I am part of an informal wine tasting group. It started back in 1994 at my former job. A couple of co-workers were discussing what wine to serve with Thanksgiving. They decided to have a tasting and this group became ‘The Winers’. We get together every month. And once a year we have a lamb roast.

Usually it is earlier in the year and we roast the lamb legs over an outdoor pit. But due to other commitments, we had to delay it until October. The forecast was for rain so we decided to do the roast in Weber Kettle BBQs instead. Our chef ordered the pastured lamb directly from Skagit Valley including On The Lamb farm. This summer has been cold and it has effected everything. The lamb legs were small.

A group got together early Sunday and boned and butterflied 10 lamb legs. They coated them with a mixture of roasted red pepper, dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and spices and then rolled them and tied them. They started up the Weber BBQ using mesquite charcoal and grilled them until they were about 130 degrees.

We had some great appetizers to start. Goat cheese flavored with sun dried tomatoes, fresh homemade Focaccia bread, olives. But the best of all was Chouriço à bombeiro – Portuguese sausage flambeed. Yummm… I love the little ceramic pig dishes that are used for the burning the high alcohol and charring the Portuguese chorizo which was brought back from Massachusetts.

Everyone brought a side dish or dessert. They were all wonderful. It was fun this year because the side dishes were more for the fall season – brussel sprouts, spoon corn bread, potato salad, several pasta dishes, roasted root vegetables. Everything was very good.

And of course there was a wide variety of red wine ranging from Gramercy Cellars in Walla Walla 2008 Tempranillo to a Silver Lake 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. There was also a good international representation with wines from Italy, France, and Australia. I also particularly liked Domaine de Bila-Haut Occultum Lapidem Cotes du Roussillon Villages by M. Chapoutier although the San Polo Brunello di Montalcino 2004 was definitely the fav by many of the group.

Here’s a slide show of the roast: