Food/Wine Pairing Suggestion?

We are going to a charity dinner this coming Saturday and have offered to bring some wines along. The main courses are Cornish game hen with an orange sauce, and prime rib. I was thinking about an Alsatian Gewurztraminer and maybe a Pouilly-Fuisse for the fowl with a Bordeaux and California Syrah (ESJ Shadow) for the beef. Any other thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

Sam, I don't know about the weight of the Syrah. If it is on the light side, sounds fine. Otherwise I would go with a Pinot on the heavy side. Good ideas about the whites.

[David M. Bueker]

I love Muscat any time orange is mentioned.

Sam, I don't know about the weight of the Syrah. If it is on the light side, sounds fine. Otherwise I would go with a Pinot on the heavy side. Good ideas about the whites.

Carl,

The Syrah I had in mind is a middle weight that I think would work pretty well. I had actually thought about taking a D'Angerville Volnay, but I had more or less dismissed the idea of any Pinot being sufficient. Do you think the Volnay would hold up well?

I love Muscat any time orange is mentioned.

David,

That's a great idea. Unfortunately, the only Muscat I have is the Quady Essencia. Probably too cloying for a main course.

Do you think the Volnay would hold up well?

Yes.

Cheers, Carl

One year on our anniversary I served Lafite with cornish hens in orange sauce. Works for me. But I think a light bodied red would work nicely, like a good Beaujolais.

I'm not familiar with the Volnay, but I generally don't think of pinot noir with prime rib. My knee jerk reaction is that prime rib tends to be a fattier cut of beef and that most pinot noir does not have the tannin content to stand up to that level of fat. The only beef I pair with pinot noir is tenderloin or some other very lean cut.

I still have several bottles of The Shadow in the cellar. Last I tasted one, there was a fair amount of tannin still there. Bordeaux tends to have more tannins than pinot noir as well. I think either would be a fine match with the prime rib.

Julia B, have you popped one of your Shadows lately?

We are going to a charity dinner this coming Saturday and have offered to bring some wines along. The main courses are Cornish game hen with an orange sauce, and prime rib. I was thinking about an Alsatian Gewurztraminer and maybe a Pouilly-Fuisse for the fowl with a Bordeaux and California Syrah (ESJ Shadow) for the beef. Any other thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

Sam,
The wild card here is "orange sauce." In its original incarnation, Duck à l'orange was made using bitter oranges and had very little sweetness to it. Most interpretations of it, though, use sweet oranges and add sugar to boot, making the end result quite sweet and a difficult pairing. I'd think that a high-acidity white would be the thing, either Riesling, Chenin or something funkier. You'd want a fairly big white, though, so I'd look to something like Auslese or Coulée de Serrant (finally! a use for a Joly wine!!).

Mark Lipton

Not sure about the Pouilly-Fuisse with the orange sauce Sam. I'd go with Mark's Riesling or Chenin instead. The other wines sound OK to me though. Let us know how it works out!

Sam,
Sorry I missed this post until now. The Shadow is in a kinda weird phase right now. At best, it will require mucho hours of decant (based upon my last gulp a few months ago), so I don't know how that will fit with dinner plans.
BP

Thanks to everyone for the excellent advice. This particular Volnay, D'Angerville Clos Des Ducs, is stout enough that I could see it standing up to the prime rib pretty well. For the game hen with orange sauce dish I might take a 2003 JJ Prum Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese that we haven't tasted yet. I will stay away from the Pouilly Fuisse and will let the Shadow work through its funky phase this time.

Thank again.