Photo by Richard L. Gaw        Fourteen guests attended the “Spring Fling Wine Dinner” at The Acadian Wine Company in West Grove on March 23.

By Richard L. Gaw, Staff Writer

Far too often in the over-glamorized efforts to pair the perfect food with the perfect wine, one overpowers the other in the form of a pugilistic mismatch, plunging the weaker foe to the canvas and rendering it unfit for competition.

Sometimes, the weakness of the wine when paired with the blandness of the food nullifies each from consideration. Last Thursday evening at The Acadian Wine Company in West Grove, however, the selection of food and wine served as a harmonious victory for the palate of each of the 14 guests who were invited to the party.

Acadian’s “Spring Fling Wine Dinner,” the winery’s first food-wine pairing event, connected the varietals being made by winemaker Kyle Jones and an exquisite, five-course, small-plate presentation from Jeremiah Brooks, executive chef at Hamilton’s on Main in nearby Newark, Del.

Over the course of the more than one-hour dinner, guests were treated to a superb marriage of food and wine, beginning with a mescaline salad with watermelon strawberry vinaigrette, crumbled feta cheese, pistachio and fresh strawberry that was served with Acadian’s Rose, a bone-dry and fruitful companion to the salad dressing and fruit.

The second course featured orange ginger chicken puffs stuffed with marscapone and ricotta that was served with a Riesling that was pungent with the flavor of white peaches and lime zest, and was followed by a semi-sweet Vidal Blanc that clicked perfectly with a cantaloupe marinated with sugar and white wine vinegar, dusted with almonds and topped with goat cheese and mint.

The fourth course served coffee-rubbed port tenderloin in a rich bordelaise sauce and roasted potatoes that was complimented by Acadian’s Red Bone varietal, and was followed by a fifth course that paired the winery’s fruit-forward Tidal Red with a berry cobbler topped with Chantilly cream.

‘He’s new and we’re new’

Jones said that the March 23 event is a precursor to what is planned to become a regular partnership with the restaurant.

“My approach is that I have the wines that are produced and on the shelf that people get to taste on their own every week,” Jones said. “They are beautiful on their own and part of my job is to allow them to be beautiful on their own, and one of the fun things that we can do is to change the context of how we experience these wines.

“This partnership is a monthly expression for both of us. Some months it may be small with just a single wine and other months, it is a full-on dinner party with some close friends, or it is a house party and 60 to 100 are invited and candelabras and white tablecloths are out and the band is playing, and off we go.”

To Jeremiah Brooks, the partnership between Acadian and Hamilton’s on Main connects two new establishments that are both only a year in business.

“What I found with Kyle’s wines is that they are wonderful dry food wines,” he said. “I got really excited to do a pairing event with him, and he suggested that we do a monthly flights-and-bites event, featuring our foods and his wines, in order to build both of our brands.

“He’s new and we’re new, and what a great way to build a cross-state partnership.” 

To learn more about The Acadian Wine Company, visit www.acadianwinecompany.com. To learn more about Hamilton’s on Main, visit www.hamiltonsonmain.com.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].