Il Cortile Ristorante & Clos Solene: Reverse Wine Dinner

We recently went to a reverse wine dinner at Il Cortile with Clos Solene here in Paso Robles with a couple of good friends. The theory of a “reverse wine dinner” is that you pick the wine and the food is made around that rather than ordering food off of a menu and then selecting a wine that you think will go with that.

This particular reverse wine dinner combined two of our favorites, Il Cortile and Close Solene.

Here were the three choices we had for the wines and the food that was to be paired with them:

2015 La Rose (45% Grenache 30% Mourvedre 25% Syrah)

Duck breast in a mostardo sauce

Squid ink pasta with clams and scallops with garlic and white wine

Veal short rib over mashed potatoes

2014 Fleur de Solene

Shrimp, sausage and cannellini beans

Pork belly over poched pear

Braised Kobe beef

2014 Harmonie (newly bottled, no label so unsure of blend but the 2013 was 62% Grenache 28% Syrah 10% Mourvedre)

Leek founduta in a braised onion with wild boar sausage

Boneless lamb osso buco over risotto

Braised beef cheeks over celery root puree

Annie and I decided to order and share the 2015 La Rose and the 2014 Harmonie meals. Seriously, it was spectacular. Chef Santos nailed it and the wine pairing was excellent. If I had to pick favorites I’d have to say the duck breast, veal short rib, leek founduta, and the boneless lamb osso buco. See…too hard to pick one or two favorites. Well done, Il Cortile.

It was also great to see Guillaume, owner and winemaker of Clos Solene. We’ve known him for quite some time and he’s a super nice guy, gracious and humble. The wines were fantastic. Both new to us but he continues his streak of making beautiful wines, in my opinion. Thanks, Guillaume, great catching up with you.

I strongly encourage you to check out one of these reverse wine dinners. I would also encourage you to go with fun people like our friends Jeanette and Tracy who decided to wear the shiniest clothes they own. It was a shiny and sparkly evening.