Saturday night - the sins of the Zin, part 2

Part I

For the main course, Mick had a new pork tenderloin recipe he wanted to try and a new recipe for stir fried eggplant. To complete the meal, he did up a side of couscous. The pork tenderloin was grilled on the barbeque and served with an East/West BBQ sauce. The eggplant was cooked in the oven for a bit and then stir fried on the stove top in a light garlic sauce.

"East/West sauce in the makings"

The wine to go with the meal was a 1997 Newton Napa Valley Merlot. The wine was decanted through a fine strainer to remove the sediment. We poured out the wine and sat down for dinner.

"Eggplant never tasted so good!"

Before starting the dinner, we took the time to nose and taste the wine. An aroma of plums and dark berries was prominent with the Newton Merlot and a large amount of heat (alcohol) was very noticeable as well. Tasting the wine, I found the Newton Merlot had good tannin, high heat, lack of fruit and a subtle herbaceous flavour to it.

"BBQ'd Pork Tenderloin"

With the food, the Newton Merlot became lost at times or worse was creating a sharp taste. The pork with the East/West sauce was very good but the sauce was too much for the wine. It was ok with the eggplant and good with the couscous. We discussed what would have gone well with the pork tenderloin and the East/West sauce as a wine pairing and it was decided that a medium sweet Riesling probably would be a good match.

"Back in the day -1997"

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick - 89, Mark - 83, Kathy – 87, Amy -83, Overall – 85.5

"Now we are in flavour country!"

I couldn’t find any information on the Newton Merlot from LCBO so I’m going to assume Mick got this in the US as well.

Here is what the Wine Spectator had to say about the wine –

Newton Merlot Napa Valley 1997

Combines supple, polished black cherry, currant, anise and cedar notes with a deceptively firm tannic backbone. Tasty now. Best from 2001 through 2009. –JL

Score – 88, Price - $41

At $41 US per bottle that would work out to about $67 CDN per bottle after duty and taxes. At that price you can get a much better Merlot for much less money.

Part III