Happy New Year!

To celebrate New Year’s, my wife and I got together with Mick and Amy for our annual New Year’s dinner. Back in 2000 all the restaurants in the area more than tripled their prices for New Years as it was “2000”. Due to this pricing stupidity, all four of us decided to have dinner at home. As we were staying home on New Year’s Eve, we decided to go a little nuts on the food and wine.

I found this recipe for a Beef Tenderloin Roast with a Port and Shallot sauce.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/4542

And we picked two higher end California Cabernet Sauvignons to go with dinner, one was a $60 bottle by Hess and the other was a $65 bottle of “Stag’s Leap” by Robert Mondavi. These at the time were the most expensive bottles of wines we’d tried to date.

Both were excellent with the Beef Tenderloin but the Hess was the better of the two. The Mondavi went better though with the Chocolate Cake we had for dessert. The Beef Tenderloin was amazing or as Amy described it “Oh my God! This is like Chocolate in meat form”. As Amy, like my wife, is a Chocolate addict, this was high praise indeed.

So since 2000 we have dined at home on New Years. Certain traditions were started on that New Year’s in 2000

1. We always have the Beef Tenderloin recipe
2. We always get a high end or special Cabernet Sauvignon to go with the Beef

This New Year’s was no exception. We started with Carrot Soup with Fire Roasted Chilies and that was paired with a bottle of 2001 Rosenblum Zinfandel that Mick brought over. I have covered the Rosenblum Zinfandel in a previous article so I will just say that it was a great pairing.

"The cork from a 2001 Rosenblum Zinfandel"

The Main Course was the Beef Tenderloin recipe with a side of Mashed Potatoes and Caramelized Onions and a side of green beans. The wine for the evening was a 1999 Robert Mondavi Napa Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. We had this exact pairing a couple of year’s ago and it was too die for. The Premier Group in NY had a about half a dozen bottles of the 1999 in stock last time I was down there and it was on special for $79.99 ($131 CDN after duty and exchange) so I picked up a couple of bottles.

"Chocolate in meat form"

Wine Spectator Rating - 94

Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve 1999

An enormously complex and sophisticated wine that combines great flavors with uncommon finesse. Dark, sleek, rich and polished, with a delicious core of concentrated cola, currant, plum and blackberry. Tremendous finish. Best from 2004 through 2014. 20,000 cases made. –JL

"The Guest of Honour "

I was a bit disappointed with the Beef Tenderloin and the Mondavi Cabernet at first. Don’t get me wrong, it was very good, but I remember almost weeping in joy at the first time I had this pairing as it was that stunning. I think part of it was my expectations were way too high and secondly I have be very fortunate to have lots of good food and great wines this year. After getting more into the wine and food, I found that both improved with each bite/sip and it was closer to the exceptional match I remembered.

"French Merlot and Chocolate"

After finishing our wine, both Mick and I were longingly looking at our empty glasses and wanting more. I had a couple of aged Tawny Ports and a cheese tray ready to go for dessert but both of us were full. We argued about what to do and in the end decided to grab another bottle of red from the cellar. Mick was craving a Merlot and then I remember I had a half sized bottle of French Merlot on the shelf.

http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2007/11/wiener-chowder.html

I wasn’t blown away by the Chateau Rouget the last time I had it, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was as good as it was with my first couple of sips. Considering we had just killed a bottle of the Mondavi Reserve - the Merlot managed to hold its own against it. The wives broke out some dark chocolate and the Merlot paired quite nicely with it.

We sat around for the rest of the evening and polished off the Merlot until watching the ball drop at Times Squire in NY on TV and then called it a night. We never did hit the Port so I will have to open/cover that at another time.

To all a great 2008 and looking forward to another year of good food, great wines and pleasant company.

Cheers!

Mark