Saturday Night – Journey back to 1998

I’ve noticed that if I find a good wine at Wine Club, I will usually serve that same wine with dinner the next time it is my turn to cook with Mick and Amy. This was the case for this Saturday night’s dinner.

"A decade later two wines are ready to compete!"

The trouble with Wine Club is, as we are splitting a bottle 11 ways and usually with cheese or light snack, you get a glimpse of wine but you miss out on the that ‘whole glass/getting to know the wine’ experience. The upside to Wine Club is it’s a nice way to try a new wine cheaply. I probably wouldn’t have bought a $62 bottle of Amarone if it wasn’t for Wine Club.

The Amarone is a 1998 and I also had a 1998 Pomerol sitting on the shelf that I’d purchased recently. I thought it would be fun to do a menu that included both of the 1998 wines and see how they do.

"Maybe a touch too much garlic..."

I covered the Amarone in the last blog article – http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2008/05/wine-club-10th-meeting.html

So here is the LCBO information for the Pomerol –

CHÂTEAU LE CAILLOU 1998
VINTAGES 45682
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 48.75
Wine, Red Wine,
12.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Made in: Bordeaux,
France By: Sarl Andre Giraud
Release Date: Feb 2, 2008

Description - Château Le Caillou is a tiny 7 hectare property that is principally located atop the gravelly Pomerol plateau. Producing a mere 3,000 cases a year, Château Le Caillou is known for creating richly textured wines featuring well-integrated tannins. The aromas and flavours are of ripe plum, fruitcake, and black cherries complemented by notes of cedar and spice. This is an exceptional value for a Pomerol. Enjoy it tonight with a veal tenderloin.

"I'm getting hungry just looking at this picture!"

For the first course I decided to Bruschetta and an Anti-pasta of Italian cold cuts and cheese. The main course was a Pasta with Lemon Cream and Prosciutto. For dessert, I just picked up individual slices of dessert – 2 x Tiramisu, 1x Chocolate Cake, 1x Raspberry Cake.

"Some pasta with that prosciutto sir?"

To summarize the wine pairing with the foods –

Bruschetta – Amarone - OK, Pomerol – OK
Italian Cold cuts – Amarone – Good/Great, Pomerol - OK
Tomatoes, Bocconcini, and Basil – Amarone – OK, Pomerol – OK
Pasta with Lemon Cream and Prosciutto - Amarone – Good, Pomerol – OK/Good
Tiramisu (didn’t try the other two desserts) – Amarone – Great, Pomerol – Poor

The wines on their own were both very good. The Pomerol was one of those rare wines for me that I enjoyed on its own vs. with food. I find Merlot can be made in two styles – narrow and precise or big and full. The Pomerol was definitely the former. Maybe it was because it was up against the Amarone, but the wine seemed very narrow and small. It had a lovely floral scent to it and on its own was very crisp/precise and refreshing. As this really didn’t seem to be a ‘food’ wine, I probably won’t be picking up another bottle of it. Another point against the Pomerol is the price point – much better ones out there for less money.

Cheers!

Mark.