Languedoc Roussillon Dinners

Because of demand for seats, we will be holding our January Languedoc wine dinner on two nights, Wednesday, January 29, and Thursday, January 30 starting at 7 p.m. We'll use the same format as we did with the Rhône dinners in December: no more than 20 people around a single table, six courses of food inspired by the traditional dishes of the Languedoc-Roussillon and at least six wines. We'll talk about the wines, but won't subject anyone to a boring lecture. We'll also provide written materials with background on the wines in case you'd rather read about what you drank later.

The price will be $65 per person, plus tax and tip. The menu includes seared tuna with basil oil, cream of avocado and tomato concassé over shaved fennel salad; cabbage soup with bacon; rolled veal stuffed with nuts and raisins, served with herbed couscous, snowpeas, red peppers and mushrooms; cheese; and chocolate gateau.

We plan to buy a couple of new wines for the event, but we already know we want everyone to try the rather spectacular Cuvée No. 3 de Castelmaure from Dominique Laurent et Michel Tardieu and a very special 1993 Domaine du Mas Blanc Banyuls from Docteur Parcé et Fils that we've been cellaring for years. We think Alain Soufflet et Laurent Scapa's 1998 Domaine de la Casa Blanca Collioure will be a nice fit, and we are considering starting with something unusual, such as Berail-LaGarde's "Roque Sestiere Carte Noire" an oddly spicy white made of Malvasia grapes.

We hope that everyone will like the foods and wine pairings we choose, but substitutions will be possible with advance notice to accommodate dietary restrictions.