A sparkling evening> Wine dinner is true taste of elegance

You’ve heard of bean suppers and hunters’ breakfasts.

Now meet the wine dinner.

It might go something like this:

Through a fluted champagne glass, you see bubbles giggle off of candle light. You savor a bite of green olive tapenade canapes while listening to a woman talk about a book she wrote 20 years ago, or a man explain his reasons for leaving the city life behind. Each table setting has nine utensils and six different glasses. An aroma of gourmet foods so dreamily fills the air that you could happily go mad trying to decipher each nuance.

OK, OK. It’s not something you’re going to find in a church hall or school cafeteria. It won’t be announced by a sign on the side of the road, and it won’t be as affordable as a $5 meal. It may not even be something you understand completely because the jargon of hard-core wine drinkers leaves most people dry. And how many people really know — or care — what all that silverware is supposed to be used for anyway?

Still, a perfectly prepared wine dinner is a true taste of elegance and ecstasy for the palate. And Blue Hill Inn, which has been hosting wine dinners a couple times a year for five years, knows that it’s on to one of the most delicious trends in fine dining today.

This weekend, as part of “Autumn in Blue Hill,” a celebration of wine and food sponsored by five businesses in the small coastal town, the innkeepers Mary and Don Hartley hosted a wine dinner of local delicacies and American wine. It was one of two wine dinners and several events, including more traditional wine tastings, seminars and meals, organized around wine and food over the weekend.

Representatives from two major American wineries, Beringer and Robert Mondavi, attended the dinner and spoke about the wine served with each course.

The Maison Deutz, served with the tapenade, was a California sparkler, said Mimi Giammarino, who works for Wine World Estates in Massachusetts and came to Maine for the weekend to represent Beringer. A cross varietal wine that is “toasty,” the Maison Deutz was a sweet start to the meal.

After the innkeepers politely seated the 35 guests at assigned tables, the first wine of dinner, a Fume Blanc Reserve, was introduced by Tim Clark, who lives in Wells and represents Mondavi. This “smoky white” wine has a name coined by Mondavi and is considered one of the world’s best complements to shellfish, according to Clark. It is called “reserve” because it is the top of the best, and also of note because it is the first of Mondavi’s wines to be released with the environmentally-sensitive flange-top and natural wax seal.

Local wine specialist, David Witter, who co-runs Blue Hill Tea & Tobacco Shop and is a wine consultant for the Blue Hill Inn, stuck his nose in the round goblet and breathed deeply the tropical fruit aromas, toasty citrus flavors, and rich spice, nut and vanilla undertones of the Fume Blanc. He raised his head and smiled while he swirled the liquid and lifted it to his lips. Combined with the Cape Neddick oysters with spinach and curry, the Fume Blanc was a winner with Witter.

“Very nice,” he said. “Very smooth.”

His bliss was interrupted by a knife tapping on a glass, and Clark prepared the diners for the next wine, Mondavi’s hottest work, a 1991 Pinot Noir Reserve, which was served with consumme containing guinea hen and oyster mushrooms. A velvety red wine with hints of clove, cinnamon, cassis and berry flavors, the Pinot was the reason wine importers Ed and Judi Mansing drove from Portland to attend the wine dinner. Ed Mansing’s car has the license plate “MR PINOT,” and the Mansings closed their eyes as they sipped from the half-full balloon wine glasses.

“Wine enhances food and food enhances wine,” explained Judi Mansing, who left teaching to become a wine importer with her husband. “It’s that blend that makes a perfect marriage.”

In keeping with her philosphy, Judi Mansing suggested tasting the wine first, then the food, then the wine. In doing so, all the best flavors would be brought out, and she was right. The flavor went from sharp to mild to heavenly.

Every wine dinner gets a little louder with each course, said Giammarino when she interrupted the dining clamor to introduce the Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon that would be served with gratin of lamb medallions with leeks and westphalian ham.

“It’s a concentrated fruit,” she said of the wine. “The soft tannin makes you feel you have little sweaters on your teeth. It shows itself beautifully.”

Several diners nodded in agreement as they took their first sip and then began eating.

After dinner, figs with rocamadour, roquefort and aged cheddar cheeses were served with Beringer’s 1990 Merlot. “It’s not your typical Merlot,” Giammarino said grinning widely and holding up a glass of it next to her face. She explained that the grapes for this red wine are grown in California’s Howell Mountain Vineyard, which is 750 miles above sea level in Napa Valley and has incredible solar penetration by day but doesn’t cool down at night. The intensity of heat makes for an fast growing season and a “mean Merlot.”

The final wine of the evening was a delicate, fragrant varietal called Moscato d’Oro, which is grown from an ancient grape first used 5,000 years ago in the Macedonia region. Clark compared it to an Asti spumante without the fizz, and said it was perfectly suited to the apple tart that was served. Later, over espresso, David Witter said that American wines are increasingly popular and make up nearly 45 percent of wine sales in his Blue Hill shop.

“American wines have been really good for the last 10 years,” he added. “The quality is every bit as good as the French wines, but you’ve got to be more selective. People used to buy labels. Then they bought countries. Now, I’d rather have them just buy wines.”

Before the three-hour wining-dining experience ended, Chef Andre Strong, who designed the meal in conjunction with the wine representatives, greeted the diners. They applauded his artistic presentations and delicious cuisine.

“There was a subtlety in the food that allowed the wine to express itself, and gave it a whole new flavor,” said one man through the applause.

With memories of sophisticated and enticing flavors swirling on their tongues, the guests filed out into the crisp Maine night. They were still warm inside, of course, and would be until they fell asleep in the gentlest of sated tempers brought on by a wine dinner.