Newton Vineyard brings a taste of Napa Valley to the Sarasota bayfront

Sarasota does wine dinners right. For one, this is a city with an exceptional palate. Everyone seems to be an epicure in their own way, and we're all in luck, since a bevy of ridiculously talented culinary artists also call Sarasota home. When a wine dinner brings these groups together, the gastronomic celebration that ensues is a beautiful thing to witness.

What makes Sarasota wine dinners even more beautiful is the absence of pretension. You can swirl, sniff, sip and take notes all night long if you want---or you can tip it back and say simply, "[Insert exclamation of choice]---that's good." There's no pressure to be an oenophile. The only thing you're expected to do is enjoy every morsel.

These are the makings of a foodie town: the sheer volume of Sarasotans who practically worship eating and drinking, and a community of people who excel at bringing food and drink to the table. It's easy to see why these kinds of events take place pretty frequently. And amid this veritable banquet of banquets, some truly stand out. Tuesday night's dinner at Jack Dusty---which featured vintages from Newton Vineyard and was supported by Magnum Wine and Tastings and Moët Hennessy---was one of these. It was my delicious privilege to take a seat at the table.

One aspect of this meal that contributed to the stand-out experience took place well before we settled in for the first course. Newton winemaker Chris Millard had more of an immersive experience in store for us: We were doing to dine like they do in Napa Valley, complete with a game of bocce on the grassy lawn of the Ritz-Carlton.Bocce is a perfect wine-lovers' game because it leaves one hand open to cradle a goblet of wine---in our case, a 2011 Unfiltered Newton Chardonnay, light, creamy, peachy and perfectly suited for a relaxing hour outside on the sunset-drenched waterfront. As the glasses are emptied and refilled during rounds, everyone's game somehow seems to get better ... well, to a point.

"The only rule of the game," Chris told me, "is if you don't have a glass in your hand, you have to leave the field." As you might expect, not one of the eight players was ejected.

We'd bowled up an appetite by the time the dinner bell rang. Up on the Jack Dusty terrace we found a long, white-clothed table waiting for us, ranged with glasses and gleaming silverware. A stiff breeze gusted off the water and brought the sweet, spicy smell of Jack's famous naval brown bread straight to my nose. At my right elbow, a server poured a second glass of Unfiltered Chardonnay, this time the 2010 vintage.

One principle within the Newton philosophy is that their wines should play well with food. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they're mild-mannered. Newton's specialty in unfiltered wines brings out the character of the whole grape by preserving important oils that gird the structure of the wine. As Chris explained, "It's a bigger, richer, more natural expression of what's created in the fruit." Thus a Newton Vineyard product strikes a luscious balance between quaffable and food-friendly, and the big, "blockbuster" character that's typical of Napa Valley wine.

The Ritz-Carlton's Executive Chef Dwayne Edwards crafted a four-course menu to complement each glass, and he didn't mind a bit that the wines presented to him came with a lot of personality.

"The more bold flavors of the wine are actually a good thing," Chef Dwayne said as his staff brought out the first course of sashimi-style cobia, Mote Marine caviar and cherrywood-smoked watermelon. "It gave me more to work and play with as I created these dishes."The menu rose to the occasion and then some. The first course disappeared from its black basalt plate in a blink, as did a bowl of cavatelli pasta with roasted quail blanketed in a velvety wild mushroom sauce. The accompanying 2010 Unfiltered Merlot was, as Chris put it, "a merlot for cab drinkers," and meshed with the hearty quail to produce much lip-smacking.

Usually by the middle of these multiple-course affairs I'm already slowing down and starting to push back from the table, but not this time. Tender chunks of lamb, baby champagne beets and a crisp plum, all fragrant with blood orange oil, vanished---with only a smear of vivid green celery root purée on the plate as evidence of a third course. This dish came with a surprise. Along with the 2010 Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon, intense and almost inky, came a glass of Newton's 1993 vintage of the same varietal. It was a rare treat to taste the glasses side by side and savor how 17 years turns a bold, juicy bouquet into a still-vibrant yet earthy jewel.We lingered long between courses, with dessert arriving around 10:30 p.m: Caramelia chocolate-raspberry mousse and a mound of wildberry sorbet. Chris chose to conclude a night of exquisite wines with a glass of "The Puzzle" from 2008. Newton's Puzzle wines are varietal blends of hand-selected grapes, representing the best of the best from each year's harvest. The 2008 vintage led with merlot, and ended the dinner with an explosive burst of rich, dark fruit.

As I've said before, this had been more than a meal; it was an excursion into the warm heart of Napa Valley culture. If the gentle waves beyond us had sounded more like crashing spray, I could have easily have imagined us perched on the Sonoma Coast instead of the sultry Sarasota Bay. Perhaps the two locations share similar attitudes. Chris related to us during dinner that, unlike many professional vintners, it wasn't one exceptional bottle of wine that turned his head. During a stint in France as a teenaged bicycle mechanic, Chris learned to love wine in harmony with food and good company. He surely found Sarasota to be an ideal place to share his passion.