Menu/wine suggestions

[Jerry D Mead]

Your sister is a pretty smart lady. Re the Cornish Hens, I too would go with a Pinot Noir...and I suggest making the sauce a little less sweet than if you weren't concerned with matching with wine...sugar fights dry wines.

I disagree with her on the wine for the cheese course...I'd use this as an opportunity to showcase a blockbuster red...A big Cabernet, Bordeaux, Meritage red or Reserve Syrah/Shiraz. Geyser Peak Reserve Shiraz would be a good choice without breaking the bank.

Re dessert, unless the chocolate is bittersweet (in which case red wine sometimes works as well as a sweetie), I'd not try to match a dessert wine to it. This is a usually unsuccessful endeavor...trying to get the opposing sweetness levels of dessert and wine to compliment each other. When I do serve dessert wines with dessert...I always pour them a full five minutes before presenting the dessert itself, to give folks a chance to appreciate the wine's taste unencumbered by a sugary sweet dessert that might make it seem tart, too acid, even bitter. If you are going to try this, I'd go for a Late Harvest (Beerenaulese or higher level)Riesling from California, Washington, New York, Austria or Germany. Your local fine wine merchant will know what he has in that category that is good.

If everyone is sleeping over, a nice Cognac, or Cognac-style brandy from California (like Germain-Robin cor Jepson) with coffee could be the perfect capper for the evening.