Wine pairings: Osso bucco and Bordeaux at Montréal Passion Vin

The room was crowded with fat cats, big wigs, serious biz types, food and wine journalists and Quebec celebs, but most especially wine lovers. The event was Montreal Passion Vin, THE nec-plus-ultra vino eventino on the oenophile's calender. This two-day wine-tasting extravaganza always counts the world's most impressive bottles. You know: the wines we only dream about with names like Mouton, Cheval Blanc, Krug, Romanée-Conti, Lafite, Haut-Brion and so on.

This year's gala dinner to close the seven degustations that began on Nov. 25 was even more impressive because the event was celebrating its 10th year.

A five-course menu prepared by chefs Normand Laprise and Charles-Antoine Crête of restaurant Toqué! was served to 450 guests who forked over $1,250.

Considering the wines on hand, the high ticket price wasn't even that much of a stretch, not only because these wines are expensive, but rare. Beginning with a glass of Clos Ste-Hume riesling from the Maison Trimbach served with a shrimp mousse and onion salad, the meal then proceeded with a second service of smoked Kamouraska eel with a Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2008 alongside a "rarissime" white Château Haut-Brion 2006.

When faced with two such different wines with the rich eel dish, debate immediately broke out over which provided the best pairing: the aromatic chardonnay of the Bâtard or the more reserved sémillon-sauvignon blend of the Haut-Brion? I preferred the Haut-Brion to the verging-on-exotic Burgundy, yet the majority at my table pooh-poohed the Bordeaux, which, if you can find it, will set you back close to $900 a bottle. Whoa.

The debate raged on with the next course, a delectable osso bucco served on a bed of lentils with root vegetables and a gremolata enhanced with orange zest. While digging the marrow out of the fat bones, we sipped three more killer wines: the Super-Tuscan Tenuta Dell'Ornellaia 2006, and - hold on to your seats - Château Mouton Rothschild 2003 and Château Cheval Blanc 2004.

The Ornellaia, which was actually meant to be tasted before the veal, overpowered the osso bucco, and I found the Cheval Blanc a bit herbaceous for the dish, though there was a nice little match going on there with the lentil and the orange. But the Mouton, which some complained was "trop torréfié" (with coffee-like flavours), I found provided a sort of velvety accompaniment to the meat instead of adding on flavours to detract from the dish.

The orgiastic tasting continued with glasses of powerful and lush Château La Fleur-Pétrus 1998 and mysterious Guigal Côte-Rotie Brune La Turque 1999, which tasted of bacon fat, worn leather and blackberries. And with a dessert of sour buckthorn cream and peach sorbet, we drank the ultimate of the ultimate; you guessed it: Château d'Yquem 1996. A final glass of Champagne - Henriot Cuvée des Enchanteurs - was raised to toast the winemakers, all of whom were on hand to comment on their wines, and all of whom donated these "vins de rêve" to this event, which through hospital research, will benefit all of us.

And I left the event with something else to benefit us all, the recipe for the best dish of the night, that osso bucco. Of course, rare are the few who can afford to taste this dish with a Mouton Rothschild or Cheval Blanc. But, you know, I think it might even be better with any good Chianti, which won't set you back a mortgage payment - or three!

TOQUÉ!'S OSSO BUCCO WITH LENTIL RAGOUT AND SEASONAL ROOT VEGETABLES

Serves 4

4 osso bucco veal shanks (about 200g each)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons (30 mL) olive oil

1 scant cup (about 200 mL) white wine

1 cup mixed vegetable mirepoix (equal amounts diced onion, celery and carrot)

1 cup (250 mL) veal stock Olive oil

1 cup (200g) lentils

1 medium onion, chopped fine

1/2 cup (about 50 g) chopped bacon

1 cup (200 g) coco or navy beans

2 tomatoes, diced

1 tablespoon (15 mL) olive oi

2 large carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 medium onions, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 rutabaga, peeled and cubed About 2 cups (500 mL) vegetable stock

1 tablespoon (15 mL) butter

Gremolata:

1 bunch parsley, stemmed and chopped fine

5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine

1 orange zest

1 lemon zest

Best quality extra-virgin olive oil to serve

For the meat: Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F (160C). Season the veal shanks with salt and pepper. In a large fry pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, sear the shanks in half the olive oil until brown on each side. Remove and set aside. Wipe the pot clean with a paper towel and add the remaining oil. Add the mirepoix and fry until tender. Pour in the wine and veal stock, and place the shanks in the pot over the vegetables. Place the pot, covered, in the oven and braise for three hours until the meat is fork tender.

For the lentils and coco beans: Rinse the lentils until the water runs clear. In a medium-sized pot on medium heat, fry half the chopped onion with half the diced bacon until the bacon fat has rendered. Add the lentils back into the pot, cover with water to just above the level of the pulses and cook at a simmer until the lentils are tender and all the water is cooked off (add more water if needed). In another pot, repeat the exact same procedure with the coco or navy beans. Add the diced tomatoes to the coco or navy beans once they are cooked.

For the root vegetables: Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a fry pan, and sauté the carrots, onion and rutabaga cubes until they just begin to colour. Pour over enough vegetable stock just to cover, season with salt and pepper, and let simmer until tender. Swirl in the butter and set aside.

For the cooking juices: Remove the veal shanks from the pot, strain the cooking juices into a pot and reduce the sauce until it's thick enough to just coat the back of a spoon.

For the gremolata: Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.

To serve: Gently stir together the lentils, coco beans and the braised vegetables, and dish up into four large plates or shallow bowls. Place an osso bucco on each bed of vegetables, pour over the sauce. Sprinkle some gremolata and drizzle a spoonful of extra-virgin olive oil over the meat and vegetables.