Last Saturday, we attended a wonderful wine dinner for fourteen in Marina del Rey hosted by Connie and Dick Hyman. Everyone contributed a serving for the meal and wines to pair with their choices along with a bevy of other interesting and unusual wines that were brought along for fun. I am not even going to try to keep track of who brought what, but I will try to give a quick rundown of everything we were presented with over the course of the evening.
Sparklers to Start
We began the evening with a large platter of burrata, speck, prosciutto, figs and grilled bread and a couple of platters of chinese dumplings and a whole host of sparkling wines and champagnes that included a Bailly-Lapierre Cremant de Bourgogne, a Louis de Grenelle Saumur Rose, a Grandin Brut, a 2000 Mumm Napa DVX and a Vueve Clicquot Ponsardin Brut.
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| A large platter of goodies |
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| Bottles of bubbly |
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| Fala and Lisa chatting |
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| Ken, David and Dick examining some of the goodies |
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| Pre-Dinner conversations |
Dinner is Served
Two main courses anchored the dinner: leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary and a veal breast stuffed with swiss chard. In addition we enjoyed platters of fava bean salad and mixed tomatoes and basil.
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| A beautifully set table |
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| The second dishes |
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| Connie, Gretchen, John and Danny |
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| Dick, one of our gracious hosts |
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| Feelie, Alan, Ken, Ritchie and Jodie |
The wines were a diverse selection of vintages for our enjoyment including a 2010 Muscadet Sevre et Maine, a 1982 Chateau Langoa Barton Saint-Julien, a 2003 Chateau de la Gardine Chateauneuf du Pape, a 2008 Fixin Burgundy, a 2006 Salanques Priorat, a 2008 Maine La Bouissiere Gigondas, a 1985 Chateau Margaux and last but not least, a 2008 Oak Valley River Canyon Ridge Chardonnay.
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| Wines for dinner |
After dinner, all retired to the patio for a selection of cheeses, desserts of fresh strawberries, lemon torte and pecan pie and a selection of ports and dessert wines including a 2008 Joseph Phelps Eisrebe, a 2001 Hetszolo Tokaji Aszu, a 2003 Cottonwood Canyon Chardonnay, a 2007 Sanford Botrytis Chardonnay, some 2005 Don Pedro Ximenez Montilla-Moriles along with some Dow's Porto and Blandy's Madeira.
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| Enjoying dessert outdoors |
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| Danny, John, Ken and David |
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| Gretchen, Fala and Feelie |
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| Beginning to feel very full |
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| John enjoying the company of very sweet Molly |
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| Nitecaps |
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| And still more Nitecaps |
All in all, it was a wonderful evening combining good conversation, friendship, great food, fabulous wine in a beautiful and relaxing setting. Thanks to everyone for helping make it a tremendous success.
A full set of photographs from the evening can be found at
http://www.jimrea.com/zenphoto/marina_wine .
That is it for this post and as always, if I can be of any assistance to you or any of your friends, family or colleagues with any of your real estate needs (residential, commercial or otherwise) or if I can help find a real estate professional for you to work with in your local community, please let me know. It would be my pleasure to help.
Jim Rea
Keller Willliams Palisades
