The menu for the evening was - Homemade Caesar Salad, Pine Nut and Basil Salmon and Baked Apple Tart with an Almond Custard. The Caesar and Salmon both match up with a Chardonnay and the Baked Apple Tart loves Canadian Dessert wines so I thought it would be a good match for the Sauternes.
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And in the opposite corner weighing in at a lean 13.5% alcohol is the Joseph Drouhin 'Puligny-Montrachet' from Burgundy (Chardonnay) (LCBO Vintages Number 51383, Price $64.95).
First Round - Caesar Salad
The Grgich Hills Chardonnay got off to an early lead as it paired much better than the Joseph Drouhin Burgundy. The Grgich Hills was much more buttery than the Joseph Drouhin and worked with the Caesar. Caesar salad is a funny pairing for Chardonnay - some Chardonnay's love it and others are destroyed by it.
Side note - What to make a huge difference when making a Caesar? Easy - make your own Croutons, store bought Croutons are like bricks and taste like shit, get a baguette and cut it into small 1/2 inch pieces, melt a stick of butter in the microwave and mix in two tablespoons of parmesan cheese and teaspoon of garlic powder (not garlic salt). Now mix the bread and the garlic butter in a large bowl until the the bread is coated. Pour out the bread on a cookie sheet and broil in the oven until golden brown. Now you have lovely soft Croutons and your guests will notice the difference.
Final Round - Pine Nut and Basil Salmon
After getting sucker punched in the first round, the Joseph Drouhin Burgundy lands a solid right hook on the Grgich Hills Chardonnay and evens up the match. The Burgundy really stood out against the Salmon. The Salmon is served with a lemon, butter and basil sauce and the crispness of the Burgundy really worked with it. The Burgundy had a great mouth feel and a perfect finish after each bite of Salmon. The Grgich Hills Chardonnay with its buttery taste got lost against the butter in the sauce, it seemed almost sloppy and clumsy when paired with the Salmon.
And the Winner is...
Out of the two, the Grgich Hills around the table was the winner. Everyone preferred it on its own over the Burgundy, it won the Caesar round but lost Salmon round. Since it took 2 out of 3 it was the winner.
Unfortunately, both were losers in my mind. I had really high hopes of being blown away by one of them and ended up being mildly impressed at best. Maybe I'm too used to Cabernet Sauvignon... there is huge difference between a $20 Cab and $65 Cab, I didn't think the difference was that big. The Bouchard, Pere and Fils for $18.95 that sent me to Oakville in the first place was almost as good as the Joseph Drouhin and a bottle of Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve at $21.95 was close to the Grgich Hills (though there was more of difference between the KJ and Grgich then the two Burgundys). My wife wants us to grab another bottle of the Grgich Hills as she really liked it. Don't get me wrong - Both were very good, they just weren't as good as I was hoping they'd be!
Dessert!
This was a wine I was itching to try. I love Canadian made Botrytis affected dessert wines and in my reading Frence Sauternes and Hungrian made Tokai are the standard that all Botrytis affected dessert wines are judge by. Sauternes are meant to be aged and are supposed to become more complex as they age. So I can't tell you how excited I was about trying an 1989 Sauternes....
Here is the Prime Wines information on the wine --->
Compare at $99.99… Premier Card price $79.99
The Premier card was free from the last time we went, you just had to fill out a few details and then you got the card so I got it for the Premier Card price of $79.99, then was hit for 64% duty at the border so the wine ended up cost me $131.18 CDN. Not a bad price as it was 750mL where as most CDN dessert wines are 350mL and range from $35 to $100 or more.
Here are the professional reviews -
92 pts. Spectator - Intense and exotic. Ripe and rich botrytis flavors explode on the palate to a long finish. Very sweet and full in body, it packs in the spice, white pepper, cream, coffee, quince and dried apricot notes.
92 pts. Parker, From Robert Parker’s Bordeaux - The 1989 stood out in my tastings as one of the best Sauternes of the vintage. Explosive, with a fabulous bouquet of oranges, mangoes, and coconut, this decadently rich, full-bodied, monstrous-sized Sauternes has enough acidity for balance. It is one of the greatest wines of the 1989 Barsac/Sauternes vintage. Anticipated maturity: 1996–2030.
A 92 from both the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker this wine should be nothing to sneeze at.
The first thing I notice about the Sauternes upon uncorking it was the bouquet - dessert wines have some of the most amazing bouquets in terms of complexion and intensity and this one was no except. The colour of the Sauternes is a lovely amber.
I served up the dessert and then sat down and tried my first sip - Doh! Not what I was expecting... it was much stronger and heavier than I'd anticipated. I began to worry that this Apple Tart wouldn't be a great match for the Sauternes. I tried the Baked Apple Tart and then sipped the Sauternes again... as the line from the movie "Major League" says "Oh! Just a bit outside" - this is what Bob Euchre's announces as Charlie Sheen's character throws a ball about 25 feet outside the strike zone...
The Sauternes was at most OK with the Apple Tart. The best way I can describe it is half way between a Canadian Late Harvest Vidal and a 20 year old Tawny port. I have no doubt that this wine paired with a nice aged Blue Cheese would be to die for, but against a sweet dessert it didn't work.
The four of us only killed half the bottle so I'll probably pick up some Blue Cheese and try it in the next couple of days.
Even though all three wines didn't 'blow me away', it was still great to try three new wines and I can't beat the the company and at the end of the day, is it the getting together with friends that makes an evening great?
Cheers!
Mark
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