Peter Mondavi, Jr. + Bill White=6 hours of dining bliss
By Mary Brown Malouf
02/29/08 - 02:50 PM
Ten courses and eight wines in six hours—it added up to an over-the-top evening. A Tuesday evening.My Tuesday nights aren't known for their extravagance, so last night'swine dinner at Wolf Creek Ranch was a seismic shake in my usualschedule of Law & Order reruns.
Executive chef Bill White, of Bill White Enterprises, invited a fewmedia people and a lot of his best patrons to a super-exclusive dinnerfeaturing food cooked by the chefs of his Park City restaurants (Grappa, Chimayo, Ghidotti, Windy Ridge Cafe, Wahso)paired with wines from historic Charles Krug winery in Napa Valley.Krug, originally established in 1861, has been owned by the Mondavifamily since Cesare and Rosa Mondavi bought it in 1943.
The extended Mondavi family helped make the Napa Valley the winecenter it is today—their family history is a history of NorthernCalifornia winemaking and makes fascinating reading in this new book.
Anyway, Krug is now owned by Peter Mondavi and his sons, Peter and Marc; Peter Jr. 
selected the wines to go with last night's food and attended the dinner. From the first glass of Schramsbergrose sparkling wine at the pre-dinner reception to the last—at thispoint slightly delirious—sip of Cline Late Harvest Mourvedre, from thefirst duck confit hors d'oeuvre to the last chocolate-dipped petitfour, this was an extraordinary meal. Peter Jr. said (although I don'tunderstand how he did the math so quickly) that it was in the "top 1%"of wine dinners he had ever attended.
White and his peeps had transformed the Mountain Top Barn and Stable at Wolf Creek Ranch 
intoa luxurious dining room—plaid-draped tables, soaring arrangements ofred roses, groves of twinkling Christmas trees—and set up a series ofkitchens in the stalls, bringing in carpets, stoves, ovens and hundredsof wine glasses. We were served by all the restaurant group's managersand front of the house staff. Enough. It was a spectacular—iflong—evening.
Night, actually. A big one.
Here's the menu:
Celery Cocktail
A stemmed glass holding two little silver-skinned slivers of freshsardine resting on shredded celery, a clean but aromatic counterpointto the 2006 Charles Krug Sauvignon Blanc, made in the New Zealandstyle, rather than the old California "fume blanc" style.
Maine Diver Scallop "Wellington"
A fat little scallop dusted with porcini dust, wrapped in pastry, sauced with foie gras, followed by ...
Strudel of Dover Sole
A delicate herbed shrimp mousse fortified with crispy morsels ofpork (a "foreshadowing" of the heavier meat to follow) in a surprising,sweet butternut squash broth. Both seafood dishes and the accompanying2005 Carneros Chardonnay raised the bar for complexity from the firstcourse. The wine, a blend of oaked and un-oaked juice, was especialllyrefreshing in this time of Chardonnay extremes.
Pheasant Consomme
Clear as expensive amber
,garnished with little egg-like gnocchi and a drummette with thepheasant breast-meat rolled around it, the soup stood up well to the2005 Pinot Noir, also from Carneros vineyards.
At this point, we all toasted ourselves for being halfway through.
Grilled Juniper-scented Elk Loin
The burgundy-colored rounds of meat were nestled with a tinyRoquefort souffle (more like a timbale, really) and an adorable littlepoached pear, the deep flavor of the game and its maple-tingedBordelaise jiving perfectly with the spicy Zinfandel—my favorite wineso far. But then, I have a weakness for Zin.
Roast Mini "Prime Rib" of Wagyu Beef
Just bare beef, along with French lentils scented with truffles andsauced with Bearnaise, but the 2003 "Generations," a blend of CabernetSauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot (are you getting allthis???), Malbec and Syrah, provided plenty of complexity.
Artisan cheeses—Humboldt Fog, Taleggio, Camembert, etc., etc. were outshone (outshined?) by a marvelous glass of Zinfandel port.
Finally, an individual wild huckleberrypie (the tiny berries flown in from Canada for the occasion, andlaboriously de-stemmed by pastry chef Stephanie Krizman and staff) wastopped with a spoonful of almond ice cream and served with a glasss ofthat late harvest Mourvedre.
Obviously, an extraordinary evening. I can't help wondering, though,how things went Tuesday night for all the people who dined at Grappa,Chimayo and all the other Bill White restaurants...
Originally published 2007-12-06
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