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Need menu recommendations - Printable Version

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- BMWnFun - 12-09-1999

I need some recommendations for a very romantic dinner. I don't know the food, but I will be serving a 1968 Martin Ray Cabernet Sauvignon. I am (in case you haven't noticed) new to the scene.


- Jerry D Mead - 12-09-1999

Martin Ray made them really big, but with any 32 year old wine there's always a chance it has gone over the hill. The best advice I can offer is to have a back-up bottle of something current in the event your 1968 is a clunker. Nothing more unromantic than not having any wine to drink.

Also I would begin with some Champagne or other bubbly to set the mood upon your intended victim's arrival, and which might carry through a first course featuring some kind of seafood or shellfish.

Just about any dark/red meat should work with your old Cab...duck in a savory sauce...maybe with green peppercorns? (no sweet cherries or plums or the like), tenderloins of beef maybe with some good earthy mushrooms, or even a grilled salmon.

Now watch the "food types" come in and contradict everything I've said. (Am I getting gunshy or what?)


- Thomas - 12-09-1999

Who me?

Be careful about the grilled salmon. It is often great with Pinot Noir, but a big Cabernet Sauvignon--I don't know about that.

Of course, there are other food people around, and I am sure to also be shot down. (We are gun-shy around here!)

You should, however, heed curm's advice about a second bottle, and if you do, make it a Zinfandel from, say, Ravenswood.


- Innkeeper - 12-09-1999

Define salmon Foodie. We GROW 25,000,000 pounds of it around here every year, and it beats the pants off the wild stuff. But, the best grape to go with it is not Pinot Noir, it is Gamay. The Grand Cru Beaujolais can't be beat.
Think it would be better to back up a Cab with a Cab, if the menu was planned to go with the Cab. Should be unpopable right home from the store, like one of the mid-range Chilians.
Since you say you don't know food, it's a safe bet you don't know how to cook either. You might try getting skinned and boned duck breasts from the store, and poaching them in broth. Top with a simple orange sauce made from orange juice, sugar, and cornstarch. Serve with a simple salad and some crusty French bread. Bon appetit.