We had a relaxing mid-week dinner with our good friends Rob and Robert tonight!!  Since we typically do not host our extravagant dinners during the week, we decide to make a simple (yet substantial) salad dish!  We remember enjoying Thomas Keller’s “grilled steak and arugula salad with white beans and shitake mushroom” at Adhoc several years ago and we were happy to find a similar dish on the Fine Cooking website.  We thoroughly enjoyed this dish with two lovely wines – Borghese “Founder’s Field” Sauvignon Blanc Long Island New York 2011 and the Grand-Puy Ducasse Pauillac Medoc 1995. 

We bought the Borghese bottle during our New York trip this past summer.  Wine maker Marco Borghese gave us a personal tour of his winery and explained how his sauvignon blancs are fermented in stainless steel to retain the fruit’s natural acidity.  It was then stirred on the lees for three months to extract fuller body and additional aromatics and aged in French oak puncheons for seven months. Medium gold hue with papaya, hay, limestone, and a touch of cream on the nose. The palate is full-bodied with flavors of sweet cantaloupe, papaya, custard, mandarin orange, with a crisp and mineral finish reminiscent of a Bordeaux white.  The Grand-Puy Ducasse is a straightforward ’95, with currant and berry aromas and flavors, medium body and medium tannins. It had a nice fruity finish which survived very well.  Thank you for inspiring us, Mr. Keller!