Savaneta -- The Flying Fishbone restaurant hosted an enthusiastic group of local Riesling aficionados for dinner on Friday. The menu was put together by talented Chefs Erwin Husken and Patrick van der Donk.
The two chefs got creative in honor of winemaker Raimund Prum, a world famous Mosel region winemaker who visited Aruba as a guest of the Aruba Trading Company.
The affable Prum whose family has been in the vine growing/wine making business for 800 years reports that German varieties enjoy a growing demand in the US with double digit growth in the past two years, and Riesling, his specialty, making the biggest strides.
The secret of Riesling, Prum explained is the Mosel’s cool climate and dramatically steep slopes, the cool cellars where the wine is pressed and matured and finally the cool temperatures in which it is served, making Riesling a perfect tropical weather selection.
The extraordinary experience was launched with 2005 Essence Riesling escorting chef’s variety of Amuses.
Restaurant Manager Marcel van Berkum and his service staff including marketing & public relations man Carsten Goetz, seated the colorful list of important guests on the new tree-top terrace, hanging over the ocean at the Flying Fishbone beach.
Once guests settled into their chairs gourmet food, nicely combined with Prum’s Riesling portfolio took center stage.
The appetizer paired 2005 Essence Riesling with rock lobster, on a bed of arugula greens, with cactus fruit and Pernod Ricard dressing. The warm sea bass appetizer served with grilled, young green asparagus in melted butter, was matched with 2004 Blue Slate Riesling. The gratinated boneless veal chop served over a chicory-raisin salad, was chased by a 2004 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinet, and the grilled beef tenderloin topped with duck liver, accompanied by mango and pistachio was complemented by a 2005 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese. The dessert, puff pastry with Calvados sabayon, apple chutney, apple-jelly and vanilla ice cream was escorted by the symphonic 1999 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Beerenauslese vat 18.
The Riesling, explain the life-loving Prum, has two faces, one revealed when sipped, the other revealed when paired with fresh, crisp food selections. Riesling he says, is delicious and is very well-suited to the way we eat today, more than the heavily-oaked Chardonnays. The fruity, fresh Rieslings are elegant and filled with surprising flowery flavors.
Prum’s emphasis he says, is not on tradition but on quality. He has been involved with his family business since 1971 and is grooming his daughter to take over, once his stewardship comes to and end and he retires to play golf, he banters.
The dinner party flawlessly orchestrated by Jorge Curiel of the Aruba Trading Company featured efficient and effortless service, as all glass wines were filled and the different delicious courses sampled.
The Blue Slate Riesling, grown in the mineral rich crumbly blue slate terrain fed by deep underground springs received warm praise. Also the hand harvested Riesling Spatlese made many new friends in Aruba.
“I will be back,” says Prum who enjoyed Aruba, which was one of his stops on a Caribbean tour, “and you are welcome to visit me, and be enchanted by the S.A. Prum vineyard, in the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region of Germany.”
