The invitation made no demand but immediate acceptance was the only sensible option. The event title was “Robust Reds: A Beef & Red Wine Dinner.”

A wine dinner not for the faint of heart! Join us for a night of robust food and wine. We will be cherry picking our way around the ‘New World’ wine regions, selecting the intensely-flavored, high-concentration gems of Napa, Australia, and South America.

Being a member of the Athletic Club of Columbus is to have a club that’s far more than a gym, but the hub of a virtuous cycle of social and professional contact. Dinner events like this are a good example of how people with common interests can meet each other for an enjoyable evening.

I walked to the Club from the office. It had been an intense day in an intense week, and I badly needed to unwind. My wife arrived at roughly the same time and dropped our boys off at child care upstairs. We stopped in briefly for another event taking place at the Club, said hello and then headed for the dinner.

Upon entering the room for dinner, we found that some of the party had been assembled, two couples that we did not know. Servers delivered a sparkling wine, and we debated whether we were seeing a pink tint in the wine or the result of the room’s lighting and color scheme while we were given something to nibble. The canapé was made of a toasted thin slice of baguette with a puffed goat cheese, topped with thin slices of red grape. They were good. I experimented with self-control and had only two. Maybe three. Did I mention that they were good?

Another member of the Club joined us and brought with her a guest, who turned out to live just a few streets away from my family. Shortly thereafter we took our seats, and a member of the staff joined each of the tables, making a comfortable seating of five at both tables. I snapped the nearby picture of my place setting showing the menu.

The sparkling wine was in fact pink in color. It was Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs NV from Sonoma, California. It is made almost entirely of Pinot Noir grapes, with about eight percent Chardonnay. I was very pleased with this as a starter, being light and crisp while also creamy on the palate. The Blanc de Noirs was also paired with our first course, an excellent Steak Tartare.

Our second course was a delicious Short Rib Ravioli. I love pasta done well. The three ravioli contained braised short rib with beef consommé. Paired with it was the Gary Farrell 2007 Pinot Noir Carneros / Carneros Selection, from the same region as the previous course’s wine.

Next up was a Chateaubriand done with a carrot purée and sauce bordelaise. This course was paired with a powerful proprietary red from Napa Valley, the Dominus Estate 2006.

The penultimate course was beef cheek confit, served with carmelized turnips and leeks. Surprising most of us was the wine paired with it, Cheval des Andes 2006 from Mendoza, Argentina, which proved even larger than the Dominus.

For dessert we enjoyed a chocolate hazelnut tart paired with Yalumba Anitque Tawny Port. I am not generally a fan of port, but found that this went well with dessert and finished off the meal quite nicely.

My wife headed upstairs to fetch the boys, who then rejoined us at the table to bid our new acquaintances adieu.