Langham Holds Wine Dinners
Posted on Mar 02, 2009 under Archives, Food and Travel News, Los Angeles | No Comment
Wines at Langham/Mission Wines dinner
On February 24, the Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa in Pasadena teamed with Byron Kosuge Wines, Kingston Family Winery of Chile and South Pasadena’s Mission Wines for a wine tasting dinner. The dinner was the first in a series featuring wines from renowned winemakers. We were among approximately 40 others to share in this lovely dinner showcasing the winemaker’s finest wines. The evening also included a discussion about the winemaking process and the distinctive traits of each wine.
Nicole and lots of wine glasses
I took my good friend Nicole, above with our yummy glasses of wine to pair with Chef de Cuisine Craig Strong’s delicious tasting menu.
Crab croquettes
After a brief champagne reception and appetizers, we were given crab croquettes as our first course to pair with our only white wine, Kingston Family vineyards 2006 Sauvignon Blanc Cariblanco (from Chile). Our first red wine was a 2006 Pinot Noir Alazan, also from Chile. the crab croquettes came with baby lettuce, olive oil dressing and strawberry romesco sauce.
Cannelloni Swiss Chard and Lobster
Next came a nice cannelloni of swiss chard and lobster with a tasty rhubarb herb sauce. This was our favorite of the night.
Chef de Cuisine Craig Strong
Chef Strong came out and talked a bit about the menu.
Byron Kosuge
Byron Kosuge spoke about the wines he choose, from Chile and California, and interesting characteristics of each wine. He also came to each table to answer questions and talk more about his tasty wine choices.
Guinea Hen
Next came this beautiful smoked guinea hen with brown butter risotto (Nicole’s favorite), swiss chard, corn froth and cassis sherry vinegar jus. yum. This was paired with a delicious 2006 Pinot Noir (The Shop) from Carneros and a tasty 2006 Pinot Noir (Manchester Ridge) from Mendocino, both from Byron Kosuge Wines.
Venison
The heaviest course was the venison, served on bacon bread pudding with briased lingonberry red cabbage, poached quail egg and grande veneure sauce. This was paired perfectly with a 2005 Syrah (Bayo Oscuro) from Chile from Kingston Family Vineyards and a 2006 Syrah (Dry Stack Vineyards) from Bennett Valley from Byron Kosuge Wines. Mission Wines of South Pasadena provided the wines for the dinner. I highly recommend attending one of these dinners for any food or wine lover – we learned alot about wine and also got to eat Chef Strong’s great food.
Two more wine tasting dinners are coming up at the Langham – on March 10, Celia Masyczek (Food and Wine’s 2008 Winemaker of the Year), maker of Scarecrow, DR Stephens and Corra Wines will be featured and on April 29, Eric Kent from New Cult Wine will be featured. Each event begins at 6:30 with a reception and dinner is served at 7:00 pm. For reservations, call 626/585-6218.