Wine for very large dinner

[PrincessUA]

Hi, I am a hospitality student at Florida State University, and my group and I have to put on a dinner for 85 people for a class. We have to have two different wines during the course of our dinner. To stay in budget, we have to choose wines that range from $10-$15. Our theme is the Southwest, but I do not know of any wines from that region. The main course is duck, so it was recommended to me to have Rancho Zabaco Zinfandel. Does this sound good?

My main problem though is picking the wine for the appetizer and salad courses. We are servng chilled avocado bisque an a spring mix salad with cilantro-lime vinagrette. I would really prefer to have a white wine. Does anybody have any suggestions? I could really use the help. Thank you in advance.

[hotwine]

Hi, Princess, and welcome to the board. Can you clarify a bit please - you say the main course is duck, and your theme is the Southwest (U.S)? The only ducks we know in the SW is our very own Wineweenie (WW), over in Phoenix......sorry. I'll defer to him and others about a wine to pair with duck. As for a white for your salad, suggest you ask your retailer for Michel Lynch, a Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux that should run you no more than $10.

[PrincessUA]

Thank you for the recommendation Hotwine. I know duck is not a Southwest dish. The original recipe calls for quail, and that is what we wanted to use. Our professor "highly recommended" (which means pretty much made us) that we use duck because our guests would like it much better than quail. The duck will be marinated and basted with an orange and red pepper jelly mixture, so that helps a little with the southwest theme. Thanks again.

[hotwine]

Hoo-boy. The orange and red pepper sauce complicates a pairing with the duck. See this thread from a year ago: http://www.wines.com/ubb2/Forum2/HTML/000269.html

The consensus then was that a Pinot Noir would probably work best. For one that is very reasonably priced, you might look for a Maison Nicolas Vin de Pays d'Oc, all of $7.99 at Sam's Wholesale Club, as well as some supermarkets here in South Texas.

[winoweenie]

The Cline 99 Calif zinfandel mite do well with this dude. Anytimes I sees the pepper word, me thoughts immrdiately run to zins and rhones. WW

[Thomas]

I once poured into a black glass a Rhone red, and then into another black glass I poured an Alsatian Gewurztraminer. I asked about fifteen people to tell me which of the two was a white wine. Only one person got it right.

Moral of the story: Gewurztraminer holds up to pepper just as well as a Rhone because the former is powerful too; it would handle the duck, and in so doing, it would astonish everyone.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 02-11-2002).]

[PrincessUA]

Thank you for the suggestions. That is very interesting about that white holding up with duck. It might really impress the guests and my professor if I ty that.