I went down to my Wine Merchant and they had one bottle of this wine from a Winery called Ecker. The owner of the store said that it was a bright, crisp wine. I thought that this winery was in Germany, hence the title of this blog, but as it turns out the winery and most Gruner Veltliner is grown in Austria. So I guess the title of this blog should be Austria collides with Asia LOL.
As luck would have it, I had guests over for dinner the night I opened this bottle. Our friends, The Benda's, son had gotten married and they had a house full of out of town and country guests. The Bendas are a military family so they have ties to many different countries in the world. We had invited them and their 7 houseguests: The Bride and Groom who live on the west side of our State; Greg's mother who lives in Minnesota; Friends who live in Washington and Friends who live in Germany. This is where the luck part comes in. When I brought out this wine, Claudia (who lives in Germany) got very excited and said that this is her favorite wine. It made me happy to be able to offer her a wine that she loved.
I decided to serve Asian food for several reasons. Most people like Asian. I could offer a large variety. It fit into my new eating plan. When cooking Asian, the prep work is all done ahead of time and dinner takes only minutes to get on the table.
I served dumplings as an appetizer along with smoked salmon on cucumber rounds. Linda had brought shrimp toasts and crab dip. Frank made up a batch of his Lychee Nut Martinis. When we had visited a bit and everyone was relaxing with appetizers and drinks in hand, I retreated to the kitchen and fired up my wok. First I cooked up some Pork Chop Suey, as it keeps warm very well. Into the chafing dish it went and the wok was rinsed clean for the next dish, Kung Pao Chicken, shown above. I will be sharing this recipe tomorrow at Sunday Supper so stay tuned. The Kung Pao Chicken went into another chafing pan. The third entree was Garlic Shrimp and Green Beans which got put into a crockpot set on low setting right before serving so the shrimp wouldn't overcook. I served both brown and white rice and poured wine for with dinner.
Claudia, Linda and I had the Gruner Veltliner, while the others requested a sweeter wine or a red wine. I thought the pairing worked well. The Gruner Veltliner reminds me of Sauvignon Blanc which is one of my favorite whites. I must confess, that I was busy visiting and didn't spend an inordinate amount of time with the tasting but Linda and Claudia each had another glass finishing up the bottle so they must have thought it paired nicely as well.
So glad you are a convert Wendy! Cheers
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that Martin chose this wine, Michelle.
DeleteSounds like a delicious meal with good friends.
ReplyDeleteHow fun that the wine you chose what a favorite of your friends. It sounds like a great dinner party!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah, I was very pleased.
DeleteWhat a wonderful dinner party!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Paula, I think everyone enjoyed themselves
DeleteHow awesome that you just happened to serve a favorite of one of your guests. The whole dinner party just sounds so lovely.
ReplyDeleteI know, it made me very happy
DeleteWhat a party! Sounds like it was a fantastic evening of delicious food and wine. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteIt was Lauren, thanks.
Deletesounds like a food lineup I would definitely enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThanks David...now if you just lived closer you could join us.
DeleteAn empty bottle means happy people
ReplyDelete