Nights like last Tuesday are the reason I’m in this business. There are 211 Master Sommeliers on the planet, and only one I’ve ever heard play “Friend of the Devil” on guitar. A deadhead since the cradle, I found that alone worth the schlep to the Upper East Side, though the six-course meal was a nice bonus. The Jackson Family (of Kendall Jackson fame) hosted a Pork & Pinot Dinner at Tolani, a wine bar and global eatery around the corner from the American Museum of Natural History. Over the course of the evening, Chef Marion Maur brought out five pork dishes and a dessert, while the emcee, MS Michael Jordan, provided a crash course on each dish’s Pinot pairing. Not to be confused with the basketballer (though he did make a hang time joke), Michael Jordan led us in a toast to each course before taking up a guitar and strumming some Grateful Dead classics.
Between six wines, herb-roasted porchetta, maple bacon-wrappped monkfish, and suckling pig with salsa verde, I neglected to take extensive notes on the wines, so I revisited Cambria Estate Winery’s Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir before writing this post. The vineyard is in the Santa Maria Valley, bordered by transverse mountains, which run east-west, rather than north-south like most of Cali’s coastal ranges. Evening fog funnels in from the coast, cooling the vines at night and granting their grapes a longer growing season. With more hang time, the grapes can develop greater phenolic ripeness and complexity. This wine’s aroma is mostly red fruit-driven, with hints of leather and nutmeg. On the palette, I get plum, dried cranberry, and a touch of agave nectar. Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir is light-to-medium bodied, slightly tannic with decent acidity. Paired with miso glazed pork belly with tamarind dressing and watermelon chunks (as Maur did) or with stuffed zucchini or salmon teriyaki (as you might like to try), this Pinot is gorgeous.
Visit Cambria online at http://www.cambriawines.com/
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