wine pairing dinner at Timber Cove

Our last evening of our Sonoma vacation we had a special dinner.  Very special.  By chance, when Van booked our stay at Timber Cove, he learned that the restaurant was going to host a wine-pairing dinner, and he happily booked us two of the limited spots.  Once back from Sea Ranch, we tidied up, made our way down to the dining room where they'd moved things about and set up a smaller number of tables

(we thought we might have a table of two to ourselves, but we shared a table with four others we didn't know), and took the offered glass of sparkling wine. 

There were hors d'oeuvres passed, we chatted with a couple of people nearby, and then the dinner began.

My compliments to the chefs, and my compliments to the winery, Aperture.  Both provided us with excellent fare.  Let me say that.  I do wish the staff poured a little more consistently (I felt as if I had a label over me that screamed, "Pour this guy less") and had offered people a little more of the wines they liked (we eventually learned we could ask for more, but it would have been nice to have more than the meager sip or two of at least one of the wines during the dinner - sorry, I'm being cranky about that still).  On the other hand, we had nice conversation with the people at our table (two couples, one half of each knew each other from work, it was a coincidence they were at the same event), and the evening was honestly so very enjoyable.  And I did get to enjoy more of some wine at the end, so that was fine.  I even ordered a few bottles, which shipped right away.

And I got to enjoy it with Van.  Van doesn't drink wine often or a lot, but it is fun to taste with him because we've learned that we tend to have the opposite reactions to a lot of wines.  That makes it all the more interesting when our tastes align!

I loved the wine labels, but I didn't get shots of them.  I did get shots of the food, though, so I shall comment with each and on the wine pairing.  I didn't think the hors d'oeuvres and the sparkling wine were successful together, and here Van and I differed - he liked the sparkling wine (I ordered a bottle for him), but it was my least favourite.  But after we sat down?  Things made sense.

First course:  cured steelhead. 

Even Van, who does not like raw or raw-ish fish, liked this one.  Such great flavours here, and I thought the pairing with the Sauvignon blanc was excellent.  I liked the Sauvignon blanc by itself, too, and bought two bottles.

Second course:  braised venison raviolo. 

This was tasty.  Alas, as happens with food at events, it was also not especially warm.  A shame - I think it would have benefited from being warmer so we could get the aromas better.  The Bordeaux style red blend that was served with it was my favourite red of the night, and I bought two bottles.

Third course:  dry aged duck three ways. 

I confess, I am not a fan of "things X number of ways" dishes usually.  I like the idea of using all the duck, but make it all good.  Well, they did.  Also, kudos on the potato parsnip pavee with it.  This dish surprised me with how much I liked it.  Even more interesting, the winery offered two wines with it, a 2022 Cab and a 2021 Cab (oh, I should add that the winery owner/winemaker and his semi-famous photographer dad were on hand to talk about the wines and labels) so we could compare and contrast.  I thought I would prefer the older of the two, but no, it was the 2022 that I preferred and bought a bottle of.

Fourth course:  cheeses. 

No special pairing, which was a shame, perhaps.  What was nice was that each cheese had its own condiment.  What was also nice was that we didn't have to share!  I love dessert, I have such a sweet tooth, but this felt like a cheese course done right, and that was a treat in itself.

We sipped more wine.  Most of the diners were locals(ish), very few were guests.  They left, we left, and that was our last evening of the trip.  It was a lovely way to bring it an end before the travel the next day, and I'm very grateful to Van for that.