November 18th, 2017
                                                 
                                            An Evening of Lobster

This idea was 100% Mat. He loves Lobster and I'm good with it. Thus a new dinner for PMV was upon us for a sold out crowd on an evening in November.

I picked the wines, set the table, serve and chat. Mat cooked and cooked and made us proud!

We started the evening with three wines in front of each guest, smell, taste, swirl. 2011 Chardonnay, 2014 Chardonnay and 2013 Bohemian Pinot.

Our first course, Lobster Bisque, a rich bowl of soup with a couple of fresh Lobster chunks. Our group of sixteen tasted the bisque with all three wines and the outcome was Chardonnay was the preferred varietal although divided between the 2011 and the 2014 Chardonnays. Although my preference was the Pinot. The richness of the bisque could handle it.

Next course was a Salad Roll.

This course had a unanimous wine pairing, Pinot Noir. There were a few fans of both of the chardonnays and mine was the 2011, coming from a cooler vintage the 2011 Chardonnay has beautiful acidity that has aged well. This course was enjoyed by all and the fact that each wine was picked by someone, it speaks versatility.

Next up, popcorn lobster, kinda like the more common popcorn shrimp. morsels of lobster deep fried.
This was served with deep fried avocado and 2 dipping sauces: siracha mayo and wasabi lime mayo.

More difficult to find the best pairing with so many combinations but we did...

Each wine took 33% winning. My favorite was the 2011 Chardonnay. With the siracha sauce the pinot did better and the wasabi sauce the Chardonnays did better.

Indulgence is getting more intense with the fourth course, butter poached lobster. Thomas Keller's recipe served with a slice of Nightengale baguette to soak up the butter. And easier to pick the winning wine, everyone voted for the richer of the two Chardonnays, 2014 Weeks Vineyard won hands down.

The final course, surf and turf, BBQ grilled lobster Tail, Filet with Bernaise Sauce.

We swapped things up a bit for this course, rather than two Chardonnays, we poured two Pinot's, The 2013 Bohemian continued from the beginning and we added in the 2012 Ruxton Pinot. This wine mostly because it has some age, earth and dark fruits, opposite of the Bohemian and I guessed it would do well. And yes it did win.

The last course was cleared and the group sighed in pleasure.

We encourage everyone to take notes about the pairings. After the crowd departed and the table was clear, we found these wonderful notes in black and white which left a great feeling of a successful night, Thank you all for coming out!