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Photograph by George Sakkestad
Jeanette Johnson of Mirassou Champagne Cellars offers a reminder that the Bistro Suppers will begin with a flute of sparkling wine.
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Catered dinner evenings combine fine food, wine
By Suzanne Cristallo
Two more evenings of wine and gourmet fare are available during this coming fall season at the historic novitiate--now Sacred Heart Jesuit Center for retired priests--in the foothills above Los Gatos. Hosted by Mirassou Champagne Cellars, which has leased the old wine-making facility from the Jesuits of the Sacred Heart since 1989, the Bistro Suppers are offered as a trio; the first was a sell-out last week.
The suppers are provided by Catering by Dana of Redwood City, chosen from among four contenders for their menus, which are meant to showcase the Mirassou wines used in preparing the menus and accompanying each course. The four-course meals are served in the Cellars' Blanc de Noir room, which is built into the hill behind Sacred Heart. It is reached via a 51-foot-long tunnel with an arched stone ceiling and walls, appropriately called La Cave. One wall of the room is lined with the heads, or ends, of the 1,500-gallon casks once used by the Jesuits to store their wine. The wall should provide good acoustics for the suppers' classical guitarist.
For the Oct. 9 repast, Dana plans an appetizer of mushroom dill pancakes with smoked salmon and caviar with chardonnay; a butternut squash soup; ribeye steak with mushrooms, brandy and blue cheese; and a strawberry tart with sherry sabayon for dessert. Guests will be greeted with a flute of sparkling wine.
The supper on Dec. 12 will be hearts of romaine with blue cheese and caper dressing; a potato, lentil and wild mushroom soup; peppercorn-crusted breast of duck with blueberries; and fresh peach tart with marsala cream. Cost of the dinner is $60 per person, which includes wine, tax and tip. Another trio of gourmet suppers will be offered in the spring.
The association of Mirassou Champagne Cellars with the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center seems a likely pairing in that both have a local history involving wine-making that bridges more than a century. The Mirassou family started making wines in the hills of East San Jose in 1854. It has always been a family operation, now run by three brothers of the fifth generation of the clan, with three members of the sixth generation also in its employ.
The novitiate, started in 1888 for the education of the novices of the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers, was built on property with an existing vineyard. The brothers made wine there for 98 years, until 1986, when the facility was leased to commercial wine-makers. The order continues to maintain a home on the site for its retired members.
Mirassou Champagne Cellars, 300 College Ave., Los Gatos. The Oct. 9 and Dec. 12 dinners both begin at 6 p.m. Call for reservations, 395-3790.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
