Saturday night - Amy, is it not? Part 1

We finally had a Saturday in which none of us had an anniversary, vacation or any other appointments that have prevented our usual Saturday dinners. It seemed like it had been so long since we’d had dinner with both Mick and Amy, that upon seeing Amy, I joking said “Amy? Is it not?”

Mick decided to cook up some old favourites that we hadn’t done for sometime – spicy shrimp to start and chicken quesadillas as the main course .

I volunteered to bring the wine to go with shrimp and to bring dessert. He asked if I could make the mint sauce for the shrimp when I arrived. Normally when he does this recipe, I make the mint sauce to go with it, but with the renovations I currently have extremely limit kitchen facilities.

"Rescue sauce for the 'burn'"

Once Kathy and I arrived, Mick had a pile of fresh mint out and ready to go. The mint sauce recipe is fairly easy – 4 to 5 packs of fresh mint, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and ¼ cup of vegetable oil, and blend. The pain with the recipe is de-stemming of all that mint.

"Prosciutto-wrapped curried shrimp above with Spicy Shrimp below"

Mick decided to not only do spicy shrimp but also did prosciutto wrapped curried shrimp as well. He grilled the shrimp and I got the mint sauce ready. Mick also did a small green salad to go with the shrimp as well. About 20 minutes after we arrived we were opening the wine and sitting down to enjoy the first course.

"Great wine - crazy wife (see ratings below)!"

Spicy shrimp and Fumé Blanc are a great pairing. The Fumé and the mint sauce really help cut the burn of the shrimp. My wine pick for the evening was a 2003 “To Kalon” Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc. I had this on the rack for a bit and with it being a 2003, I figured it would be better to drink this sooner than later.

The To Kalon had a much milder nose to it than the regular Mondavi Fumé Blanc. A grass and celery aroma were noticeable with a faint floral scent lurking in the background. A mild vanilla scent did become noticeable towards the end of the first course after the wine had been out for 15 minutes or so.

Tasting it for the first time caused my eyebrows to raise in surprise, the acid in the wine was there but it was no where near the usual razor-sharp acidity in the base Mondavi Fumé. The wine had a much more softer, well round mouth-feel then what I was used to with the regular Mondavi. There was a nice pear flavour on the initial sip and the wine had a creaminess to it as well, it was extremely well-balanced and had a really good finish. What caught me off-guard on examining the bottle was the 14.5% alcohol. I would have put the wine at around 12% as the heat of the wine seemed very mild.

The wine was a stunning match to the spicy shrimp, I’d probably put it in my top ten wine and food pairings of all time. It wasn’t so good with the prosciutto wrapped shrimp, there was a odd flavor happening between the two of them.

Here is the group rating for the wine –

Mick – 90, Mark – 93, Kathy – 82, Amy – 86, Overall – 87.75

There is a big disparity in the ratings and it really comes down to personal preference; I like a softer, well round Fumé/Sauvignon Blanc, where my wife likes a narrow, crisp, precision driven one. So the To Kalon was right up my alley where as my wife would have preferred the normal Mondavi Fumé Blanc.

I knew I picked this up in the US but couldn’t remembered what I paid for it. I hit the web and this is what the Wine Spectator had to say about it –

Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc Napa Valley To Kalon Vineyard Reserve 2003

Intense and vibrant, with rich, focused herb, citrus, floral and sweet pea scents that are shaded by toasty oak. Drink now. 1,048 cases made. –JL

Rating – 90
Price - $35

If they are listing it for $35 then that is probably close to what I paid for it, so after duty and taxes it would be around $57 CDN a bottle. Which makes it more than twice the price of the base Mondavi Fumé.

Part 2 the main course.