Panache is one of our favorite restaurants in Los Cabos. Brenda de Kalin, the owner and manager does an amazing job, as she did for the Baja Vine Club, setting up a private room for the 24 guests to enjoy the wine pairing dinner created by Dawn Solomon of the Baja Vine Club. Dawn is also the ultimate professional – sitting with the chef and manager of each location where she has and event, bringing lots of different wines and trying the different wines against each of the four courses of the planned meal. Often, several different foods are tasted before selecting the final menu and final wines to pair with each course.

The guests starting arriving for the 6:30 dinner. Panache has valet parking, which makes the arrival in downtown Cabo San Lucas very easy. Members and guests of the Baja Vine Club were greeting Dawn and each other as they started to take their seats. Often Baja Vine Club dinners feature a wine maker and a single vineyard from Valle de Guadalupe or mainland Mexico. In this case, a variety of Mexican wines were selected for the evening. The menu and wine pairing for this night at Panache was the following:

First course: 2024 Loardano White Blend paired with a Nems (Vietnamese rolls stuffed with carrot, onion, mushrooms, chicken, garlic and egg) and a fish dipping sauce.

Second course: 2023 Dessert Wine 5 White Blend paired with a seafood and cheese stuffed mini portobello mushroom with a creamy tarragon sauce.

Third course: 2023 Pescador de Corazones 100% Cabernet Sauvignon paired with fresh pasta of spinach, asparagus, and garlic.

Fourth course: 2021 MezclaBordalesa Winemaker’s Selection (Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec) paired with Chicken Cordon Bleu stuffed with ham and European cheeses served with mashed potatoes.

With each course, Dawn introduced the wine, its vineyard and the history of both. She indicated that flavors that could be recognized. After each course, she asked for the opinions of the guests about both the wine and the pairing. Baja Vine Club dinners move along at a quick pace, which means that the restaurant has to be prepared to clear the tables between courses and have the food served for each course right after the wine was poured, described and tasted. Panache had a team of four servers, who worked quickly to make sure that the event went as smoothly as possible.

Panache is a European restaurant that features both French and Italian dishes, large portions, and is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week. There are two for one Mimosas, Bellinis, and Margaritas every day until 2:00 pm. It is must to visit in Cabo San Lucas.