Random Outings: Molly Dooker Wine Dinner

About a month ago, Hubby and I had the pleasure of being invited to a Molly Dooker wine dinner, held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Atlanta. We arrived a little late for the passed hors d'oeuvres but enjoyed one with the Violonist, a crisp but fruity Verdelho. Then the evening progressed, as Hubby described:

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Okay, let me explain. First, the name… Molly Dooker is the Aussie term for a left-handed person. Both owners are left-handed and embrace the characteristic so much that at one point, they discussed having the screw cap on their premium wine be a left-handed one, or "righty-loosy, lefty-tighty." As clever as the idea is, that may have frustrated some already inebriated people. A wine closure shouldn't be a sobriety test. The funds were much better spent opening schools for disadvantaged children in Cambodia.



Owner Sparky Marquis's "Mum" Janet introduced him, and he told us how to do the "Molly Dooker shake." That's to release the nitrogen in the bottle, which is a preservative but can also cause the wine to taste flat. In order to demonstrate this, they poured a Two Left Feet, their blend, pre-shake, and then had one poured post-shake. The pre-shake one had more of a nose but did taste flatter, while the post-shake one had less nose but more body and a little smoke.



Then it was time to play! We got to try the three single-varietal "everyday" wines: The Scooter (Merlot), Maitre'D (Cabernet), and Boxer (Shiraz). Using a little bit of math, some equipment that looked like it had been stolen from the CDC's chem lab, and lots of palate-cleansing bread, we blended our own Two Left Feet. Each table voted on their favorite. We lost, but it was still fun. Our table winner was 60% Merlot, 10% Cabernet, and 30% Shiraz. The most interesting part of that was that Sparky wrote every table's winning blend on a board behind him, and the variation in people's preferences became apparent:



After our blending seminar, we flipped the paper over, and we ate steak while trying the "party wines," "love wines," and Velvet Glove in rapid succession. Of the "party wines," the Gigglepot (Cabernet) was my favorite with nice fruit and texture. I also really liked the Enchanted Path, a Shiraz/Cabernet. I actually preferred it to their premium $185/bottle Velvet Glove Shiraz. The food, steak with vegetables and a lovely chocolatey dessert, were very good as well.


Interesting tidbits gleaned from the talking, which was all delivered with an Australian accent. It was like watching a tipsy BBC America program(me):

- The everyday wines come from owners Sarah and Sparky's historical challenges of being Molly Dookers trying to make it through everyday life. Oh, and Sparky and his kids like to race scooters.

- The Gigglepot and Blue-Eyed Boy are Sarah and Sparky's kids Holly and Luke. They're pictured on the labels.

- Sparky's Mum Janet liked the Blue-Eyed Boy so much she would sneak tastes from the barrels. I like her!

- The Enchanted Path and Carnival of Love, the "love wines," refer to Sparky and Sarah, and the two labels go together. Sparky, the knight on the first label, becomes the joker on the second.

- Janet talked about the "Molly Dooker Miracles," events that seemed coincidental but all affirmed their wine-making purpose and endeavor. I can't do them justice here, but it increased my confidence that if I'm meant to become a professional author, it's going to happen.


After the dinner, Hubby and I checked out the rooftop bar, then went to the downstairs bar, where we got to hang out with Sparky, Janet, and some of their friends in the U.S. Janet and I discussed how, when you're engaged in something where the end product will be judged subjectively (like writing or winemaking), people's opinions tend to be a lot stronger. I'll keep this in mind the next time my romance manuscript gets ripped by a horror-writer friend.

Overall, although the pacing of the dinner and tasting were a little odd, it was a great night and influenced me more than I realized: for two weeks after, I couldn't help but inform left-handed people they would be referred to as a Molly Dooker in Australia.

Disclaimer: We were invited to this event, and our tickets were comped.

Wine Dinners, aka, Pairing for Dummies: Room at 12 and Feast

As an oenophile who also happens to really like food, I love wine dinners, especially ones where someone else does all the pairing work for me. As luck would have it, I have two to report on this week. They actually took place last week, but I'm still playing catch up.

On September 21, Hubby and I took advantage of Concentrics Restaurants' Wine Week Atlanta and went to Room at Twelve. The menu of this self-described "modern American steakhouse" has a range of meat-centric entrees as well as fish and, surprisingly, sushi. We went with the prix fixe menu for the Wine Week dinner.

The fun thing about wine dinners is that you get to see how food changes the taste and feeling of a wine, hopefully for the better. At this wine dinner, we got two wines per course. The general manager told us that they had featured a different winery every night, and this evening, they were all from the E&J Gallo Winery. I admit to being a little shocked -- a classy restaurant with Gallo wine? I remembered Gallo as being the stuff in jugs that my parents would make wine coolers with, and when we visited the Healdsburg tasting room, we weren't really impressed with the offerings that weren't in jugs. Plus, they were one of the few that made us pay for a tasting. The wines we got for the wine dinner were generally good, and I realized while writing this that they're different international wineries under the Gallo umbrella. They were as follows (I apologize for the lack of vintages; that information was not supplied):

Appetizer Course:
Pre-food:
McWilliams Riesling (Southeastern Australia): Oak/citrus nose with minerality and subtle tropical fruit. My reaction was, "This is a Riesling?" I've had several dry Rieslings, but this is more like a Sauvignon Blanc.
Martin Codax Albarino (Rias Baixas, Spain): Lychee and soft fruit nose, very herbal along the back and sides of the palate. Interesting herbal finish.

The first course, an excellent wild American shrimp and miso soup, had savory light orange broth with slices of mushroom and green onion. The shrimp itself tasted like it had been marinated in garlic and herbs before being put in the soup. It smoothed and brought out the fruit in the Riesling, whereas the Albarino became more mineral and acid.

Salad Course:
The second course, an arugula salad with walnuts, goat cheese, raisins, cranberries, apricots, and red onion, was also served with white wine.

Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand): The nose was herbal and reminded us of how our tomato vines smell when we pick the tomatoes. The wine itself was fairly mineral with a little citrus. The salad calmed the green qualities of the wine and brought out floral notes.

MacMurray Pinot Gris (Russian River Valley, California): Subtle nose with citrus and vanilla notes and some acidity. The finish was lingering. The food highlighted the floral qualities and coaxed a hint of vanilla from it.

Third Course:
With this course, I felt I was in a "modern American steakhouse." The New Zealand rack of lamb with panzanella and zucchini mint sauce was served rare and turned out to be quite garlicky, especially when heated for leftovers later in the week. All the flavors of the dish worked well together.

Don Miguel Malbec (Mendoza, Argentina): Dark fruit/berry nose that leads to a smooth red and a nice, buttery finish. Hubby and I agreed we liked this one better on its own. The food went well with it but gave it a little bite at the end.
Louis Martini Napa Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa, California -- did you really need me to tell you that?): I can see why they paired this with the lamb. It has mint and spice on the nose, and is definitely a big, spicy Cabernet. The food smoothed it out and brought out nice dark fruit.

The GM brought the McWilliams Shiraz out for us to try with the lamb. It was supposed to go with dessert, a rich chocolate layer cake. It actually went really well with the lamb and with the cake, which gave it a little smoke and brought out more dark fruit. The other wine to go with dessert, the Gallo Family Cabernet Sauvignon, was very smooth on its own with a little caramel to it. The dessert washed it out. The GM also let us try some Plunger Head Zinfandel (Dry Creek, California), which was like drinking spice cake and earned a "Zin-gasm" comment. However it, too, was killed by the cake.

In spite of our vows not to eat again for a week after that dinner, Hubby and I found ourselves at Feast the following Tuesday evening for their Summer Harvest Australian Wine Dinner. It ended up being a beautiful night to sit outside, and we even got to hear famous violinist (at least in Decatur) Kirsten Browning play. Oh, the food and wine were good, too.

The appetizers included beet and goat cheese crostini, chicken satay, and cucumber slices with salmon, dill, cream, and capers. It was served with the 2005 Chrismont Riesling (King Valley, Victoria), which had a pineapple/citrus nose, tropical fruit taste, and dry finish.

The Massoni Sauvignon Blanc (Mornington Peninsula, Victoria) smelled like seashells to me and tasted of lime, mint, and stone. It made sense to pair it with the ceviche-like citrus marinated shrimp, scallops, and squid wrapped in bibb leaves and served over a passionfruit puree. We couldn't find the "spicy chile sauce" mentioned on the food list.

One of the fun things about wine and beer dinners at Feast is that I get to try foods I would otherwise not eat. The second course was pan-seared Ostrich medallions with bacon and summer beans. It was served with the Austins Shiraz from Geelong, Victoria. Dark plum and ripe fruit aroma, tannic and acidic with spice and more plums, it took on a nice overtone with the food. The chef later came out and confessed that it was her first time to cook Ostrich (I don't know why I feel the need to capitalize that; I just do). She did an excellent job. It was tough to cut, but very tender to chew. The applewood smoked bacon wrapped around the medallions kept it from being dry.

The third course consisted of smoked pheasant, peppers stuffed with Israeli cous cous, and chocolate hazelnut vinaigrette. The Six Foot Six Shiraz/Viognier (Geelong, Victoria) was my favorite wine of the evening. Blackberry aromas promise and deliver lots of blackberry fruit with pepper and a hint of chocolate. It's very smooth to drink with and without food.

Finally, dessert sounded strange but tasted very good. Olive oil and thyme cake was topped with sweet cream and served with macerated figs. One table member liked it so much he told the owner and chef he'd like to see it on the regular menu. The Chrismont La Zona Rosato Mezzanotte (King Valley, Victoria) is a rose wine comprised of 50% Sangiovese, 25% Barbera, and 25% Marzemino. It has lots of berry characteristics, specifically cranberry and strawberry. Overall, I thought it was nicely balanced. Hubby drank it, which is as much of a compliment as a pink wine will get from him.

Those were our wine dinner adventures. I'm glad it made for a low effort week on my part, especially since Hubby and I had been up in the mountains with some of his work colleagues, and I may have been up playing Rock Band 2 until 5:30 one morning after having helped to polish off a huge bottle of Bogle Petite Sirah. One of said work buddies is a former chef, so we ate well up there, too. What have I been doing since the hedonistic weekend and the decadent wine dinners? Going to the gym and taking advantage of the lovely weather we've been having to go walking/jogging outside. A lot. I'm probably still a few thousand calories behind.

JavaMonkey wine tasting tomorrow! I have no clue what it is. We stopped by today on the way home from the Decatur Farmers' Market, but Jess hadn't put out new lists. Maybe she doesn't know what it will be, either.