During our getaway week at The Cove, our vacation home getaway in Destin (FL), we attended the Price Fixe Wine dinner at the "Tour of Bordeaux" Wine Dinner at The Wine Bar in Destin.
This is the same restaurant where we held our Pour Boys Wine Group wine dinner last spring as we gathered in Destin (FL) for the gala SoWal (South Walton Beaches) Wine Festival weekend.
That Saturday evening following the SoWal Wine Festival Activities, we dined at The Chef’s Table Wine Room in The Wine Cellar Room at the Wine Bar Restaurant in Destin. We featured that dinner in this blogpost in these pages - Chef’s Table Dinner at Wine Bar Destin.
This “Tour of Bordeaux” evening was kicked off and hosted by emcee Wade Starwalt, Wine Sales Director of The Wine Bar.
The dinner showcased a curated flight of carefully selected Bordeaux wines, each paired with a gourmet dinner course, crafted to enhance and complement that courses distinct characteristics.
As I’ve exclaimed often in these pages, the proper pairing matching food with the ideal wine greatly amplifies the enjoyment of both.
The pairings this evening were wonderful for each course. This was especially impressive since several of the wines were modestly priced high QPR (Quality-Price-Ratio) wines, which showed exceptionally well with the accompanying food courses. It’s easy to pair foods with expensive wines, but much more challenging to achieve great pairings with moderately priced wines.
Each wine paired with the courses was then curated and described by guest speaker Cassidy Stiebing, Regional Sales Director and Bordeaux expert from Twins, a French Bordeaux Negociant and US Distributor.
Wine steward, Cassidy Stiebing is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, now residing in New York City. Her time between those two cities included several years in Europe, where she pursued a career in the wine industry — first in La Rioja, Spain, then in France. In 2019, she earned an MBA in Wine Business from INSEEC University in Bordeaux, which led to her role at Château Pape Clément, overseeing the U.S. market.
After six years immersed in the world of Bordeaux, Cassidy transitioned to the negociant side of the industry in 2023, taking on her current role as Regional Sales Director and Bordeaux Ambassador at TWINS Bordeaux. (Twins provided photo).
The evening was delightful with exceptional food and wonderful wines, supurbley prepared, presented and served. All were matched perfectly to ameliorate each course. The venue, setting, food, wine, program presentation and service were all spectacular, meeting the highest expectations in every respect and offering a great value for such an event.
The wine flight:
The dinner courses, and pairings:
First Course.- Reception - Goat Cheese Croquettes with tomato sauce, Acorn Squash, Gorgonzola and Walnut Crostini, and Cheese and Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms with Garlic Aioli.
The First Course was Shaved Sprout Salad with Apples, Walnuts, Cranberries, Feta Cheese, and Braised Pork Belly with Hot Bacon Vinaigrette.
The Second Course was Grilled Hangar Steak with Chimichurri, New Portato Dauphinoise and Carrots.
The wine paired for the Second course Château Lilian Ladouys St Estephe 2018
The Third Course was Bone-In Venison Chop with Roasted Butternut Sage Veloute’ Sauce over Parsnip Mash.
The venison was brilliantly paired with Château Poesia Grand Cru St Emilion 2019.
The Fourth and Final Course was Dark Chocolate Expresso Panna Cotta with Conconut and Raspberry Coulis.
The Fourth Dessert Course was paired with Château Clos Junet Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2020
We certainly don’t need more wine for our cellar and thereby are selection in what we acquire these days as we work to consume our broad collection. As such while we do strive to support the venues that host such events, we don’t always feel compelled to acquire the wines. Never-the-less, we thought enough of the flight this evening that we purchased each of the selected wines to have for future consumption at our holiday home.
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