There are some days when the wine trade is like any other trade, spreadsheets and problems but I’m lucky and most days have things to really look forward to. That was definitely the case last monday. I’ve been looking forward to a dinner in November with Katharina Prum @ Nobu but when the chance to go with Alison (Buyer) and taste the menu with a couple of Prums – Kabinett 2007 & Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese 2009 – I amazingly managed to clear my diary!
En route I managed to drop in on Sautters of Mount Street to say hello. This all came about after a bit of bantering on Twitter. I picked up a Bolivar Petit Belicoso LE 2009 and a Flor de Cano Short Robusto. Been wanting to try the former for a while and the later again – even if it is a stupidly small smoke.

So on to lunch, we had 6 courses to go through and had chosen the two wines above as they meant we could cover all bases of sweetness. The dinner in November will feature 9 wines – an aperitif and 4 pairs. The six courses were:

Seabass Tiradito – in essence a carpaccio with lemon and seas salt and some coriander, lots of flavours, I loved it but was worried about it with the wines, it was even better with the wines, a great start.
Lobster salad with spicy lemon dressing – a few mushrooms thrown in too, the salad was spot on, the muchrooms had a little warmth and the lobster was chilled, worked very well and was good with either wine, very good.
Rock shrimp tempura with creamy spicy sauce – any one who finds Tempura stodgy or heavy needs to try this imply delicious, dangerously moreish.
Black cod with miso (soaked 72 hrs) – An amazing dish which is very rich but also fresh, the soaking makes the sweetness all encompassing but not OTT, went very well with the sweeter style (Auslese). You then have a good chunk of a specific ginger root that cleans the palate.
Beef Kushiyaki – Kushiyaki basically means skewer, this was delicious and went well with either style of Prum.
Assorted Sushi – I thought this would be strange timing but the thinking is that it cleans the palate and I don’t now disagree. I loved it but then I love sushi.

A wonderful monday lunch!!