The 2024 Christmas Party of the German Wine Society (Washington DC Chapter) took place on December 7, 2024 at the Cosmos Club in Washington DC downtown. 43 German wine lovers attended the event.
Invitation
Ho, Ho, Ho, German Wine Society Members and Friends of German
Wines, it’s nearly time to hang the stockings and dream of delicious
German wine! We can gather in person again in Washington, D.C. amidst
all the elegance of Embassy Row.
So, please plan to attend the GWS Holiday paired dinner at the Cosmos Club, Saturday, December 7, 2024 for
dinner starting at 7:00 pm, with registration and service of welcoming
sekt and hors d’oeuvres beginning at 6:00 pm. We are very fortunate to
have access to this elegant and festive venue again this year. The
Cosmos Club is no longer requiring proof of vaccination against covid-19
for all staff, members and guests in the mansion, and we have also
lifted this requirement, though we still encourage guests to be
vaccinated.
The paired dinner includes a
variety of seven German wines, one sparkling, five whites and a red,
among them two high-prädikat dessert selections, accompanied by a
three-course meal preceded by hors d’oeuvres. This year, we are
offering a choice of three different entrees with different prices,
beef, salmon and duck, as well as a vegan “Chef’s Choice” alternative.
Be sure to register for the one you want, and if there are multiple
people on your order, register separately for each different entree
choice and let the Secretary know by email who is having each choice for
the place cards.
In addition, there will be
entertainment - a holiday piano trio featuring Christine Kharazian on
violin, Irina Ponomareva on cello, and Nina Willner on piano, with an
opportunity to sing some German and other traditional songs together!
Location:
The address for our holiday dinner is 2121 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20008, just a few blocks from Dupont Circle. Metro
is near (Dupont Circle Red Line) and parking is available to the rear of
the club. The stunning venue is, as in past years, the wood-paneled
Members Dining Room on the 2nd floor in this landmark building. This
year, both the opening reception and the dinner will take place in the
same room - please come into the Members Dining Room when arriving to
sign in rather than waiting in the Long Gallery outside. With
fireplaces lit, perfect for a special holiday wine event with family and
friends! There is a coatroom on the first floor free for members and
guests - no need to bring heavy bags and coats upstairs to the event.
Dress Code: The dress code for the Cosmos Club is strict -
jackets and ties for men, comparable business or evening attire for
women. No jeans or tennis shoes are allowed.
Dinner Seating:
We will have assigned seating for this event, so that couples and
friends can be assured of sitting together and no one will have to rush
to secure seats. Place cards will indicate your place at the assigned
table, with a colored dot on each card to signal to serving staff your
choice of entree. The table assignments are indicated below. Please
notify us immediately if your name is misspelled so that the place card
can be corrected in time. We have been able to honor all requests made
already for friends and families to sit together. If you would prefer
to be assigned to a different table, please advise us promptly and if
possible we will try to honor your request, as long as it would not
force us to separate others who have planned to be together or lead to
overcrowded tables. There is, however, no additional space remaining at
tables, with eight or nine guests per table, so that we can only make
changes to the seating arrangements listed here if others are willing to
move to different tables, or if a single guest wants to move to a
different table with eight persons..
Tables:
1
– Carl and Nina Willner, Antje Frehse (German Embassy guest), Lisa
Olson and Roger Hillas, Marc Lippman and Nanette Bishopric, Ken Kelly = 8
2 – Irina
Ponomareva, Christine Kharazian, George Philips, Jonathan Ellis, Walter
and Mary Wisniewski, Jim Palanchar, Dean Collins = 8
3
– Christian and Annette Schiller, Jean Froehly (German Embassy guest),
John Parisi and Anne Broker, Louise Shelley and Richard Isaacson, Bruce
Rosen = 8
4 –
Carolyn Sung, Sally Ostad, Miriam Ellsworth, Marsha Gold, Shawn Chittle
and Dina Jarkas, Sandra Hoexter and Randy Clarke, Emily Walters = 9
5 – Roland and Tickie Young, Karen Stokes, Dan and Angela Baughman, Alex Brown and Tiffany Rioux, Lydia Oliver = 8
Musical Entertainment:
There will be musical entertainment by our piano trio (Nina Willner on
piano, Christine Kharazian on violin, Irina Ponomareva on cello) during
the reception, and there will also be musical entertainment during the
dinner between the entree and dessert courses, with an opportunity for
guests to sing along with some of the holiday songs and ring bells
provided on the tables. This has been a very enjoyable part of our past
holiday dinners in recent years! We will have an instrumental holiday
medley, followed by a solo, several traditional German and American
holiday songs for performance by our choir of volunteer guests, and a
closing instrumental piece. The musical selections that guests can join
in singing are attached to this message, but we will also have copies
for guests at the dinner if you would like to sing or just follow along.
Menu:
The paired dinner includes a variety of nine German wines, one
sparkling, five whites, two reds and a blanc de noir, among them two
high-prädikat dessert selections, accompanied by a three-course meal
including a scallops appetizer, choice of four entrees and dessert,
preceded by passed hors d’oeuvres during the reception. We have been
able to add two of these wines courtesy of Amy Waller of the German Wine
Collection, a leading importer of German wines.. You have all made a
choice among the four different entrees, beef, salmon, duck, and a
vegetarian “chef’s choice”, that will be indicated on your place cards. We
are also offering a dietary alternative to scallops for the starter
course - if you need this alternative, please advise us promptly. Wine tasting notes will be provided for each guest. We may ask at the end of the event about your favorite wines!
President's Report (Excerpts)
Yesterday evening, December 7, 2024, we returned to the Cosmos Club
for the GWS Capital Chapter’s annual Holiday Dinner. This is normally
our most elegant and expensive event of the year, but often not the one
that produces the best financial returns, since with costs at Cosmos
high enough already we normally build in only a small return for the
chapter in order to hold down prices for our members. Nonetheless, we
were able to offer members and guests quite a lot in value for this
event - a three course served dinner with choice of entree, plus passed
hors d’oeuvres, and nine different German wines running the range of
what Germany offers in dry and sweet whites plus reds, and musical
entertainment, the only time we have that available during our event
year. Thanks to the efforts of my wife Nina, we were able to have
holiday music during the reception and an interlude between the entree
and dessert for only the price of dinners for the musicians - Nina as
pianist was half-comped and we fully comped the other two musician
friends of hers, Christine Kharazian on violin and Irina Ponomareva on
cello....
Though we originally had serious
concerns that we would fall short of the needed number of guests to make
it viable, with signups running slowly in the first two weeks after
registration opened, in the end there was a flurry of signups in the
last week or so, and we had 43 members and guests registered, all of
whom attended. We also had two ... German Embassy guests, Jean
Froehly, Minister and Head of the Economic and Financial Department,
and Antje Frehse, the newly arrived successor to Astrid Jakobs as
Minister Counselor for Food and Agriculture. Both of these Embassy
representatives delivered remarks to the guests after my opening
presentation, and both also participated in our informal choir later in
the event singing German and American holiday songs! In total, we had
29 members attending ... and
14 non-members - 1/3 non-member ratio
we usually plan on....
...The combination of the elegant
ambiance, served dinner, choice of German wines and the wonderful
musical entertainment, with several members and guests joining in the
choir to sing German and American songs and member Nanette Bishopric
providing a solo and guiding the choir, combined to make a quite
successful event....
Carl Willner
President and Secretary
Capital Chapter, German Wine Society
December 8, 2024
Arriving
Welcome Reception with Passed Hors d’Oeuvres
Thai Curry Chicken Skewers with coconut sauce
Smoked Salmon Latkes - potato latke, dill creme fraiche, crispy capers
Goat Cheese Spheres, with salted candied pecans, apricot chutney
nv Loosen Bros. “Dr. L” Sparkling Riesling (Sekt), Germany (12% alc.)
First (Appetizer) Course
Seared Day Boat Scallops with smoked cauliflower puree, bacon lardon, celery, crispy prosciutto, and basil brown butter emulsion
(A custom starter alternative can be provided on request before the dinner to meet dietary restrictions)
Cosmos Club Popovers with sweet creamery butter
2023 Vollenweider Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Kabinett Mosel, Germany (8% alc.)
2023 Keller vom Muscheligen Kalk (blend of Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Silvaner) Rheinhessen, Germany (12.5% alc.)
2022 Schäfer-Fröhlich Blanc de Noir Nahe, Germany (12% alc.)
Entree Course
Grilled Beef Tenderloin with truffled potato puree, carrot, asparagus, red wine sauce
Coriander Duck Breast with grilled parsnip, kabocha squash, zucchini, blackberry-fig gastrique
Grilled Atlantic Salmon with young carrots, roasted Yukon potato, rutabaga, parsnip, honey mustard sauce
“Chef’s Choice” Gluten Free Vegan Meal (specific dish to be determined)
2022 Enderle & Moll Pinot Noir Baden, Germany (12% alc.)
2020 Thomas Haag Schloss Lieser Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese Mosel, Germany (7.5/% alc.)
2018 Schnaitmann Steinwiege Lemberger Württemberg, Germany (12.5% alc.)
Dessert Course
Honey Citrus Creme Brûlée, with Vanilla Tuilles, Blackberries
2021 Keller Rieslaner Auslese Rheinhessen, Germany (8% alc.)
2021 Karl Erbes Ürziger in der Kranklei Riesling Beerenauslese Mosel, Germany (6% alc.)
Coffee and Tea Service
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