The Omaha Wine & Food Gazette July 2023

The Omaha

Event Report:

The Willamette Valley Wine Festival Meet & Greet Dinner

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Dan Thrasher hosted an interesting stag event at a restaurant we have never tried before: A Foreign Taste. Of course, it didn’t hurt to have a French First Growth Bordeaux, Château Latour 2004 for a sit down blind tasting with 5th Growth Château Lynch-Bages. It was an interesting comparison, with the conclusion that the Lynch-Bages was too young and will be put back in the cellar for more aging. Our Branch cellar’s older First Growths are becoming an endangered species, especially since the replacement cost is so much higher nowadays. The name of the restaurant reflects the travel destination of the owner: France, Spain, Australia, Italy and South Africa.

I was struck by the expert plating and imaginative renderings of the various courses. For example, the French Onion Soup was unlike any broth dominant onion soup since a rich cream based beef demi-glace liquid was poured around solid ingredients of parsley panna cotta, red onions, Parmesan and marmalade. Delicieux! The Second Course, an Egg Yolk Raviolo was an elaborate dish with house made Ricotta and parsnip purée. Rich tasting pasta covered a yolk that I was surprised to see was not runny. Delicioso! The Third course, Beef Wellington, likewise was an unusual take on the British classic beef covered in puff pastry and duxelles. It had such ingredients as carrot purée, chestnut oyster mushrooms, and instead of the usual beef based sauce, a Béarnaise was used. A very rich, savory dish. We had a very European type of dessert with a cheese platter of three different cheeses to sample. There is not enough space to describe the wines. Suffice it to say they all matched the food quite well. A Foreign Taste is definitely worth revisiting.

A reminder. Be kind, a mark of a gentleman. Reply to event invites by using the online system to accept or decline an invite. This helps the event producer immensely. Also, respond to the survey afterwards, even if you didn’t attend the event. It helps the producers and the Board hone in on what you want and enjoyed.

Cheers!

Tom Murnan

The best way to remember your wife’s birthday is to forget it once.

Best of the Cockle Bur compiled & edited by Harry

B. Otis, 3rd President 1973-1974

JULY 2023

Event Report:

The Willamette Valley Wine Festival Meet & Greet Dinner

The IWFS Willamette Valley Wine Festival, May 2 through the 6th, was a celebration of how the Oregon wine industry has thrived since the early 1970’s, when then there were only 12 wineries. Growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay was a novel idea back then, but history, and a lot of hard work has proved this was the correct strategy. There are now over 600 wineries, and French domaines have begun investing in the Willamette.

On the opening Meet & Greet reception and dinner, French Maison Louis Jadot, a powerhouse in Burgundy, provided wine with our dinner from both the home Maison as well as their Oregon initiative, Résonance Wines. Maison Louis Jadot has a long history. It was founded in 1859, the same year as Oregon became a State. They have both Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards. In 1945, right after World War II, Rudy Kopf of Kobrand Wine & Sprits made a pilgrimage to Maison Jadot and the two agreed to import wine to the United States. Eventually, Kobrand / the Kopf family purchased Jadot in 1985 and has exclusive rights to sell Maison Jadot in the USA. In 2013, the president of Jadot, Pierre Henry Gagey, and manager / winemaker Jacques Lardière, visited a well established Oregon winery named Resonance. They tried the wine and loved the property and vineyards. Thus Maison Jadot purchased its first property outside Burgundy.

Guillaume Large represented the winery at the dinner. He moved to Oregon in 2017 and became the winemaker. For every course, there was a Jadot wine and Résonance wine to compare, and Guillaume would speak. Besides Pinot Noir, Résonance also makes Chardonnay. We compared a Maison Jadot Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru to a Résonance, Découverte Vyd for our Smoked Sturgeon and Dungeoness crab course. The Pork Belly course compared Premier Cru Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint-Jacques 2014 to Résonance Vyd Pinot Noir 2014 en magnum. Our entrée course, Bison Tenderloin, compared Jadot Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2012 to Résonance, Résonance Vineyard Pinot Noir, Memory Collection, Dijon Clone 2013. Résonance showed up quite well to the big Burgundy guns that were paired with each course.

Personally, I feel global warming has helped Burgundy tremendously, as their fruit is riper and less acidic, more like new world fruit, but still with all the influences of their Climat. In Burgundy, Climat has a specific meaning. Each Climat is a vine plot, with its own microclimate and specific geological conditions, which has been carefully marked out and named over the centuries. Each of them has its own story, produces wines with a distinct character and taste and keeps its own place in the hierarchy of crus (Regional Appellation, Village, Premier Cru, Grand Cru). Over one thousand named Climats extend along the 60 kilometres of the thin strip of vineyards running from Dijon to Santenay, just south of Beaune, and among them are some of the most famous names from the world of wine; Chambertin, Romanée-Conti, Clos de Vougeot, Montrachet, Corton, Musigny and the like.

Alex Sokol Blosser of the eponymous winery, and Guillame Large were both presented with IWFS certificates. The food was delicious, the service spot on, and the wines tremendous. Manifique!