Saturday night – Something old and new – Part 2

Click here for Part 1

For the main course Mick was the grill-master again and this time giant ass “T” bone steaks were his medium. He also served them with a side of grilled vegetables. The wine for this course was a 2002 Benziger “Sonoma County” Cabernet Sauvignon.

"Where's the fruit?"

The nose on the Benziger was very pleasing with tobacco, cedar and dark roast coffee. The taste was very surprising for a California Cab. as the main thing lacking on it was fruit, which is something you don’t say very often about a California Cabernet. The wine did have good tannin and good acidity and a smooth finish. This was a very ‘adult’ cab as the main flavours running throughout were coffee and dark chocolate.

The wine was a good match with the steaks which Mick cooked beautifully but it got a bit weird with the grilled veggies.

No LCBO information on this wine so I’m guessing Mick picked it up in the US. The Wine Spectator didn’t review the 2002 but did review the 2000 and the 2005 and both were listed at $19 US a bottle. This would put the wine at about $33 CDN a bottle.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 87, Mark - 88, Kathy – 86, Amy - 88, Overall – 87.25.

I liked the Benziger Cab. but not sure if it was a good dinner Cab. The lack of fruit limits its versatility and for me makes it a winter/fall wine. I think this wine would be nice to have on a cold day, sitting around a warm fire with some dark chocolate, in this role I think it would excel.

December maybe a quiet period on the blog for Mick, Amy, Kathy and myself as our schedules aren’t matching up well for the month. On the upside, the next time we get together my kitchen will hopefully be done and I’ll get to cook for a change.

Cheers!

Mark