Summer In A Bottle

Talk about inspiration for a supper club menu. You have to love great marketing. When looking for ideas to build a supper club theme around, there is nothing better than a great marketing idea.

Wolffer Estate is a vineyard in Sagaponack New York. You can question the quality of their wines, but you can’t question the quality of their advertising. The whole concept of “Summer In A Bottle” just exudes good times. A Rose wine isn’t normally my first choice, but with that type of marketing, I will buy a bottle or five.

Speaking of great advertising. I love the old Schwab ad that talks about retirement advice and advisors that recommend owning a vineyard. The classic line is: “A vineyard? give me a break”.

Schwab ad:

Every time I visit a vineyard in the Hamptons I think of this ad. They are great places to spend a summer afternoon, but the wines will not, get you 3 stars in the Michelin guide. They also define the expression “more money than sense”. The owners are not making money; they are investing in a passion.

I once had lunch with a well-known wine maker at a boutique vineyard in the Napa valley. We were talking about the proliferation of vineyards in the valley and I asked if they made money. He gave me a quizzical look and said: “Not really, only the big guys make money, with most of the vineyards it is more about the passion for wine making”. If vineyards in Napa that make really great wines aren’t making money, there is no way the vineyards in the Hamptons come close to being profitable, unless they have great marketing.

A great way to kick off a “Summer” supper club menu is with a seafood spread appetizer.

Check out the recipe

If you have a food processor and a few simple ingredients, there is no easier way to make a quick first course. I have a confession to make. You can even use leftover grilled fish to make this recipe. You will probably feel guilty when you get complemented on the spread knowing that you used leftovers, but you will get over it.

Inspiration for supper club menus (and/or blogs) can come from anywhere, but “Summer in a Bottle” is a great one.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.

How Much To Spend On Wine For A Supper Club?

One question that continually comes up around supper clubs is how much should be spent on wine? There is no correct answer. It is one of those topics around the club’s guidelines that needs to be discussed.

The cost of wine/alcohol is usually the driver around a dinner party’s cost. I believe that it is true that most of read wine lists right to left. That is, the more expensive a wine is, the better it is. Of course this isn’t true, but is a good indicator.

In my mind wine falls into five categories

Jug/Box wine. My daughter’s friend swears by her box wine. She claims that after aeration it isn’t bad
$10 Bottles. You can get some pretty good white wines and an occasional decent red wine especially a blend
$20 Bottles. There are some really good white wines and better red wines.
$50 Bottles. Here is where you get outstanding whites and really good red wines
Over $50 Bottles. We are talking special occasion wines. Just make sure you keep them away from family members that like to put ice in their wine.

My price categories are based on competitive retail prices. When looking at restaurants you can mark wine up 2 to 4 times in the categories above.

A good price target for supper clubs is $20 a bottle. You can get a decent bottle of wine and not break the bank. The funny thing is that it isn’t the price of a bottle but rather the number of bottles that drive cost. We have had a few memorable evenings where consumption overtook discretion. One time there so many bottles in our recycling bin after a supper club party that our 12 years old daughter and her friends made comments.

Our neighborhood supper club uses the price limit of $20 a bottle. Hosts have been known to serve a more expensive wine and charge $20 when allocating costs. Some hosts are simply more popular than others.

As we get older and more affluent, we have enjoyed better wines. We had some really good times when we were younger and couldn’t afford a decent wine. The reality is that the quality and cost of wine is not that important. Making friends and socializing over a meal is what supper clubs is all about.

Do You Remember Your First Time?

A great thing about supper clubs is that they can be a venue for you to try things you have never had before. With someone else writing the menu there is a good chance you get to taste something’s that are completely new.

I can remember the first time I really had truffles. While I had eaten dishes that said they had truffles in them I had never experienced real truffles until we visited Tuscany. Our first night in Montepulciano we ate at Ristorante La Grotta. As we were looking at our menus as a waiter came by with a plate of Tagliderini al Tartufo. The aroma was amazing, but also hard to describe. It certainly was not like anything we had ever smelled or eaten before.

The next day we went on a truffle hunt with an old man in his 80’s and his two dogs. After a few hours our guide had found us a large handful of white truffles that we took back to the kitchens of Il Podere Casale where the chef made up a 4 course meal with each course featuring the wonderful truffles we found that day.

I once saw an old friend at a corporate event and in passing asked “What is new and exciting”. To which he replied: “Like my wife says, it may not be new, but it is still exciting”. Truffles like we had in Tuscany will always be exciting. Given the cost of truffles in the U.S. I doubt I will be writing supper club recipes for them. The great thing about supper clubs is that they are a great venue for that “first time” experience.