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Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
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Accents and Five Crowns slate wine dinners this month



ACCENTS


Address:

4500 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach; in the Sutton Place Hotel


Phone:

(949) 476-2001


Event:

Chateau Montelena wine dinner


Particulars:

Friday June 8. Reception 6:30 p.m., dinner 7:30 p.m. $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Reservations imperative.


FIVE CROWNS


Address:

3801 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar


Phone:

(949) 760-0331


Event:

Robert Mondavi wine dinner


Particulars:

Tuesday, June 19. 7:00 p.m. $85 per person, inclusive. Reservations imperative.


Frei Brothers Winery Brings the Joy of Discovery

Bo Barrett of Chateau Montelena Winery will host a dinner this Friday, June 8, in the Accents dining room of Newport Beach’s Sutton Place Hotel. The road to glory here began with the historic double-blind wine tasting in Paris in 1976. Montelena’s 1973 Chardonnay,made by their winemaker at the time, Mike Grgich, who since the mid-’70s has owned that other famous winery called Grgich Hills,took top honors against all of France’s best white Burgundies, made from the same grape. The French were shocked when the world’s top wine palates determined that a California wine was better than any Burgundy they could show, but the dismay gave way to recognition of California as equal in capability to France in viniculture.

I am sure Bo will keep you nicely entertained as you sip and he tells the tales about the vines, the earth and the art in making the 1999 Riesling, 1995 and ’98 Chardonnays (in magnums), 1998 Calistoga and, crowning the evening, the 1992, ’93 and ’97 Estate vintages, all rated higher than 90 points by Robert Parker, if you track the numbers. The meal will consist of lobster risotto, squab breast with cassis, filet mignon with truffle sauce, and a promised decadent chocolate dessert.


Mondavi at Five Crowns

On June 19, Five Crowns, the Corona del Mar restaurant that had a serious wine cellar long before such vast inventories were trendy, will feature the wines of Robert Mondavi Vineyards. While Mondavi has joint ventures with French, Italian and Chilean wineries, the wines for this evening are all from its California vineyards.

Chef Dennis Brask admits to relishing the opportunity to create dishes specifically to match with wines. A 1999 Stags Leap District Sauvignon Blanc will start the evening. A petit marmite (consomme) of spring vegetables will be served with the 1999 Carneros Chardonnay, followed by salmon medallion with smoky mustard sauce paired with the highly regarded Napa Pinot Noir, Reserve. The main course: veal and beef tenderloins with both creamy Roquefort and wild mushroom sauces. This will be accompanied by a duo of tastes in the glass: 1997 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, and another front burner wine, the smooth and elegant 1997 Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon.

Assuming you enjoy finding a nice dessert wine as a finale, this evening will finish with the 1999 Muscat d’Oro, full of essences of stone fruit, and sided with apricot ginger trifle.


Discovering Frei Brothers

And now, I want to talk with you about one facet of the wine empire named Gallo. There’s a trio of swell wines I’d bet most of you have never heard of, and a fourth soon to be released, under the Frei Brothers Winery label, one of Gallo’s holdings. I recently tasted the Frei Brothers Reserve wines, alone and with dishes prepared at Pinot Province. Before that, I had no clue about these wines, but I certainly enjoyed the full-bodied, crisp, fruit-intensive character these put forth.

I can walk away from the table with these Frei Brothers wines in hand, or stay and alternate their personality with bites of food telling their own taste story. The prices from $14 to $18 put them in the value game for everything this summer, from barbecues and serious dining to sipping by the pool.

Andrew Frei founded the winery in 1890 in Sonoma County with funds he earned in his San Francisco furniture workshop. Gallo acquired it in 1977. Winemaker Eric Cinnamon is carving out a strong mission statement on behalf of Frei with these graceful wines that bring an extra measure of aroma and flavor to the palate. In fact, Cinnamon is carrying on the early legacy of allowing the fruit to be all that it can and recognizing the capability of each vineyard on its own. Not much manipulating here. The grapes are gently squeezed in a gravity-fed, whole cluster press (the ideal crushing method for white wines, since the cautious handling eliminates the possibility of bitterness). Red grapes are put into temperature-controlled, horizontal rotary fermenters. This gently mixes the juice and skins to extract the color and the necessary tannins but without the fuzzy bitterness that is sometimes the bane of young red wine.

Cinnamon’s current stable of available Reserve Wines includes the 1999 Russian River Valley Chardonnay, 1999 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and 1999 Sonoma County Merlot. The ’98 Alexander Valley Cabernet will be released in September.

Chardonnay grapes from the Russian River Valley are known for their apple and pear nuances and the ’99 Reserve version has plenty of that, but there is just enough acidity hanging around and richness thanks to aging in both French and American oak. I joke that I drink white wine just so I can get to the red wine. My fellow taster thought it appropriate to laugh as he watched me polish off the half glass that was poured. But I could do this white wine a lot.

The Reserve Pinot Noir was the one that had me conversing with my eyes closed most of the time. I was just concentrating on the flow of berries, plums and dried cherries mingling with a little oak and earth that kept on rolling out of this glass. After about 45 minutes, it was as fresh and forward as when first poured.

Then, there’s the Reserve Merlot. This varietal can be all over the place in style. Here’s one that is really close to the characteristics of the famed chateaux of Bordeaux. Leaning toward the affluent flavors of the darker berries with a little vanilla thrown in, this blend of Merlot, Cabernet and Cabernet Franc is pulled together by noticeable body, smooth mouth-filling personality and a richness all around from the 100% oak aging. I anticipate tasting that Cabernet when it’s released in September.

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