wine dinner revisited

It’s all about dessert.
Cinnamon-Almond Panna Cotta with Tankan Sauce – this was the dessert lovingly prepared for our last wine dinner, at fujimamas- of oregon wineries that I wrote about two weeks ago. It was served with a luscious dessert wine from Elk Cove Vineyards called Ultima Riesling. Which is made in an ice wine style.

Notes on the wine from the winery say…
"The Riesling Ultima is a brilliant pale gold hue, only hinting at what is to come. It shows a lively and luscious mouthfeel with robust characteristics of apricot and honey. A slight presence of botrytis is distinguished on the persistent finish. While descriptors such as decadent and indulgent certainly apply, the Ultimas are always kept in balance with crisp acidity and freshness. Historically these wines only grow in beauty with age. Potential for this wine with cool cellaring is up to twenty years."

The Panacotta was a lovely dessert, and most importantly it was a perfect pairing with the wine. One of our pastry chef’s Michael, from Scotland was the creator of this one, and the other team of chefs made sure it got to the table in all it’s loveliness for our dinner. Ironically Michael did not get to work the dinner that night, so he did not get to see the guest reactions. But they really did all LOVE it. I know I did.

The panacotta was creamy and the flavors alusive… pretty complex for a simple looking dish. The citrus topping and sauce brought out all the right fruit notes and sweet notes in the wine, also bringing out the acidity. It was a perfect spring dessert.

It looks like our next wine dinner might be in August, which is a very HOT month in japan, so I am not sure what the chef will come up with but I do know it will be good. Our visiting wine maker will probably be the "Kim" from Kim Crawford Winery in New Zealand.