For dessert I purchased a Chocolate and Cream cake which we all lovingly refer to as ‘Cab’ cake as it makes a really nice pairing for Cabernet Sauvignon.
"Cab Cake"To pair with the dessert I picked a 2003 Wente “Livermore Valley” Cabernet Sauvignon. I have had this bottle on the rack for awhile and kept meaning to try it as I hadn’t tried any wines from Wente and I always like trying new wineries out of California.
The nose consisted of loam, cherry, coffee, tobacco and eucalyptus. Tasting the wine you were greeted by three flavours – cherry, coffee and mint. The wine came across as being very dry with little tannin and a very acidic finish. With the cake the cherry and mint flavours disappeared and the coffee flavor dominate the entire mouth. The sharp acid finish didn’t change with the cake either. It wasn’t a great pairing with the cake to say the least.
The nose consisted of loam, cherry, coffee, tobacco and eucalyptus. Tasting the wine you were greeted by three flavours – cherry, coffee and mint. The wine came across as being very dry with little tannin and a very acidic finish. With the cake the cherry and mint flavours disappeared and the coffee flavor dominate the entire mouth. The sharp acid finish didn’t change with the cake either. It wasn’t a great pairing with the cake to say the least.
"Something new" I was trying to figure out what this would be good with, as it did have an interesting flavour profile. The only thing that came to mind was beef Carpaccio with shaved Parmesan. I mention this to Mick and his eyes lit up and nodded in agreement. We discussed the wine some more and couldn’t come up with another pairing other then this.
Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 86, Mark – 84, Kathy – 85, Amy – 85, Overall – 85.25.
This wine was purchased in NY state and the LCBO has no listing for it. I remember it being about $12-13 US (so about $22-23 CDN after duty, taxes and exchange). For that price there are much nicer Cabernets out there such as Beringer’s Founder’s Estate Cab or even the basic Mondavi Cab.
Considering how little time I had to put the evening together, things turned out surprisingly well; though I think in the future I will avoid leaving myself such a short fall in time.
Cheers!
Mark
Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 86, Mark – 84, Kathy – 85, Amy – 85, Overall – 85.25.
This wine was purchased in NY state and the LCBO has no listing for it. I remember it being about $12-13 US (so about $22-23 CDN after duty, taxes and exchange). For that price there are much nicer Cabernets out there such as Beringer’s Founder’s Estate Cab or even the basic Mondavi Cab.
Considering how little time I had to put the evening together, things turned out surprisingly well; though I think in the future I will avoid leaving myself such a short fall in time.
Cheers!
Mark
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