Victory Tavern in Dallas’ Victory Park hosts lively Jordan wine dinner Thursday night

by Teresa Gubbins

DALLAS — Victory Park may be down lately but it's not out -- at least, not at Victory Tavern on Thursday night, when owners Patrick and Catherine Colombo hosted a lively dinner featuring the wines of prestige label Jordan Winery.

Although the Tavern has hosted a number of brewmaster events, this was its first big wine dinner, other than a smaller one in April featuring Artesa wines.

Jordan was deliberately chosen because it's such a huge Dallas favorite, said general manager Victor Rojas, but the staff was still pleasantly surprised that the event drew 70 people. There are already plans for a similar event on July 16, starring wines from Rombauer Vineyards, another popular high-end label.

After a reception with champagne and hors d'ouevre, the crowd descended into the dining room for a four-course meal with appetizer and dessert, each accompanied by a Jordan wine. Tables were set up communally, allowing the opportunity to connect with oenophiles such as Sing-yi Feng, Collin Goto, and Robert Wiebe, a trio of pediatric emergency physicians from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center who traded opinions about the wines, with Feng and Goto doing a nifty job of documenting their thoughts on neatly cribbed notes. (As a matter of fact, any insight as to the personality of the wines expressed in this story should probably be credited directly to them.)

One of the high points of the meal was the course of poached lamb loin with parsnip quinoa and rhubarb glaze. The lamb was gorgeously medium-rare and the sides were rare in a good way. You don't see parsnip used that often; in this case, they'd been cooked until soft and chopped into nibs that were stirred into the quinoa. Rhubarb has a sweet-tart thing going on that added complexity.

This was also the course in which two different vintages of the same wine were served: 2000 and 2001 cabernet sauvignon from California's Sonoma Country. The 2000 seemed more appealing up front. It was more balanced (thank you, Dr. Feng), and ultra-concentrated (thank you, Dr. Goto). But, as the 2001 opened, it became more friendly and ended up surpassing the 2000 (thank you, Dr. Wiebe).

The other notable nicety was the fact that Jordan shared a unique pour for the dessert course: a 1983 Late Harvest White Rivere Russe -- a sweet, almost-candied dessert wine, with honey, orange blossom and apricot (nod to Dr. G.) that Jordan rep Kathleen Oliver said was dug out from the vineyard's personal cellar and was basically not available for sale. That made we-the-diners feel special.

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