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Glen Manor Winemaker Dinner


deangold

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Virginia's wineries have made a lot of progress in the last few years and are making truly fine wines at good pricing. The winery that really opened my eyes at Dino was Glen Manor. It was the first Virginia winery on the list and is our first Virginia winery to be featured in a Dino farmer's dinner. Jeff White is a grape grower and winemaker. He will join us as we discover the bounty from his vineyards featuring a vertical run of his amazing Sauvignon Blanc and two vintages of his flagship red: Hodder Hill!

Jeff''s specialties are the Bordeaux Varieties. His Cabernet Franc is one of the best American Cab Francs I have had, and was the first of his red wines that really opened my mind. He also makes blends and we will be featuring Hodder Hill and Rouge. The Hodder Hill and Rouge are Bordeaux Blends of Cabernet, merlot, cab franc and petite verdot but not designed to be Bordeaux imitations, but a true expression of the terroir of his vineyard sites. His Sauvingnon Blancs are simply my favorite American SB's right now. They show off Jeff's commitment to really allowing the vintage to show off in his wines. Rather than trying to force the wines from disparate vintages into a "house style" thru a lot of winemaking and manipulation, Jeff allows the wines to have a greater range of personalities than is typical of most wineries. I think drinking 3 vintages of SB will really show this off as well as educate you on how this grape evolves in the bottle.

Per Entree...

Chesapeake seafood

Grilled Chesapeak Oysters

{Tomales Bay Style with garlic butter and with BBQ sauce}

Polpettini di Spigola

{Rockfish meat balls with aioli}

A tasting of 3 vintages of Sauvignon Blanc '07 ~ '08 ~ '09

Per Primi

Risotto

{local morels, ramps & greens if Mother Nature cooperates!}

Cabernet Franc '09

Secondo

Bistecca Fiorentina

{Tuscan style 2.5# T-Bones, 21day plus dry aged, raised locally in Maryland}

Vin Rouge '08

Finito

Formaggi ala Dino

A selection of Firefly farms goat cheeses

Hodder Hill '08

Hodder Hill '07 {from our cellar}

The cost of the dinner is $79 per person tax & gratuity included. Seating will be mostly communal on Dino's second floor. Reservations may only be made by calling the restaurant. Reservations will only be confirmed when guaranteed by a credit card and are non refundable unless they can be refilled from a waiting list. Please do not use Open Please do not use Open Table to reserve for this special dinner, call Dino directly {202-686-2966}. Living Social certificates not valid for this special dinner.

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Lest I be chastised by the folks that support Jeff at his winery as I was for not posting a review of the barrel tasting, I figured that I better get my post up here right away! B)

Let me just say first how happy it makes me to see my favorite winery in VA supported by a restauranteur who supports the local food movement and has found that there can be quality local wines at good values in this area, and whose food I tend to really enjoy in general. That may make me a bit biased in my review, but too bad for you I guess if that bothers you. :D

Sadly (for you), the wines that stood out the most to me are also the wines that are no longer available, aside from one, the '09 cabernet franc that just burst out of the glass with impressive aromas and did not disappoint with taste as well. The '07 and '08 sauvignon blancs (both sold out aside from a few half bottles of the '08 as far as I know) remain my favorites as examples of an old world and new world style sauv blanc respectively. As Dean mentioned above, this is a great opportunity to observe how a different growing year can truly affect the outcome of the wine should the winemaker choose to allow it. And oh how that little taste of '07 Hodder Hill made me appreciate that I have at least a half bottle of it remaining in my wine fridge. :)

The food did not disappoint either. The highlights for me were the crabcake slider, which packed an impressive amount of flavor and paired really nicely with the more bracing sauvignon blancs, and the risotto, which was a wonderful introduction to spring for me with its leeks and morels. But the star, oh the star was that dry aged local MD beef, which far surpassed any local beef I have had (and I have had an extensive amount).

Overall, it was a wonderful meal, with a lot of good information shared by both Dean and Jeff, and an excellent value at the price if I might add. If you missed it, you certainly missed out. Thanks Dean and Jeff for pulling this together. I look forward to the next one!

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