Four Mile River Farm Dinner at Chamard Vineyards
Written for The CT Wine Trail
I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful Sunday to visit Chamard Vineyards in Clinton, Connecticut for another farm to table dinner. The sun was shining and it was warm with a few breezes on July 30. I arrived at the vineyard about an hour before dinner was to start at 5:00 pm. I went to the tasting room to say hello to Josh, who is a member of the staff that I’ve gotten acquainted with at the vineyard, and got myself a glass of wine. I then perused the outside grounds, stopped to take a few pictures of the beautiful fountain and lake on the property. And for awhile, I sat on one of the picnic tables surrounding the water and sipped my wine.
As it neared 5:00 I headed back up to the main building and found Claire, the events manager at Chamard, who let me know that the dinner was going to be held in their cellar due to the warmer weather. I made my way down the flight of stairs and the temperature dropped a little bit to a cooler, but definitely comfortable, atmosphere. It was a packed house!
There were many people already in the cellar as well as many behind me making their way to the dinner. One couple asked if I would take their picture. Several couples and groups wandered amongst the wine barrels, bottling machine and bottles of wines to find their way to the long farm table adorned with wine glasses, napkins, silverware and menus. They were searching for their name and place setting to sit down and get ready for the five course meal ahead of us.
My neighbors to the right of me were Nancy and Ernie from New York. They stay in Niantic in the summertime and they get all their beef from Four Mile River Farm, the farm featured in the dinner, and so that’s how they heard about this event. It was nice to have a few people to chat with as the courses started making their way out to us to begin feasting on.
As the first course was placed before us, Chef Cooper Westerkampf introduced what we would be eating: a beef tenderloin crostini with whipped goat cheese, roasted golden and red beets, with greens, and French style Extra Virgin Olive Oil, paired with a 2015 Viognier from Chile, with the grapes pressed and fermented in Clinton. The owners of Four Mile River, Nunzio and Irene Corsino, who started the farm in 1985 in Old Lyme, Connecticut, got up to say a few words about their farm and how much they love how people support local businesses and how they are very blessed. It was a lovely way to kick off the dinner.
While we enjoyed our first course there was a lot of chatting amongst the over 24 guests, discussing what we were eating and how much we enjoyed this beginning to the dinner. After what seemed like a short time, the second course was presented to us by Chef Westerkampf again. He let us know that we would be having a slightly chilled Stone Cold Red with grapes from the Suisun Valley, 100% Zinfandel, paired with three mini burgers on brioche buns with bacon marmalade, confit tomatoes, cave-aged cheddar, and their house-cut frites (which were displayed in a “French Fry container”) and roasted garlic aioli. We were encouraged to dip the frites into the aioli as it would “make you rethink everything you’ve ever thought about ketchup.” And boy, was Chef Westerkampf correct!
Our third course was a BBQ Beef Brisket, where the meat was slow cooked and then placed on the buttermilk cornbread with honey butter, red cabbage & apple slaw with jalapeno cilantro paired with a 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon. We learned from Chef that the micro flowers that were floating around the brisket were edible and we could eat them, and the wine was from Chile and it was very, very light and smooth with hints of chocolate.
The fourth course, again explained to us by Chef, was a grilled strip loin by Chef Matthew Bouffard, the executive chef at Chamard, with dill yogurt sauce (lemon zest/dill pollen/mint) with a tomato cucumber salad, basil mint glaze and chef’s steak sauce. The strip loin was paired with a 2014 Petit Verdo with high quality grapes, really lovely oak, smoky and vanilla notes, and a new wine that they haven’t put on their wine list yet so we were having an exclusive first tasting.
To round out the meal, dessert, “A Night at the Farmyard,” was brought out and it was a cute Cow sugar cookie with Ashlawn coffee Pot de Crème soil, milk crumble, powdered garden mint and micro marigold. The cookie was paired with a sparkling Sauvignon Blanc. What a perfect way to finish the meal and a fun way to incorporate the “beef” theme with the cow cookie.
All in all, a wonderful evening and a delicious experience, once again. Cheers to Chamard Vineyards, Chefs Bouffard and Westerkampf, and Four Mile River for a very enjoyable event. I hope you will make your way to Clinton soon to try Chamard Vineyards’ wines and food as it is something you don’t want to miss out on!