Last Saturday, we attended a wonderful wine dinner for fourteen in Marina del Rey hosted by Connie and Dick Hyman.  Everyone contributed a serving for the meal and wines to pair with their choices along with a bevy of other interesting and unusual wines that were brought along for fun.  I am not even going to try to keep track of who brought what, but I will try to give a quick rundown of everything we were presented with over the course of the evening.

Sparklers to Start

We began the evening with a large platter of burrata, speck, prosciutto, figs and grilled bread and a couple of platters of chinese dumplings and a whole host of sparkling wines and champagnes that included a Bailly-Lapierre Cremant de Bourgogne, a Louis de Grenelle Saumur Rose, a Grandin Brut, a 2000 Mumm Napa DVX and a Vueve Clicquot Ponsardin Brut.

A large platter of goodies

Bottles of bubbly

Fala and Lisa chatting

Ken, David and Dick examining some of the goodies

Pre-Dinner conversations

Dinner is Served

Two main courses anchored the dinner: leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary and a veal breast stuffed with swiss chard.  In addition we enjoyed platters of fava bean salad and mixed tomatoes and basil.

A beautifully set table

The second dishes

Connie, Gretchen, John and Danny

Dick, one of our gracious hosts

Feelie, Alan, Ken, Ritchie and Jodie

The wines were a diverse selection of vintages for our enjoyment including a 2010 Muscadet Sevre et Maine, a 1982 Chateau Langoa Barton Saint-Julien, a 2003 Chateau de la Gardine Chateauneuf du Pape, a 2008 Fixin Burgundy, a 2006 Salanques Priorat, a 2008 Maine La Bouissiere Gigondas, a 1985 Chateau Margaux and last but not least, a 2008 Oak Valley River Canyon Ridge Chardonnay.

Wines for dinner

After dinner, all retired to the patio for a selection of cheeses, desserts of  fresh strawberries, lemon torte and pecan pie and a selection of ports and dessert wines including a 2008 Joseph Phelps Eisrebe,   a 2001 Hetszolo Tokaji Aszu, a 2003 Cottonwood Canyon Chardonnay, a 2007 Sanford Botrytis Chardonnay, some 2005 Don Pedro Ximenez Montilla-Moriles along with some Dow’s Porto and Blandy’s Madeira.

Enjoying dessert outdoors

Danny, John, Ken and David

Gretchen, Fala and Feelie

Beginning to feel very full

John enjoying the company of very sweet Molly

Nitecaps

And still more Nitecaps

All in all, it was a wonderful evening combining good conversation, friendship, great food, fabulous wine in a beautiful and relaxing setting.  Thanks to everyone for helping make it a tremendous success.

A full set of photographs from the evening can be found at http://www.jimrea.com/zenphoto/marina_wine .

That is it for this post and as always, if I can be of any assistance to you or any of your friends, family or colleagues with any of your real estate needs (residential, commercial or otherwise) or if I can help find a real estate professional for you to work with in your local community, please let me know.  It would be my pleasure to help.

Jim Rea
Keller Willliams Palisades