Saturday Night – Guess who’s coming to dinner? Part 2

For the second course, Kathy wanted Carrot Soup with Fire Roasted Chilies. I made this soup back in October 2009 and was disappointed as the carrots I used must have been past their prime as the soup had a stupid strong carrot flavour to it. This time I made sure to find some really fresh carrots for the soup.

" Tastes as good as it looks"

This soup loves red Zinfandel so I picked a bottle of 2006 LeBaron Ranch Zinfandel to accompany the soup.

"Smells like Cab, tastes like Zin!"

I love the nose on Zinfandel in general as they are usually big and easy to find and this one was no exception to the rule; Cigar box, cedar, leather, cassis and almond were noticeable and a bit surprise as this was a wine that by nose you might think was a Cabernet Sauvignon rather than a Zin. The wine had a huge sour cherry flavour running throughout and a bit of pepper mixed in as well. I was drier tasting to than I would have expected from a Zinfandel. It was however a good pairing with the soup.

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 86, Mark - 88, Kathy – 86, Amy - 85, Overall – 86.25

Here is the LCBO information on the wine -

LE BARON RANCH THREE SISTERS ZINFANDEL 2006
VINTAGES 119966
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 22.95
Wine, Red Wine,
14.3% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : D
Made in: California/Californie, United States
By: Le Baron Ranch Winery
Release Date: Jul 4, 2009

Tasting Note - Deep ruby with purple highlights, this Zin bursts out of the glass with exuberant aromas of raspberry jam, ripe black plum, blueberry, smoke and vanilla. It's dry, with a medium full-body, ripe tannins and just enough acidity to balance the voluptuous black fruit flavours. Warm, soft and creamy with a touch of smoke on the very long finish. It's sure to please with barbecued back ribs smothered in sauce. (VINTAGES panel, May 2009)

The carrot soup was thankfully back to its usual quality this time and no one was disappointed in the flavour.

Click here for Part 3