Greek Wine dinner at Parker's Table

I admit I don't know too much about Greek wine, but I definitely love all the Mediterranean food, so it was a no brainer for me to sign up for Parker's Table monthly wine dinner.

I also knew I was in good hands when I saw my wine distributer friend, Matt!

Matt, the wine guy

The first course was called Poseidon's Salad since there were a few fish friends - octopus, calamari, and mussels included. The white wine paired with this was very light and crisp.

Poseidon's Salad

The second course was yogurt marinated chicken with olives and feta in a sumac sauce. For this course, it was paired with both a red and a white. The white had a little more body than the red! 

Chicken Souvlaki

The third course was Beef & Pork Meatballs on top of cous cous, which was paired with a bigger red Greek wine that was able to stand up to a meat dish! I was impressed! I usually think that Greek red wines are light like Pinot Noir, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Beef & Pork Meatballs

Yet, the dessert course was my favorite because the Vanilla Yogurt Panna Cotta with pistachio crumble and apricot jam just melted in my mouth. I didn't even miss that there wasn't any chocolate on top! This was paired with a Pistachio Cream Liqueur, so delicious!

Vanilla Yogurt Panna Cotta

Be sure to go to the Parker's Table website to get on their mailing list. That will let you know when the next wine dinner is coming up!

Menu

Resources:

Parker's Table = https://parkerstable.square.site/

Brook & Bull Wine Dinner at Parker's Table

When I saw the Parker's Table email about a female winemaker and wine dinner, I instantly remembered the name, Brook & Bull, from a wine club meetup we had last year!

I learned that Brook & Bull's name come from two types of trout, since the winemaker's name is Ashley Trout. She was incredibly sweet!

Ashley Trout

And I also remembered the gorgeous labels on her bottles...

Brook & Bull lineup

This wine dinner was unique in that it was a vegetarian meal, so I was curious how the courses would be paired with the wines. Everything was delicious and well paired together after all, so I hope to do more wine dinners at Parker's Table in the future.

We started the evening off with a glass of the Rose, not too sweet and not too dry, just right!

The first course paired a Chardonnay with egg salad on a crostini (I got to have 2!) and a grilled endive salad. The Chardonnay has just a touch of oak so it had enough body to stand up to the creamy egg salad without overpowering it.

Egg salad and Grilled Endive

The second course was a cheese course!! Fior di Alpi, a Swiss cheese, Drunken Goat, and a blue cheese. (More wine dinners should probably have these, although I admit, I tend to overdue it.) This was paired with a Cabernet Franc, which I was surprised that she did not use to mix into a blend, but instead, let  it shine on its own.

Cheese course!

The main course was a huge arancini patty with vegetables, which is one of my favorite things to order at an Italian restaurant! This was paired with a "GSM" blend, although there were a couple of other grapes, Syrah and Counoise, included. Since this red blend is a little bigger than the Cab Franc, it definitely needs to be paired with food.

Arancini and vegetables

For dessert there was chocolate!! A pots de creme! It was so creamy and delicious, and rich, so the Cabernet Sauvignon was a good choice, although definitely a bigger red. Not as big as Napa Valley, but still big, so it should definitely be paired with something that can stand up to it.

Pots de creme

Menu

I hope to find more reasons to drink Brook & Bull wines!

Resources:

Parker's Table = https://www.parkerstable.com/

Brook & Bull = https://www.brookandbull.com/

2nd Annual American Cheese Month Charity Event

Thanks to Feast magazine, I was thrilled to hear about the 2^nd Annual American Cheese Month Charity Event that took place last Friday, hosted by Parker’s Table in Richmond Heights. First, I was happy that I had only missed one year and second, this gave me a chance to try out a new wine and cheese store, in addition to eating a lot of cheese at one time!

To help celebrate, American Cheese Month, eight artisinal cheeses were creatively paired with charcuterie from Salume Beddu as well as red and white wine. The event was presented and produced by CheezSorce, a cheese-making consulting company.

It was very hard not to take a lot of cheese at once, I did make my way around the floor a couple of times to make sure I got a good taste of each of the eight cheeses. I was very biased since my favorite local cheese makers were on the list for the evening.

The first stop was Baetje Farms and Veronica Baetje was handing out samples of their Bloomsdale cheese herself. She told me that she hopes to place some of her fruit blend cheeses in Dierbergs very soon.

Another favorite, Green Dirt Farm, was the second stop and they are located near the Kansas City area. Sarah Hoffman was also handing out samples but I spoke to one of her assistants for a while about the dinners they host at the farm. They will bring in a different chef each month to cook the meal, usually consisting of cheese and goat courses. The dinners were so successful that they sold out every single one! (I think that would make a fun road trip weekend.) Anyway, Green Dirt Farm served their Woolly Rind but my favorite is their Bossa…a gooey and VERY stinky cheese.

Another cheese with a strong flavor was the Prairie Breeze Cheddar, made by Milton Creamery from Milton, Iowa. This was the best cheddar of the night and the sharpest cheese.

There were also a couple of mozzarella cheeses and a blue, but my favorite cheese goes to Jasper Hill Creamery from Greensboro, Vermont. They had a creamy and gooey cow’s milk cheese that almost required a fork to eat, with a hint of barnyard flavor to it. Just like Epoisses, the best cheeses are messy!

Here is the full list:

1. Baetje Farms, Bloomsdale, Goat’s Milk, Bloomsdale, MO
2. Green Dirt Farm, Wooly Rind, Sheep’s Milk, Westin, MO
3. Chapel Hill Creamery, Fresh Mozzarella, Cow’s Milk, Chapel Hill, NC
4. Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, Flagship Reserve, Cow’s Milk, Seattle, WA
5. Avalanche Cheese, Bandaged Goat Cheddar, Goat’s Milk, Basalt, CO
6. Milton Creamery, Prairie Breeze Cheddar, Cow’s Milk, Milton, IA
7. Jasper Hill Creamery, Harbison, Cow’s Milk, Greensboro, VT
8. Valley Shepard Creamery, Crema de Blue, Jersey Cow and Sheep's Milk, Long Valley, NJ

Resources:

Parker’s Table = http://parkerstable.com/

Feast Magazine = http://www.feaststl.com/feast-events/article_b0dfb304-d829-11e1-a7e0-001a4bcf6878.html

Salume Beddu = http://salumebeddu.com/

CheezSorce = http://cheezsorce.com/

Baetje Farms = http://baetjefarms.com/

Green Dirt Farm = http://www.greendirtfarm.com/

Milton Creamery = http://www.miltoncreamery.com/

Jasper Hill Creamery = http://jasperhillfarm.com/