Menu/wine suggestions

[Randy Caparoso]

Just back from Florida. So would you mind if I jump in?

Sister Wine Lover is right about Chardonnay -- a California style could fight with the honeyed orange sauce, the sweetness in the dish making the wine taste dry and harshly alcoholic. But -- and here's a big BUT -- there are some Chardonnays that might do the trick. A tropical fruit toned -- such as Chardonnay from Australia (especially Western Australians like as Leeuwin or Sandalford, although a South Australian like d'Arenberg or a Rosemount from the Hunter Valley could do the trick) -- could have enough suggestion of sweetness in the aroma and flavor to carry it off. Especially if you take Curmudgeon's suggestion and go easy on the sugar in the dish.

The other, perhaps safer, choice for the Cornish hen would be a good dry or off-dry Riesling. I'd recommend either a German trocken ("dry") halbtrocken ("half dry"), or one of those new fangled ones from New Zealand (the Villa Maria Riesling, for instance, has beautifully fragrant, tropical fruitiness and almost bone dryness). From Germany, you probably couldn't go wrong with the dry style Rieslings from the Pfalz region such as that of Burklin-Wolf or Bassermann-Jordan, with can have tremendous, exotic fruitiness.

For the cheese course, why don't you make yourself and your sister totally happy by serving a Port? The British swear by it -- especially when paired with a good Stilton. If you can't find that, do a Maytag Blue Cheese from the beautiful state of Iowa. Either one would go incredibly well with Port of almost any sort.

If anything, the Port could also easily carry through into your chocolate decadence; although I would suggest that you do the chocolate dessert, and then repair by the fire for the cheese. For variation, you might also wish to throw in an Italian style Moscato Passito from Pantelleria, or else a Vin Santo from Tuscany. These golden sweet wines also go great with blue cheese, and can be surprisingly good with chocolate as well (their muskiness connecting with the ginger in your recipe).

Finally, your crab and salmon terrine with dill sauce sounds like a job for a Blanc de Blancs style. If you can find them, I'm absolutely sure the famously refined Taittinger Comtes de Champagne or the airy soft and aromatic Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs would do a beautiful job -- not so much with the delicacy of the terrine, but also in context of the dill sauce (Chardonnay flavors love a good dill sauce). I love both Clicquot and Roederer, but the standard Bruts from these houses could be a tad rough and dry tasting with your chosen dish. Unless -- and here's a big UNLESS -- you go with a Roederer Cristal Rose, which is hideously expensive, but at least has the fruitiness to cozy up to the sweet taste of the crab and fishiness of the salmon in the terrine. Good luck!