Photos: David Ditzler Photography
Last week I had the pleasure of attending a wine and tequila pairing dinner at Blackbird hosted by Michael Mondavi of Mondavi Family Wines and Gary Shansby of Partida Tequila.
I knew as soon as I received the invitation that it was an event I couldn't miss. To clarify what I mean by "couldn't miss," I mean that if Satan himself had invited me to dinner, I probably would have accepted. Wine? Tequila? Dinner at Blackbird? Really, who would say no?
I better shut up now or I'll never be invited anywhere again.
At first, when I heard that tequila and wine were being served together, I thought I must have mistakenly received an invitation to a college party. Then, I thought, I'd better take the next day off work. Well, neither of those turned out to be true but I did learn quite a bit about food pairings. While fine wine has long since been acknowledged as an integral part of any fine dining experience, tequila is treated as a recreational drink or an accompaniment to a Mexican-inspired meal.
The evening began with introductions from Gary and Michael, while we drank delicious agave margaritas (How delicious? I chatted with another attendee by the bar and I think he drank four while we were standing there. They were just that good). The dinner explored the surprising relationship between tequila and wine.
With dinner, our hosts served a flight of tequila that included Partida's Blanco, Reposado and Anejo varieties to sip throughout the meal and pair with the various courses as desired. As each course was presented, dutiful servers filled our glasses a carefully selected varietal from the Mondavi Family Winery.
The only real way to tell you about this menu is to let it speak for itself.
