When we arrived Mick was struggling to roll out the Pizza dough. He'd rolled it, thrown it, tried just about everything he could to get to stay flat but it kept shrinking back to its original form. The only thing he did manage to do with the dough it to get extremely pissed off about. I tried helping but no luck, in the end we decided to hit the supermarket and picked up a store bought pre-made Pizza crust.
After our quick trip out to the market, the first course was Lobster Chowder and the Foxglove Chardonnay. The Lobster Chowder's main ingredients were Lobster, bacon, potato, cilantro, cream and fish stock. The soup had a good flavour to it but after my first couple of spoonfuls, I thought to myself 'this would be awesome with some corn in it'. Mick's wife, Amy piped up about two minutes after this and suggested that corn would be great in the Chowder.
The wine was a good pairing but not great, I have had Lobster Chowder before with a Cabernet Sauvignon and it was an amazing match. The Foxglove was kind of funny as it was buttery but not overly so and it had a bit of mineral to it as well. I'd describe it as a California Chardonnay with some Burgundy influence to it. It was a great value at $12.99 but I'd go with a Kendall Jackson Chardonnay if you are a fan of a California style Chardonnay or a Bouchard Pere & Fils 'Bourgogne' if you like French style Chardonnay. This one was trying to please both of those crowds and didn't do it.
The main course was a Pizza Margherita which was made up of Tomato, Olive Oil, Garlic, Prosciutto, Mozzarella di Bufala and Basil. Mick did a great job on the Pizza and it was enjoyed by all (even with the store bought crust!).
Mick had called me in the afternoon to discuss which wine to go with the pizza as he was torn between a Merlot and the Le Mistral by Joseph Phelps which is a Rhone style wine. The Merlot didn't surprise me as it is a nice safe choice to go with if you are not sure, but the Le Mistral did. It is a blend of mainly Syrah (Shiraz) and Grenache and a tiny percent of other grapes mixed in, it is the style that Chateauneuf-Du-Pape is made in. I was concerned it would be lost against the garlic, prosciutto and cheese flavour and suggested that maybe a big bold Zinfandel would be a better choice. Mick said he thought of a Zinfandel too but was afraid it would overpower the pizza. He decided to stick to his guns and go with the Le Mistral.
Mick was right - the wine was an excellent pairing, it was nice and smooth and didn't create a strange taste with the pizza. I'm still curious to see how a Zinfandel would go with the pizza but it would be hard pressed to be better than the Le Mistral.
Both wines when poured were a deep amber in colour and were almost impossible to distinguish by colour. The aromas on both were similar but the Late Harvest had a much more powerful aroma. The Henry of Pelham Late Harvest Vidal was great with both of the desserts. It truly is a wine that I'm proud to say is Canadian. The Sauternes was very good with the Blue Cheese, much better than it was with the Apple Tart last week, but I'd take an aged Tawny Port over it any day of the week.
The 1995 Henry of Pelham Late Harvest Vidal was the best year that they ever made and a few years back Amy managed to buy the last case of it directly from winery. This was the second to last bottle left.
I'm not sure what the current year of the Late Harvest is as the LCBO stock information doesn't list year (I'm going to guess and say 2004) but the Late Harvest is a great little dessert wine and you really should pick some up as you won't be disappointed.
LCBO Info.
HENRY OF PELHAM LATE HARVEST VIDAL V.Q.A.
Cheers!
Mark.
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