Valentine's Wine Dinner Highlights

What a beautiful evening it was!

I have only one regret: that I wasn’t able to take more pictures. With my partner-in-crime, Joanne Cramer-Brown, I donned an apron and conjured my mad table-waiting skills. Consequently, I was too busy shuttling food and pouring wine to exercise the camera.

Superstar Chef Jody Kropf

CIA-trained Chef Jody Kropf, as I know him, is a jack of all trades and a master of them all, too. He has been a friend to the Lange family for quite some time and has helped with harvest and winery events on numerous occasions. (In fact, this past harvest, he showed up at dawn one day and single-handedly completed every punchdown before the rest of the crew arrived. What a guy, right?) Jody has also planted his own small vineyard in the Dundee Hills, and, last fall, he and his wife became new parents. It doesn’t stop there: Jody is now working on another exciting project — opening Red Hills Market this fall.

Suffice it to say, we’re blessed to have his acquaintance. (And I must give props to his father, Rex, who helped prepare, plate, and serve dinner — personality, talent, and work ethic must be hereditary).

Table Pretties

When Jesse Lange and I were planning this dinner, we decided it would be apropos to feature an elaborate menu in honor of XOXO Day. All I had to do was convey this idea to Chef Jody, and he replied with a menu including (but certainly not limited to) King crab, lobster, truffles, bacon, foie gras, filet mignon, prosciutto, bleu cheese, and chocolate flourless cake (infused with Syrah, no less). This menu provided excellent structure for wine pairing, and we poured a great selection of Lange Estate and Domaine Trouvere wines to accompany all five courses (well, six, if you count an extra amuse bouche Chef Jody prepared: empanadas filled with duck breast, dried cherries, goat cheese, and a touch of dill). Don Lange was also kind enough to share some 1994 Lange Pinot Noir Willamette Valley from his cellar.

The Aftermath

Notable, too, is that this dinner was the first we’ve ever held in our new Formal Tasting Room (FTR). I’m excited to have such an intimate, versatile space that enables us to share Lange wines through such events. We couldn’t have asked for a better mix of guests to help with the inauguration, either — conversation was jovial and electric all evening.

We look forward to the next time we set the table for a wine dinner. In the meantime, we’ll open the FTR again soon for the release of our 2008 Lange Tempranillo (which will be served, appropriately, with Spanish appetizers). Visit our Events Page for more info, and let us know if you’d like to attend.