Wine savvy restaurants have been offering up special wine dinners for some time now. I wonder:

Are they worth the money?
How have your experiences been with them?
What should restaurants do to make them better?

Please share here if you would...

quote:

Originally posted by Lemur:
Are they worth the money?
rarely
How have your experiences been with them?
mixed
What should restaurants do to make them better?
serve better wines

I ditto Joe's remarks.

The ones that bombed had these commonalities:
1. far to many people in attendance. More than the restaurant could handle. Many resaurants are not equipped to serve 100 orders of chicken (or anything else)at the same. Some people are getting rubber cold chicken others hot and juicy.

2. who did those wine pairings? Was at a dinner that was all Beringer wines several years ago. Not a big fan of them anyway, but some of the pairing were terrible. Same thing happened at the Pinot Posse wine dinner this Spring. The winery wanted X wine served. It was not a food wine. The chef did his best, but it was a disaster.

3. people don't understand what they're going to. With some of the dinners it's a wine-food event. At others it a food-wine event. Rarely are both sides of the - rated equally by the hosting party. Understanding what the occasion is about upfront will help dampen certain expectations.

I've attended a few over the last several years. I would only go if it was a restaurant that I wanted to eat at without the wine dinner aspect.

My local favorite restaurant is located near a nice wine shop. The chef and the owner of the wine shop decided to do a monthly wine dinner to promote both interests. They come up with a menu and pairing list together and cross promote. It seems to work well for both parties.

For example, here is the menu for tonight's dinner:

SMALL PLATE OFFERINGS

PAN FRIED JUMBO LUMP MARLAND CRAB CAKE
CHILLED JUMBO LUMP CRAB SALAD
SWEET CORN CREMA, POBLANO CHILE AOILI
MICRO HERB SALAD

CITRUS AND CHESTNUT HONEY POACHED JUMBO PAWN
MORO BLOOD ORANGE - WATERCRESS SALAD
FENNEL POLLEN, CRISPY SERRANO CRACKLINS
CHAMPAGNE APRICOT VINAIGRETTE

LOCAL WILD STRAWBERRY CROSTINI
BROICHE, ST. ANDRE TRIPLE CREAM CHEESE
CANDIED MACADAMIA, AGAVE NECTAR

Wines:

2008 CHATEAU DE LANCYRE, ROSE
PIC ST. LOUP LANGUEDOC FRANCE

2008 DRY CREEK SAUVIGNON BLANC
DRY CREEK VALLEY SONOMA CALIFORNIA

ENTREE

BONELESS APPLE CIDER BRINED - KUROBUTA
PORK CHOP "SALTIMBOCCA:"
FRESH SAGE, PROSCUITTO DI PARMA
MANCHEGO CHEESE, MADERIA BROWN BUTTER
"CHERRY BALSAMIC" FIG JAM

Wines:

2003 BODEGAS PALACIO GLORIOSO RESERVA
RIOJA SPAIN

2006 RIDGE VINEYARDS GEYSERVILLE ZINFANDEL BLEND
SONOMA CALIFORNIA

DESSERT

TIRAMISU TRIFFLE
CHOCOLATE - WALNUT BISCOTTI
KALUHA SCENTED VANILLA BEAN CUSTARD
CRISPY DUTCH COCOA NIBS

Wine:
DESIREE CHOCOLATE INFUSED PORT


The cost for the above is $70 per person. To me, knowing the restaurant as I do, the meal alone is worth the cost. If the wine is even drinkable, its a bonus.

I think you need to know where you are going!

last night at our Country Club the dinner was limited too 32 people.

The wines were from Geyser Peak winery and dinner paired by the chef!

First Course
Ceviche of Gulf shrimp with cucumber noodles.
Sauvignon blanc "river ranches" 2008

Second Course
Seared rare Ahi Tuna with Edamame salad
chardonnay "water bend" 2007

Third Course
Antipasto of Italian cured meats.
Cabernet Sauvignon "walking Tree" 2005

Forth Course
Asian grilled New Zealand lamb chops with seasoned sticky rice.
Meritage "Reserve" 2004

Fifth Course
Chocolate lava cake with caramelized pecans and
apples.
Cabernet sauvignon "reserve" 2006

$35 wine club members
$50 not
the food, wine and people were great!
small but done right!

after dinner we sat talked and got a couple more bottles out of our lockers and made new friends!

quote:

Originally posted by wineismylife:

quote:

Originally posted by Lemur:
Are they worth the money?
rarely
How have your experiences been with them?
mixed
What should restaurants do to make them better?
serve better wines

That's number one right there. It's often a wholesaler showing their products, you aren't going to convince me to buy any if the wines are no good.

My experiences have been that there often is not enough food served to really call it 'dinner.'

I completely agree with most that has been said here. Too often the event is about pushing a product instead of pairing great food and wine.

The best wine dinner I have ever been too was a pairing dinner at III Forks I purchased at a charity auction. It was only for 4 people and was put together by their som when we got there. He asked us what we were in the mood for and what kinds of wine we liked. He even had the Chef make a couple of things that werent on the menu. Very nice!!!

Like wiml, I find wine dinners a mixed bag but I have been to some good/fun ones. In fact going to one tonight at the local Moroccan restaurant. Five courses, ten wines. I happen to enjoy Moroccan food and the wine pairings should be interesting. At $60 the price is right. The menu is below. I also enjoyed the Merry Edwards wine dinner recently. Most wine dinners though, I find do not deliver enough bang for the buck.


Reception
Sommariva Prosecco di Conegliano
~
1st
Moroccan Beef ‘Cigars’
Pyllo Dough cylinders filled with Ground Beef and Exotic Spices
Chicken Bastilla
Sweet & Savory Chicken with Roasted Almonds wrapped in Phyllo Dough sprinkled with Cinnamon
Curran Grenache Blanc 07
Melville Viognier 08
~
2nd
Chicken Couscous
Braised Chicken with Garden Vegetables over Traditional Berber Semolina Couscous
Palmina Arneis 07
Margerum Sauvignon Blanc Sybarite 08
~
3rd
Fish Tagine with Sharmoula Sauce
Traditional Moroccan Sauce with Garlic, Herbs, Spices, Lemon and Tomato
Ch Guiot Costieres de Nimes Rose 08
Shooting Star Blue Franc 07
~
4th
Lamb Tagine
Slow Braised Lamb with Caramelized Onions, Olives, Preserved Lemons, Artichokes and Green Peas
Atalayas Ribera del Duero 05
les Cailloux Chateauneuf du Pape 05
~
5th
Moroccan Bread Pudding
Rare Wine Company Madiera Malmsey
Atai (Moroccan Mint Tea)
~

I mostly do byob but there is a place in town called Wine Vault and Bistro that does a fairly good job with wine dinners where the pairings are thoughtfully made. They do wine maker dinners, Hug was nice or importer dinners. They bring out 4-6 courses and I feel like they are better than appetizers I get at most restaurants at sometimes $8-$12 a plate. I leave satisfied/full.

"Are they worth the money?"

Yes, considering the food and the wine served, with doing a little figuring it adds up to the cost of a dinner and a bottle of wine at a reasonable mark-up or fair corkage.

"How have your experiences been with them?"

I think the food overall is good with occasional mis-steps and the wines are usually pretty good as well. I avoid certain themes that I am not interested in but Italian, French or certain wine maker or importer themes have worked well for me.

"What should restaurants do to make them better?"

Some of the wines at these things need serious time. I would be happiest with wines that are accesible and good in the moment instead of speculating as to how great something will be in 10-15 years. I avoid Bordeaux dinners with 03 and 05 just because I do not enjoy them.

I dont go to them very often. I prefer to just have an offline at work and bring our owm theme for wine and order off the menu. We do have about four pre set wine dinners a year at work though for members and they always sell out to the first 40 couples that sign up. The next one is a Grgich Hills Estate dinner in august.