Lynn River Farm

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Last evening (Thursday) the local Beefsteak and Burgundy wine club (St Marys Stonetown #227) held an evening members and guests dinner event outside at Lynn River Farm. The location is slightly north and east of Stratford not too far from Shakespeare. A big yellow school bus had been chartered to get us safely there and back  as we don't want any DUI drivers. There were a little less than 20 of us; we would have liked to have a few more.

There had been a similar event here last year. I'm not sure how/why I missed that one. In any case, although the weather leading up to the event had been cool it was a lovely warm night for us (last year it had been quite cool). We ate outside under a tent overlooking a pond (actually a gravel pit that had filled in with water). There was a small sail boat docked. There's some livestock wandering about, including some geese, and some turkeys penned up/fenced in. It's a well tended rural environment that handles special events. It's a "Countryside Dining Experience".

As the evening progressed we saw a hot air balloon pass by in the distance and enjoyed a clear night with a lovely orange sunset. 

We had a lovely 4 course dinner prepared on site with locally grown ingredients. Each course had a matching wine our wine steward for the club (Jere) had selected. For the main past course, a lasagne pasta, a red wine was served blind and the game was to determine what the wine was, what it cost, etc. Tom had select the wine which turned out to be a reasonably priced Chianti Classico Reserva by Melini which matched well with the pasta. I guessed that it was a Sangiovese, didn't catch that it was a Reserva, and therefore missed out on the price point. The winner of the game is tagged to do the same at next years event — i.e., he would have to select a wine and speak to it next year.

For the dessert our president Claire had selected a brandy that he thought was particularly tasty and a good value. I'm not usually a brandy drinker, but he was right.

One of the very nice things about the location and the evening was the ability to have a conversation not only with your immediate neighbors but also with chums across the table and further away. Many times restaurants are far too noisy to be able to have a conversation — flat walls echo noise, music is cranked up, etc. Outside at the farm conversation flowed easily.

I ought to get the wine list and the menu to better document the service.