Every couple of months there is a “Vine and Dine” event at the Everglades Restaurant at the Rosen Omni Center near the Convention Center. The events are usually quite fun, because the chef rises to the challenge of matching foods to wines, and you meet some interesting people at the communal tables. The event seems to attract a mixture of locals who are neither wine snobs nor newbies, plus random tourists.
Unfortunately, last night’s event wasn’t that great. The wines were a gimmick from the Mendocino Wine Company which owns Parducci. Made by Parducci’s assistant winemaker, they are basically supermarket plonk with a rock album label attached. The Chardonnay, in particular, suffered from severe smoke taint, and really shouldn’t have been bottled at all. The food was good but not really things we’d prefer to eat. And the people sitting around us happened to be newbies on dates, so it wasn’t nearly as interesting an evening as usual.
Oh well, maybe next time.