Messy and Picky

When the Center for Wine Origins shoots you an email asking if you'd like to take part in a champagne and port wine tasting with a four course menu at XIX, you reply YES. And that's just what we did. Incredibly, the event fell right on Picky's 31st birthday and we had not made plans yet—perfect! When we arrived at XIX, we were escorted to the wine room table where a small group of local food writers was already enjoying some bubbly (Perrier-Jouët Blason Rose, pictured above) [PLCB 29408, $70].

While the first course of Hudson Valley foie gras torchon with brioche bread pudding, Meyer lemon marmalade and butter toffee pecans came out, our hosts explained that the Center for Wine Origins educates stores, wineries and end buyers on the importance of proper regional naming (Champagne can only come from Champagne, France is the most obvious example) and the unique wines from various regions (ever had a white porto before?). They also have an ambassador program for people who'd like to test their wine knowledge and are eager to help spread the gospel of the grape.

Okay, back to the food. That's one hunk of foie. It was seared deliciously. It was Picky's first foray into the world of foie (Messy passed). The bread pudding was firm (Picky isn't a fan of mushy bread pudding) and the Meyer lemon marmalade cut through the intense flavors sharply. The pecans seemed to be a mere textural element given their sparseness next to the hunk of foie, but they were absolutely packed with crunchy flavor. Messy could have eaten the pecans all night long.

Next up on our wine journey was the king, Dom Perignon. Our tasting was of a new vintage, 2002 [PLCB 06984 $140] which Robert Parker described as "opulent." Our sommelier for the evening, Scott Zoccolillo, one of the dining room managers over at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, poured out some delicious portions for all. A couple of our dining companions weren't so hot on the latest Dom Perignon offering, but that didn't stop us from enjoying our flutes. (Messy, in particular, is pretty much indiscriminate and enjoyed all of the choices of the night equally. She confessed her lack of sophistication to Zoccolillo, who was seated next to her, and he kindly assured her that whatever she liked was just fine.)

Here's Messy's effervescent flute. Those millions of tiny bubbles cascading up, bursting forth from the light, frothy foam at the top of the glass, are what people love about Dom P.

And what was this prized bubbly paired with? Seared diver scallop, cauliflower "risotto", speck ham and caper-raisin relish. The scallops were fantastically good. So good that it makes you sad to think of them being prepared elsewhere without the precision of this kitchen. The speck has just enough pull to it to let you know it's there without simply melting away and the cauliflower "risotto" makes you think twice about using rice at home. This is the kind of dish you always want when you go out for a meal. Something you can't reasonably recreate at home, something fantastical, something with body, but not so heavy as to stop the flow of your evening.

With a refill of Dom, we moved on to a blood orange sorbet — one of Messy's favorite fruits, especially in a cold form. Bubbly and sorbet: what a combo! Served in a dessert flute, it went perfectly with our tasting menu.

Up next after the cleansing sorbet: venison loin with curry apples, parsnip purée, brussels sprout leaves and pomegranate emulsion. Served rare, a few degrees short of Picky's preferred state, the pomegranate seeped into the layers of the loin. A piece dabbed with parsnip puree brought a light earthiness to a heavy cut. Picky's always been a fan of the whole sprout—the pieces of leaves just weren't enough for him—but there was plenty otherwise on the plate.

Paired with the venison was something new to the two of us: a white porto. This Churchill's Fine White Port [PLCB 10239 $18] is unfiltered, like many Belgian beers. Zoccolillo swirled the bottle to catch some sediment to sample out. Swirling the sediment around in the glass produced a dreamy snowglobe like effect. Think of a drunken snowy scene in a thickly sweet amber colored fog.

Our last pairing was a citrus soufflé with tahitian vanilla ice cream and chocolate-hazelnut sauce. This was frighteningly good in quality and frighteningly overwhelming in quantity. It was decadent. It was pillowly soft. It was dreamy. It was creamy. It was . . . fantastic. Not a single person at the table of 13 could finish the eye-opening super-sized portion. We were told to pour in the chocolate-hazelnut sauce or spoon out the souffle and dip that into the sauce on the side. We wish we had more right now.

What was paired to cut through the tongue-coating soufflé? A Smith Woodhouse late bottle vintage 1999, another unfiltered port. We just looked for it on the PLCB, but none was to be found (thanks, Pennsylvania and your crazy complicated liquor system!), but the internet lead us to The Wine Country store which has it for $30. Here's the in-house stat sheet [.pdf]. Note: this is not like the 10 year old tawny you'll find on the PLCB site. It's thick and silky, like an electric blanket around your tongue, gently warming up your senses. It cut through the creaminess and left us warm and happy after many refills on an adventurous evening of food and wine.

And here's Zoccolillo talking about the final note of the evening, the Woodhouse LBV 1999. We had a fantastic time learning about wine and hanging out with our fellow diners from around the area. Thank you Center for Wine Origins for the invite! We'll be sticklers for proper, authentic appellations and espouse the importance of unique regions for a lifetime.