My mother-in-law's birthday dinner is coming up and here is the menu:

1. Carrot Ginger Soup (warm)
2. Baby Spinach, toasted pine nuts, sun dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese tossed with lemon/olive oil
3. Grilled New York Pepper Steak finished with brown butter, shallots, mushrooms, served with garlic mashed potatoes
4. Chocolate mousse birthday cake and burgundy poached pear

I have been asked to bring the wine for the evening. Any suggestions on each course would be most appreciated!

Thanks,
Jeff

1. Carrot Ginger Soup (warm)

Alsatian Gewurtztraminer

2. Baby Spinach, toasted pine nuts, sun dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese tossed with lemon/olive oil

Water. Tough one here. So many flavors. I'm betting the cranberries dominate so that's your pairing.

3. Grilled New York Pepper Steak finished with brown butter, shallots, mushrooms, served with garlic mashed potatoes

Pick your Big Red

4. Chocolate mousse birthday cake and burgundy poached pear

Two different wines here. The Chocolate mousse would work well with an Amarone and possibly a port (alcohol might be too much so I'd lean towards an Amarone or other wine where the grapes are dried on mats). The Burgundy Poached Pear is a different animal altogether. Possibly a sweet wine along the lines of a Tokaji Aszu.

BTW, a Banyuls might work well with that Chocolate Mousse as well.

Thanks for the advice WIML.

If you are willing to spend some time browsing (I hope this request isn't completely rude), I would love to get specific recommendations based on my actual collection. My cellartracker list is here:

http://www.cellartracker.com/list.asp?iUserOverride=222

Thanks!

Based on your current inventory:

1. Carrot Ginger Soup (warm)

2003 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese **

2. Baby Spinach, toasted pine nuts, sun dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese tossed with lemon/olive oil

Serve the above wine with both courses

3. Grilled New York Pepper Steak finished with brown butter, shallots, mushrooms, served with garlic mashed potatoes

2001 Cakebread Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

4. Chocolate mousse birthday cake and burgundy poached pear

N.V. Chambers Muscat Rosewood Vineyards

What Eric said.

I would agree with Eric, expect I would serve a beer with the salad. Something malty, medium bodied, with subdued hop bitterness. A nice Bock or an Oatmeal Stout would go well.

Thanks for all the advice so far! I really appreciate the friendliness (and expertise) of the group here. I am still pretty new to wine and I generally drink it by itself so I am terrible at this food matching thing.

I will definitely bring the riesling and a bottle of champagne to start. The Cakebread cab was a gift from a friend and I promised him that I would open it with him so that has to stay behind. If anyone has a second option, I will gladly take it. If not, I am thinking either the Tara Bella cab or Pride cab.

Thanks again for all the help!
Jeff

Jeff, lots of options to replace the Cakebread:

if you want to splurge, the 2003 Foley Claret is drinking beautifully and would be a great choice.

The 2002 Lewelling Cab should be a great choice as well (I'd give the '01 more time)

2004 Pride Cab Franc or Merlot - a chance to open one before they shut down

2002 Spring Valley Uriah should be interesting

2002 Turnbull - I haven't had the '02, but a reliable producer and a vintage that I think drinks well now.

Let us know how it turns out!

Despite my general problems with them, I am in complete agreement that a Foley wine would pair well with your red meat. I tend to prefer Pride Cab Francs to thier basic Merlots and Foley Claret to the Pride Cab Francs.

I also like the Lewelling -- it is more 'my type' of Cabernet -- but from a purely pairing sort of perspective, I actually think the Foleys might be a little better. I think thier liquid snickers quality may be a good pairing for the brown butter sauce.

Thanks again for all the advice! We went with the 2003 JJ Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese ** with the carrot soup and the 2003 Foley Claret with the steak.

The riesling matched very well with the soup which was fantastic. I wish I could have waited a few more years because the complexity wasn't quite there but everyone enjoyed it.

The Foley was unreal. The steak was a bit too peppery so we basically just had a wine course where we enjoyed the claret. Unreal. We decanted for 2 hours. I got mostly chocolate (maybe Hazlenut?) and blackberry. The finish went on forever. Just amazing stuff, everyone was pleased and it disappeared very quickly.

Again, thanks for the advice. That is why I love this board. Merry Christmas!