Saturday Night - Mmmm... Lamb!

This Saturday was Mick’s turn to cook. He was a busy little beaver and spent a good chunk of the afternoon prepping dinner. The starter for the evening was Diablo meatballs with a 2002 St. Francis Pagani Reserve Zinfandel. He has done the Diablo meatballs before -

http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2007/10/saturday-hitem-with-spice-weasel.html

This time he used ground pork as well as ground beef.

"Spicy Meatbally Goodness!"

The meatballs were not as spicy as I remembered, or maybe I was fearing the spice weasel too much, as the first time he made these the ‘burn’ was quite high. They were also not as moist as they were the first time – whether they were slightly over done or the pork was causing this I’m not sure. They were very flavorful and we went through them like rabid wolves.

"Mick's other love"

The St. Francis had a nice smoky aroma to it and was very smooth going down. Mick loved it; I actually thought about giving him some ‘private’ time with the bottle as there was that much love! Me… not so much, it was good but I wasn’t blown away – more fruit would have been nice. This is the usual difference between Mick and me on Zinfandel.

Mick’s Perfect Zinfandel – Smooth, subtle, hint of smoke, hint of pepper and a touch of fruit.

Mark’s Perfect Zinfandel – Big, Bold “Fruit Bomb”.

The upside to Mick’s choice of Zinfandel was it went really well with the Diablo meatballs, almost too smoothly as it became a touch lost against the meal.

Neither the LCBO nor the Premier group had it listed on their websites so I can’t give you a price on it.

"Perfectly Cooked Rack of Lamb"

The main course was Rack of Lamb encrusted with Parmasan, Oregano and Chives with a Merlot Essence sauce and sides of Roast Potatoes and Steamed Green Beans. Mick’s wine for the evening was a Robert Mondavi “Carneros” Pinot Noir. For laughs and giggles I brought a bottle of the Newen Pinot Noir that I covered in yesterday’s blog to see how it would hold up.

"Pinot and Pinot Jr"

The LCBO doesn’t list the “Carneros” Pinot Noir, but the Premier Group does - $21.99 a bottle ($36 CDN after duty and exchange).

No surprises – The Mondavi Pinot was better than the Newen. The Mondavi had more fruit, bigger body to it and a smoother finish. The Mondavi Pinot is almost three times the price so this should be case. On the other hand, the Newen Pinot was very drinkable and all of us agreed for $13 it was a steal.

"The Winner"

For dessert, Amy had bought a La Rocca Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake. It was very good, but it really didn’t go with the last very drops of Pinot I had left in my glass, not that I expected it to but you never know.

I realized as I was writing this Blog - no Pinot Noir since I started Blogging and then 3 in a week. I do find that I occasionally go on 'streaks' with the same grape type. Not sure why I do this but it could be that after not having a type of wine for a while, I really like the change. Or it could be that it is easier to compare wines when you have the same grape type reasonably close together.

Cheers!

Mark