Saturday Night – Mick decides to “wing” it

It was Mick’s turn to cook this week and he had a number of new goodies on tap for us to try.

"Not your everyday wings!"

The first course Mick dived into his favourite cooking bible known as the “Weber Cookbook” and barbequed chicken wings were the result. I’m used to chicken wings being deep fried and smothered in sauce so BBQ dry wings took some getting used. The meat was flavorful, tender and extremely plentiful for chicken wings.

"This is a Zin?"

Mick was pairing red Zinfandel with 2 of the 3 course so for the first course he poured out two Zins for us to try – a 2005 “Sonoma County” by Seghesio and 2003 “Lodi” by Ravenswood.

"The girl next door"

The Seghesio on its own was a thing of beauty, so deep and rich it almost had Cabernet Sauvignon like qualities. Very nice wine. The Ravenswood Lodi was more like a basic Zinfandel, big fruit and body on nose, large mouth-feel and a touch of sharpness to it. I think the Ravenswood biggest problem was the company it was keeping hanging out with the Seghesio – kind of like the ‘girl next door’ hanging out with a super model; she’s pretty but you don’t notice her with the super model around.

With the chicken wings the Seghesio was the clear winner as well.

These wines were both purchased down in NY state by Mick on our last wine run. The LCBO had neither listed in stock.

The Wine Spectator had this to say about the Segesio –

Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma County 2005 – Rating 90, price $20 US (33 CDN)

Jam-packed with ripe cherry and boysenberry fruit and backed up with juicy, zesty flavors and notes of spice, star anise and toasty oak. Has a backbone of ripe tannins. Drink now through 2010. 60,400 cases made. –JL

The Wine Spectator didn’t review the 2003 Ravenswood “Lodi” but they did review other years and the price was $15 US ($25 CDN) for all of them.

"A white blend that is good!"

The next course was a pan-seared Rainbow Trout with a cornmeal crust and a caper butter sauce. For this, Mick picked a Hayman Hill reserved white blend to go with it. The wine was interesting as it had such a strong lemon taste to it that I was wondering if it was made from lemons rather than grapes. This lemon flavour worked great against Trout and the butter sauce and made it a very enjoyable wine. I’m not a huge fan of white blends but this one was really good.

I could find any information on this wine from the LCBO so I’m assuming Mick snagged this baby in the US. The Wine Spectator didn’t have any reviews on this wine either but did have three other Hayman Hill wines listed and they were all around a $14-15 US price point.

"Chipotle goodness"

The main course was an old favourite of everyone’s – Chipotle pork tenderloin on a bed of mixed greens. We were back to the earlier Zinfandels for this dish and a funny thing happen – The Ravenswood was better than Seghesio. Not sure if it was the Chipotle or the mandarins in the salad but something was giving the Seghesio fits with dish. Now the plain ‘girl next door’ Ravenwood, let her hair down, tossed off her glasses and undid a few buttons and now was just darn right sexy!

I do think that the way wine changes with food is one of the coolest things ever. So the next time a wine is so-so with something, try another bottle of it with a different dish and see what happens.

Cheers!

Mark