Social Calendar : Wine + Food Pairing Event

I spent Monday attending the November NACE meeting at the Harbor Magic Pier 5 Hotel. The evening started with a martini bar in the hotel lobby before getting down to business and enjoying the insight and expertise of Chef's Expressions owner and corporate chef Jerry Edwards, CPCE, who guided the crowd of wedding and event industry execs through several sublime wine and food pairings.

Jerry starts with the wines by examining the nose and the taste before crafting recipes that serve to both compare and contrast the flavors.  The results? A variety of interesting wines from Maryland to California that begged to be balanced with small plates of delicious duck confit with boysenberry toast and rich ras el hanout-seared scallop with mango lime relish.

My personal favorite was the Hob Knob Pinot Noir from Southern France (lots of almond and cherry on the nose leading to a smoky-cherry-cranberry taste) paired with a rich seared pork belly with a sweet-hot-salty asian glaze. Mmmmm....braised meat plus smoky wine yields something totally transcendent!

The event was a great networking opportunity and a chance to spend time with some of the city's top florists, caterers, planning execs, photographers and venue owners, including the always delightful David Egan of Chase Court and Melanie Brzozowski from Chef's Expressions.

<  Despite the dark entryway we were standing in, Melanie was game to take a picture with me before I dashed out at the conclusion of the evening to catch the rest of the Ravens game.

Comments

[MCW]

I think I need to take a wine tasting class...I am clueless!