What I Drank With Dinner (WIDWD)

For many years, Kari and I have served a beef tenderloin for Christmas dinner, which is easy to prepare, cook, and carve, especially for a large gathering. This year, we decided to depart from tradition and serve beef bourguignon, for the weather outside had been cold and snowy for so long that this hearty dish seemed appropriate for our dinner celebration.

To craft this single pot dish, Kari adapted a recipe from Ina Garden, which by all accounts follows a classic method of preparation. This meal has become a huge hit with friends and family on previous occasions, and is the kind of dish that is even better the next day as leftovers. Best of all, beef bourguignon offers a great match to Oregon pinot noir, which for me equates to the perfect meal.

With all of this anticipation, you can imagine my disappointment when the day of our Christmas dinner, I started feeling a slight cold coming on (it arrived in full force the next day). Not the best timing in terms of enjoying food, let alone wine. Even though I might not fully enjoy whatever was poured at my table, I wanted to open a few bottles that would hopefully provide a good match to our meal.

To start things off, I opened an Argyle 2002 Brut Sparkling Wine Willamette Valley, a bottle I had covered in a previous WIDWD post last December. The Argyle sparkling wine is a great way to kick off any celebration, regardless of the occasion. With our dinner, I popped a Domaine Serene 2004 Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir (purchased at retail for $53) as well as a Reininger 2003 Ash Hollow Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (purchased at the winery for $32).

Due to the onset of my cold, I am going to pass on reviewing these wines in detail. Even still, it's worth noting that most around the table, including me, found that both the Domaine Serene pinot (14.1%) and Reininger cab (14.3%) showed too much oak. Furthermore, there was a sense from some that both wines were over ripe, especially the Reininger, which I later discovered was described by the winemaker as a "cherry bomb". After serving both, it became clear that these wines had two things in common: ripe fruit and heavy oak.

As to the beef bourguignon, it was a superb dish. I really liked the melody of rich flavors coming together in a single bowl, with the toasted French bread at the bottom soaking up the sauce. As hearty as this meal is, it goes well with pinot noir, for the bright acidity lends well to cutting through the richness. However, I would recommend a modest Oregon pinot noir, one that shows restraint both in terms of fruit and wood. As to the choice of a Walla Walla cab, that is probably best reserved for steak night.

Other Links
Reininger Winery Tasting Room Review
Christmas Dinner 2007