Morton’s

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Morton’s holds some amazing wine events, it is true. Last year I attended Morton’s Back Bay’s bubbly event and special reserve wine tasting, both featuring signature Morton’s dishes, fantastic wines, and their across-the-board impeccable service. So when my friend Megan suggested we attend a sparkling wine tasting at the Morton’s Seaport location, I was definitely on board.

Morton's Seaport

The Morton’s Seaport location sings spring and summer to me. Overlooking the bustling Boston Harbor, the restaurant has that feel that only places near the water have, open, bright, almost like you are on vacation. Megan had gotten together a group of us for the tasting, and Daisy and I were the first to arrive. Before we headed into the tasting room, Jen joined us.

sparkling wine

One thing I love about the tastings at Morton’s is that many of them are seated. It takes the juggling of a glass, a plate, a camera, and a notebook out of the equation, and makes the whole experience more comfortable. The room was set up like it would be for any special event, with simple but gorgeous centerpieces on the crisp white linen tablecloths. From my seat, I could see the harbor, and off in the distance planes taking off at Logan.

Morton's

After awhile, Megan and Bianca also joined us, and soon after, the sweet sound of the popping of corks began. Our first sparkling wine was from the Roederer Estate in California’s Anderson Valley. The Anderson Valley Brut was probably my favorite of the entire evening. Crisp, with a touch of pear flavor and that great, yeasty nose that I love, it went perfectly with the food pairing, a tarragon lobster salad roll that will soon be featured on Morton’s menu.

Roederer Estate Brut

lobster roll

The second wine, the Louis Roederer, was the only Champagne of the evening. True story: it annoys mewhen people refer to all sparkling wine as Champagne. Champagne comes from the Champagne region of France and must be made of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay, or a combination of those, no other grapes. Sparkling wine is made in the méthode champenoise in other places, but it is not Champagne.

Louis Roederer, the original Roederer, is located in the Champagne region of France, and while the Louis Roederer was the priciest of the bubbly we tried, it was actually my least favorite. I am not sure if it was the food it was paired with, but it actually tasted a little bitter to me.

crab cakes

I did, however, love the food, which just kept coming. Morton’s crab cakes, which are all fresh, meaty crab, went well with a creamy mustard sauce. The crab cakes are usually what I order for my entrée at Morton’s, and I adored this mini version.

smoked salmon pizza

The third wine of the evening was another from Roederer Estate, their Brut Rosé, a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. I loved the Rosé’s coppery pink color, hints of strawberry flavors, and celebratory sparkle. I could drink sparkling Rosé year round, and I definitely love this wine. I also loved the smoked salmon and crème fraiche pizza and chicken tenders that made their way on to our table. These very different dishes showed the versatility of sparkling wine as a food wine; it goes surprisingly well with fried food, and bubbly and pizza is one of my all time favorite combinations!

chicken tenders

The final sparkling wine of the evening was from a winery near and dear to my heart, Mumm Napa. We have visited Mumm multiple times, and I absolutely love their sparkling and still wines, the people who work there, and their gorgeous views. The Mumm Cuvee M is slightly sweet but also rich, think honey and brioche. This, to me, is a very well-balanced wine with a level of sweetness that I can tolerate.  It is perfect sipped as an aperitif but also went well with the giant chocolate covered strawberries that were our final course.

I think we were all pleasantly surprised at the amount of quality food that came with this tasting. For $35, you are served multiple plates of appetizers, a dessert, and four glasses of wine. It is a great way to spend time with friends, and I think we may have a standing reservation for Morton’s tasting events!

Morton's - the Steakhouse on Urbanspoon

Tags: Boston, events, Louis Roederer, Morton's, Mumm Napa, Roederer Estate, sparkling wine, wine

Last night I had the opportunity to attend yet another great event at the  Morton’s Back Bay location. The Uncorked series gives attendees a nice glimpse into the wines of the evening, and last night featured my favorites, Champagne and sparkling wine. On the menu, a Lunetta Prosecco, an Iron Horse Vintage Brut, a NV Graham Beck Brut Rose, and a 2008 Moscato d’Asti.

wine tasting notes

Lisa from Ruby Wines gave us a nice background on Champagne, the bubbly made only in the Champagne region, which is about an hour outside of Paris vs. the Method Champenoise which creates sparkling wine in the same method of the Champagne region but can not be called Champagne because it is made outside that region.

Some of her explanation I had heard before, but I never knew about the dead yeast that results from the fermentation in the Champagne bottle and the process by which the dead yeast is removed. It was so interesting to learn even more about the process of making Champagne, and Lisa described it in a way that was interesting and understandable while we sipped some quality wines.

 

Iron Horse Sparkling Wine

She also showed us how to open a bottle of bubbly. She pulled this off without even a pop, and not a drop was wasted!

Lisa from Ruby Wines

Morton’s provided fabulous food pairings for the wine, as usual. With the Lunetta Prosecco, we enjoyed Morton’s fresh crab cakes which are pretty much 100% crab, no fillers here! Delicious, sweet, and meaty, these paired well with the pear flavor of the Prosecco. Lunetta Prosecco is a great value wine that is easy to drink and like many sparklers, goes GREAT with food!

Mortons' Crab Cakes

Our second wine was Iron Horse Vintage Brut. My first thought? This tastes like Sonoma. I love Iron Horse. Their sparkling wine is toasty, with a lovely sweetness to it. It has been served in 5 White House administrations, and it is actually listed as an icon of Americana. This was probably my favorite wine of the evening and brought me back to my birthday dinner at Scopa in Healdsburg :).

Sparkling wine

We were served a tuna tartare which I photographed the last time I tasted wine at Morton’s. The tuna was as delicious as I remembered! We also had a bit of bruschetta with perfectly reduced balsamic, syrupy and sweet, and delicious with the salty cheese, crust bread, and juicy tomato.

Bruschetta

Our 3rd wine was a South African Rose from Graham Beck, a lovely shade of pink and made of 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay, this wine was very tasty, and I love that Graham Beck is still a family owned winery headed up by a passionate winemaker. Visiting South Africa is definitely in our future.

Graham Beck Brut Rose

The final savory course was mini burger sliders which I didn’t try since they were made from beef. My friend thoroughly enjoyed them, and I loved how adorable they were!

Mortons' Sliders

The final wine and food pairing of the evening was a Moscato d’asti with an intense apricot flavor, and a New York style cheesecake topped with fresh and fragrant strawberries. This dessert bubbly was sweet and paired very well with the richness of the cheesecake.

Cheesecake with Strawberries

Morton’s offers nothing but quality events, and this was no exception. I was SO happy I was able to attend and look forward to their next Uncorked event which features Tuscan reds. If anyone is interested in attending, I will be there and would love to taste wine with you! To register, just visit their website:

http://www.mortons.com/events.php?id=680#reservation_form 

For $40 you get a few great portions of delicious food, several glasses of wine, and some great insight into the wine of the evening.

I can’t wait until the next event!

Have you attended any fun events recently? I would love to hear about them!

And don’t forget to enter my Cabot giveaway! AND I have another giveaway starting on Thursday so stay tuned!

Tags: champagne, dessert, Food, food and wine, food and wine pairings, Morton's, sparkling wine, wine

Happy Monday! How was the weekend? Mine kicked off with a fabulous event at the beautiful Morton’s restaurant on Boylston St in Boston.

Morton’s subterranean downtown Boston location evokes a classic old Boston and is filled with lovely touches like flowers, bottles of wine, and even some Boston sports memorabilia.

image

The wine tasting was held in a back room, and there were a variety of great choices from six vendors, Harborside Wine Company, Boston Wine, Ruby Wines, Horizon Beverage, Martignetti, and M.S. Walker.

tasting notes

There was also a delectable spread of food and passed appetizers from Morton’s famed kitchen. I wanted to eat those entire blocks of cheese!

cheese and fruit display

Super fresh veggies, including giant asparagus, were served with Morton’s legendary homemade blue cheese.

veggies and blue cheese

Morton’s has some of the best tuna tartare I have ever tasted. I had it just a few weeks ago at their Seaport location, and I literally crave its deliciousness.

tuna tartare cucumbers

In addition to these platters, they also served smoked salmon on toast triangles, mini burger sliders, crab cakes, and giant scallops marinated in a tasty sauce. The scallops were so sweet and meaty. It really was an impressive array of food and really highlighted the way that Morton’s uses only the best ingredients in their food.

There were many wines, and while I won’t write about all of them, I did have a few favorites, and most of them were actually at one table, Boston Wine.

2005 Bradford Mountain Syrah from the Dry Creek Valley

2006 ZD Napa Cabernet

2006 Regusci Cabernet 

2005 Marchesi di Barolo, Barolo

Morton’s holds a variety of events, and I am planning on attending their wine tasting series once the marathon is over. For a complete list, check out this post.

The marathon is a week away, and there is still time to sponsor me and to support The ALLY Foundation by visiting http://firstgiving.com/meghanmalloyteamally

I have not reached my fundraising goal yet, but I am not going to stop until I make it!

 

Tags: Barolo, Boston, Cabernet Sauvignon, events, Food, Morton's, Syrah, wine

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