It was an interesting event, our first dinner, as well as a Christmas dinner in our new dining room, and my poor Bride had to be shuffling about in this “boot” that would allow her to walk, while her bone fracture heals.  The Wine Raconteur Jr. and his family were over and they had no idea of what had happened just a couple of days earlier, but my Bride persevered.  I also have to add that The Wine Raconteur Jr. is not my son, and took that nom de plume when he guest wrote a couple of articles here.   As we left the living room and the appetizers, we moved into the dining room to enjoy our dinner.  My Bride began with her, by now famous, Caesar Salad that she makes from scratch, and instead of croutons, she browns bread crumbs in a skillet.  She braised two pork tenderloins in a Carne Asado sauce that she has discovered and enjoys the spiciness.  She also made Armenian Pilaf, which I may add, everyone was happy about (especially me, since it went lacking on Thanksgiving Day) and she also made another of her newer signature dishes of Fennel and Onion Sauté.

I also wanted to continue the theme of the Korbin Kameron and Moonridge Vineyards theme, as neither The Wine Raconteur Jr. or his charming wife had a chance to taste some stellar wines when Korbin Ming was presenting his wines at a wine tasting at our local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  Korbin Kameron Malbec Moon Mountain District 2016 is an Estate Grown wine.  Malbec tends to be one of the forgotten grapes of Bordeaux, the important grape of Cahoors and Argentina. Here is a wine that was aged for eighteen months in French Oak and half was new. The wine was an inky dark purple, the kind that stains your teeth so easily.  The nose was a mix of dates, plums and some chocolate (which is one of the ethereal notes that I seldom notice).  It was fruit forward with flavors of dark bramble fruit and very concentrated flavors and tannins with a softer finish of terroir. This was a wine that my Bride was gushing over and usually not about a Malbec, and since there was only one barrel of this wine made, I knew that we had to get it to enjoy later with friends.  I have to say that the Malbec paired very well with Carne Asado braising sauce.

After dinner, we cleared off the plates and brought out new plates for dessert and it was a joy to see the eyes light up on the children.  My Bride is not really a baker, so we made it a point to stop at our local Italian Market and we just went crazy buying a big assortment of pastries, above and beyond, but including canolis.  Some were a bit more American in appeal (and I think that was for my Bride.  I did not have any pastries, as I figured that I could have some later, and I almost lucked out, because the pastries were a very big hit, with very little leftover.  Actually, I was enjoying my liquid dessert along with the others as we had Korbin Kameron Late Harvest Semillon “Sweet Isla” Moon Mountain District 2018 and it is Estate Grown. The wine is late harvested Sauvignon Blanc with an addition of fifteen percent Botrytised Semillon. One week of cold soaking and fermented on the skins for an additional two weeks to pick up extra color and flavors, called phenolics, which was a really long and cool fermentation for intense aromatics. The wine was aged for eight months in neutral oak.  A beautiful wine that was just magnificent and reminded me of a French Sauternes with a nose of honeysuckle, a silky texture offering notes of sweet lemons, apricots and marmalade with a nice long count in the finish.  It was a beautiful dinner and hopefully, the boot may be a short-term inconvenience.