and wine pairing parties soon, and we’ll let you know what pairs best.

Check out these related posts:

1. Food and wine pairing: oysters with Champagne, Prosecco, and Cava
2. Food and wine pairing: Oysters, red snapper, and mushroom risotto
3. Wine, food & friends – better than Valentine’s day
4. Food and wine pairing: 2007 Clean Slate Riesling & 2005 Les Bois Menestrel Vacqueyras
5. Choosing wine for a large dinner party of 60 people