So when they hosted the third Vintners - Foodie Gathering, the meal had to be Hawaiian based.
And what says "Hawaii" more than roast pork?
We all urged Steve to hand-dig a huge pit in his backyard, but in the 107° heat he wisely decided to use the Weber Grill instead.
Here is Steve's account of how he smoked the oink out of the swine:
For twelve people, he bought two, five pound pork butts with the bone in. The pork butts are actually part of the shoulder, but it is more fun to say "Pork Butt!" The other materials needed are banana leaves (available at Food Maxx, or any grocery store) and Hawaiian sea salt.
You lightly salt the pork butt on all sides with the Hawaiian sea salt; not too much... you can always add salt but you can never take it back. Lay the salted butt on the interwoven banana leaves, fat side up, and wrap the pork, using toothpicks to hold the banana leaves in place. Tent loosely in foil, making sure the foil is completely sealed on the bottom. With a knife, poke seven to eight holes in the top of the foil, all the way through to the pork.
Start the 22" Webber with 15 briquettes on one side. Once the briquettes are white put mesquite chunks on the coals. Put the grate on and position the pork on the opposite side from the coals. Leave all the vents on the Weber open and let it roast and smoke for about 7 hrs. Add 5-6 briquettes and some mesquite every hour.
When it's done take the pork and poke holes into the bottom of the foil, letting all the juices drain into a roasting pan. Transfer the pork into the roasting pan with the juices. Pull it all apart and mix with the juices.
Surprise #1:
Nels, from Albireo, came by the day before with grape vine trimmings, from his Cabernet and Cab Franc vines, to add to the mesquite for smoking. Nice touch!
The Guests:
Steve and Kathy hosted, Steve and Lisa joined us for the first time and brought more food, Nels and Christine from Albireo, David and Kathy from Dakaro Cellars, and Layne and Denise from Churn Creek Cellars decided to take the plunge as well. Gail and I made it twelve total.
Clicking on the links will take you to their websites.
The menu:
The three appetizers...
Lisa made mushrooms, stuffed with breadcrumbs, basil, mint, garlic and Asiago cheese.
Surprise #2:
Kathy R. created Greek Dolmas, using their own, Dakaro Grenache Blanc grape leaves. They were stuffed with ground sausage, mint, basil, rice, and topped with Greek yogurt.
Gail put together lemon - red beet puff pastry tarts, topped with goat cheese and lemon thyme.
The main course starred the Kalua Pig, with four different sauces to sample: sweet and zesty, Texas style, rich and sassy, and southern mustard.
The secondo featured Lisa's Lomi Lomi salmon, which is fresh, raw salmon rubbed in salt, then "massaged" with fresh tomatoes, sweet and green onions.
Lisa also made Hawaiian Potato - Mac salad, Kathy D. served up coleslaw and Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, and Steve D. threw pineapple with sweet onion and tomato skewers onto the grill.
For dessert, Ed picked up French Vanilla Gelato, and we topped it with fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.
The meal, somewhat in order and somewhat rambling:
Well, the whole point is to make and enjoy great foods, paired with fantastic wines. During the six-plus hour meal, we ended up going through sixteen bottles of wine, tasting a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and I tried to keep simple notes on the good pairings.
As the food was prepped, everyone enjoyed a winemakers' favorite beverage: a nice, cold beer. Soon the food was up, and we started opening the bottles of wine.
We started with three wines for the aperitivos: Dakaro's new 2012 Meritage Blanc, a 2012 Churn Creek Cellars 50-50 blend of Chardonnay and Viognier, and Albireo's 2010 Objet Trouvé.
Surprise #3:
The Objet Trouvé was brought in a first-ever magnum (1.5 litre), with a new conceptual label. Everyone was impressed by the big boy, and agreed it was very nice packaging indeed.
We tried to do at least two, if not all three wines with each of the aperitivos, and all of us were pretty impressed by the different tastes we experienced with the pairings.
For example, when we tried the Lemon-Beet Tarts, the Meritage Blanc really brought out the citrusy, fruity taste in the wine and tart, but the Chardonnay - Viognier was more
more complex, highlighting the earthy herbaceous tones of both. Another way to put it is that the Meritage brought out the "Lemon" and the Chardonnay - Viognier brought out the "Thyme" of the fresh sprig of lemon thyme that topped the tart.
Turning to the red, the Objet Trouvé was good, but in a different way. It was so powerful it overwhelmed the taste of the tart if you drank it after, but if you took a sip before the tart, the lingering taste of the wine sweetened the beets, and made for a nice transition to the heavier pork and wine part of the dinner.
The Objet Trouvé was fantastic with the stuffed mushrooms, again sweetening the shrooms and mellowing the tannins in the wine. On the other hand, the Churn Creek Fifty-Fifty brought out the Parmesan and herbs in the mushrooms.
We were all excited to try Kathy's Dolmas which, as you read above, were made with Dakaro's own Grenache Blanc grape leaves... the very grapes in the Meritage Blanc! So we were excited to be eating and drinking the same grape, and we were not disappointed. It was a perfect blend, again bringing out the citrus notes. The Chardonnay - Viognier emphasized the spicy sausage in the dolmas.
So, in general we were really impressed with Layne and Denise's 50-50 blend, but agreed that depending on what you were going for, all three wines worked well with the appetizers.
We popped open four wines heading into the main course: Churn Creek Cellars 2012 Tehema Merlot, the new Albireo 2011 Binary which is half Barbera and half Malbec, and Dakaro's 2011 Tempranillo and 2011 Sangiovese.
Surprise #4:
David and Kathy's Dakaro Tempranillo captured the gold medal at the Los Angeles International Wine Competition! The only other gold medal winner was a DOC Rioja which scored 90 points, compared to Dakaro's 92 points (click and go to page 93). In other words, Dakaro beat the Spanish at their own wine!
We tried various sauces on the pork, but most of us preferred our pork Butt-Naked.
I had to work that line in somehow.
That being said, the Merlot was fantastic with the sweet and zesty sauce on the pork, bringing out a real zing and sweetness. The Sangiovese was best with the vinegar taste of the Southern mustard sauce, and the Tempranillo went best with the pork naked, or with some roasted onion added to the oink. The Binary was interesting, as it perfectly complemented the pork with yellow roast pepper but not the pork with red roasted peppers. It's not that it was bad, it was a difference between "great" and "excellent." Binary was also good with roast pig and tomato.
Everyone agreed the Sangiovese complemented the salmon best, drawing out the sweetness.
Surprise #5:
So then Nels brought out a little "surprise" wine he had bottled for a friend: Dog Dish Red from Bella Vista. Everyone laughed at the label, and we had fun guessing what kind of wine it was (Barbera). Dog Dish with the pork was just OK, but add a roasted pineapple and then we were talking. A roasted tomato with the pork, and Dog Dish brought a sudden bloom of smoke out of tomato and pork fat.
We finished it all up with the Blue- Black - Rasp Berry topped vanilla gelato, which paired well to the
Pinot Grigio 2012 from Churn Creek Cellars.
After the meal and dessert wrapped up, we split into a couple groups, inside and out, popped more bottles to sample, and the serious conversation and drinking took place. This was where my notes and photos kind of fell apart. I was doing great with the tasting and food, but now we were cracking into bottles of rich reds, and I sweartogod, by midnight I had exceeded my maximum Alcohol Units by about two hundred percent. But, I do remember...
Surprise #6:
Steve (of Steve and Lisa) is starting up a blended wine blog as he retires. As soon as it is active I will link to it here.
Well, about midnight; thirty the group was leaving, and Gail and I were thankful that Steve and Kathy had a guest room available for the night.
Today, two days later as I write this up from my notes, I can still hear the laughter, still taste the OINK from the Bare-Butt Pig, and close my eyes and as the subtleties of the wines with the apperitivos roll across my tongue and through my nose.
The next VFG in September? I will dream about it while we are in Spain.