Balistreri Spring Barrel Tasting Dinner

Party time! We went to the barrel tasting dinner with Jarl and Christy - great food and another nice batch of wines! Looking forward to these being ready and bottled for Thanksgiving!
As always, lovely flowers in the bar area when we walked in. We did a quick tour for Christy, since she had not been to the winery before.

 

 

Entering the wine cellar where dinner was hosted:

 

 

 

 

Menu:

 

Dinner, wine, and lots of stories - the winemaker and his daughter:

 
Parmesan mousse canoli made from philo:

 

 
Mushroom soup:

 
The head cook, Zach:

 

 

 
Squid ink fettucini with soft shell crab:

 

 

 
Spring slad with beets:

 
Carrots and lemon... I forgot those were lemon slices and ate one whole.. it was very very very lemony.

 
Smoked venison with potatoes and asparagus:

 

 

 

 
Dessert! really tasty cream.

 

 

The End!

 
Here are the scores from the wine tasting:

 
There is one note you may not understand - "deruff"... It turns out that the grapes originally sold to the U.S. as Syrah were Derif grapes. Before people learned they were Derif grapes through genetic testing in the 1970s, they were called Petit Sirah, since the leaves and grapes were notably smaller than traditional Syrah.
"The grape, known as Durif, was developed in France in the 1880s by French botanist François Durif, who crossed Syrah and Peloursin grapes. "

Last updated 04May2025