Snow flurries may have been swirling outside the windows of Ingredients Café during the wine-pairing dinner on Tuesday, November 22, but inside, patrons were basking in the sunny glow of another fine dining experience.

The sunshine was provided by the five St. Supéry wines chosen to accompany the extravagant menu. This Napa Valley winery is blessed with rare French grapes brought over from the motherland, said Karl Runge, St. Supéry’s Central Region Manager and wine extraordinaire, which adds a nice European accent to the wines’ bouquets.

Sorry, no food pictures this month. We were too busy enjoying our meal!

Our introduction to his wines was a fruity Sauvignon Blanc that paired perfectly with the Smoked Trout Napoleon with Asian Pear and Horseradish Crema. As Karl pointed out, the fresh wine counterbalanced the woodsy tasting trout and the spicy horseradish, but essentially held hands with the pear at the finish. In that way, it never competed, only enhanced.

Next, Chef Tony explained the process to make the Roasted Game Bird Consommé served with Vegetable Confetti and a gigantic Mushroom Ravioli. The clear soup was a subtle canvas for the simple but flavorful vegetables and mushroom. Nevertheless, the duck’s essence was brought to the forefront when sipped with the buttery Chardonnay. As Sales Representative Tonya Dunn of wine distributors Griggs Cooper & Co. helped pour out this sample, Karl asked us to notice that the slight taste of oak was used as a garnish, not as a flavor.

“You don’t want a tongue depressor with your wine,” he said.

The consommé was a good prelude to the third course: Pan-roasted Duck Breast with Sweet Potato, Olive and Marjoram Rösti, and Caramelized Clementine. This dish proves just how sneaky Chef Ben is. As he introduced this course, he noted he had chosen to infuse the Clementine’s syrup with a rind in order to give it a little bitterness. Paired next to the sweet potatoes and the salty olive, and fatty duck, it helped represent the entire flavor spectrum.

It was like magic. You didn’t eat the syrup with the duck because the bitter rind was all you could taste. However, the syrup was honey-sweet when licked off the tine of your fork or swirled with the rösti.

To stand up to this feat of culinary ingenuity, Karl poured a St. Supéry Elu – a combination Bordeaux that is different every year, depending on the best of that season’s vintage. This one was tart and rather powerful, so it had no problem standing up to the rich duck or to the sour Clementine.

Since St. Supéry is a fictional character, the vineyard asks local artists to create a new rendition every year for their Elu line.

Now, what could possibly top such a complicated course? Chef Tony decided to follow it with a nod to traditional fare. His rendition of Beef Wellington did away with the mushrooms. Instead, he smothered the beef with a delicate Foie Gras Mousse and served it alongside “Unbelievable Mashed Potatoes” and a beef glace. Tony would not divulge the contents of these creamy spuds, but he assured us they were very unhealthy.

The beef was so tender, the patrons could cut it with fork, and the handmade pastry was extremely buttery and delicate. The Cabernet Sauvignon served with this course had a lot more tannins in it than the Elu, therefore, it roughed up the creaminess of the dish, adding to the excitement.

For diners’ with room for dessert, the finale was well worth the wait. The chefs put together a Flourless Chocolate Cake, topped it with a rich Chocolate Ganache and then baked it in Phyllo Dough. A scattering of Candied Peanuts and a Pomegranate Nage completed the plate. The chocolate was so rich, it was almost like coffee, and the peanuts and nage added a crunchy sweet-tart kick.

The Moscato wine’s fig overtones went well with the dark flavors, making it the richest course of all.

Ingredients is going to concentrate on other holiday events in December, so watch for the next wine-pairing dinner in January.