Une Dégustation Française

Posted by Groupthought Collaborator on

Our theme was ‘French’ at our last wine & food degustation dinner in cooperation again with the great team at Ti Kouka Café held on 24 July 2012.   The event again booked out within less than two weeks from first notice similar to what we experienced with the Spanish degustation in May.

The event opened in the bar where people were greeted with a glass of Billecart Salmon Brut Champagne and their first course of Ti Kouka cold smoked salmon w/ dill & preserved lemon crème fraiche to match before moving into the dining room for the next six courses.

All of the courses were amazing – the food divine, the wines excellent, and the wine matches extraordinary!   At the end when polled many had different favourites which tells you about the calibre of everything served that night.  One patron even asked to be pre-booked on all future events!  Thanks Noel.

For me, it is very difficult to pick favourites but if I had to pick, I think my favourite course was possibly the duck & hare cassoulet matched with the French Burgundy aka Pinot Noir (Ponnelle Haute Cotes de Nuit 2008).   But a very close second was the Seared rack of lamb with kumara & potato gratin, cucumber & mint salad matched with the red Bordeaux (Chateau Fonenelle Rouge 2007).

Does this whet your appetite?

Our thanks go out to Shepherd Elliott and the team at Ti Kouka for a fantastic evening of fabulous food, atmosphere, and service.  As each course was being served, Shepherd shared his thinking behind each dish, the ingredients and preparation, and his wine match thoughts and was even willing to share his recipes with anyone who asked!

We also want to thank Brandon Nash of Dhall & Nash — the importer and supplier of these great wines and our fab presenter telling us little anecdotes about the regions,the wines and the wineries.

The Event Tagline:  Mangez bien,  riez souvent,  aimez le vin!

Which means, “Eat well, laugh often, love wine!”   And yes we did!

On to planning the next one …

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