out and about: duckhorn wine x sea & sky
Went to a collaboration between duckhorn winery and sea & sky with my brother recently. Y’all know I love all the seafood at sea & sky, so was excited to see what they would do with a wine pairing menu.
crispy fried oyster: seaweed, caviar “ranch”
shrimp & octopus tostada: fresno hot sauce
beef tartare tart: egg yolk jam, pickled ramp
decoy sparkling cuvee brut
And this is where I fell in love with decoy. This sparkling cuvee has me hooked. Crisp and clean, not overly sweet. Just a perfect sip of bubbles.
The welcome snacks themselves? Really good. Perfect starter bites.
While I prefer a raw oyster, this crispy one was pretty darn good - the only thing missing was a spoon to help get all of that caviar yumminess up and out of the shell.
The tostada was also a great bite - but it was hard to differentiate between the shrimp and octopus when presented this way, and loving both of them? I wouldn’t mind separate bites of each. But that’s just me.
Y’all know I’m a beef tartare girlie; and all I wanted was more of it. Also love that ramps are making a comeback. They were the star of everything several years back, and then almost randomly disappeared from all menus.
yellowfin tuna crudo: crispy rice, citrus, jalapeno
duckhorn sauvignon blanc
It’s safe to say that sea and sky kills the crudo game. If you’ve had any of their raw dishes before, you know what I am talking about.
The freshest tuna, the pop of the crispy rice, citrus, and the spice of jalapeno. Perfect bite.
The sauvignon blanc was good too - I kept thinking how good it would work with a crudo, as part of the vin itself. Ideas for the future.
grilled red snapper: baby peas, ginger pickled carrots, miso honey butter
duckhorn chardonnay
Just like the crudo. Sea & sky nails the seafood game, all around. We’re huge fans of the half snapper on the regular menu, and being that red snapper is one of my favorite fish, it’s all the better.
Also love they they incorporated a miso honey butter, seeing that their salt and miso butter, served with parker house loaves is a staple and huge hit.
The chardonnay wasn’t as buttery as I like them; but I was surprised at how much I did indeed enjoy it.
spiced honey glazed duck: truffle pain perdu, wild mushroom, glazed endives, cherry duck jus
duckhorn merlot
Since I can’t drink more than 1 glass of red wine (any more is migraine inducing); I tend toward the whites when it comes to wines. The merlot was good. And definitely would be a good match for duck.
The problem was the duck. I hate saying anything bad about food from a restaurant I know is excellent; especially when they are serving a coursed out dinner to multiple people, and timing is definitely at play, but the duck wasn’t our fav. It was over cooked and very chewy. Almost rubbery. The flavors were all there, the accompaniments on point, just lacking execution on the duck.
chocolate: citrus, marigold
duckhorn cabernet sauvignon
Loved the cab. Full bodied and stood up well against the creamy chocolate.
Which was creamy, decadent, and the perfect ending to the almost seamless pairing.