Saturday Night – Grill, baby grill! – Part 1

Last weekend Kathy and I bought a new BBQ. It was delivered on Friday and the Natural gas line was hooked up Saturday morning. With a shiny new BBQ out on the deck, the menu choice was easy – if it could be grilled it was on the evening’s menu.

"Me with my new baby"

First course was spicy shrimp with mint sauce. This was good for two reasons; the shrimp needed to be grilled on skewers which satisfied my grilling requirement and I had so much fresh mint growing in the backyard it was stupid.

"Mick and a ton of spicy shrimp"

To pair with shrimp, I went with a 2004 Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc.

"Sauce good"

The nose on the wine was a mix of wood, cut grass, vanilla and tropical fruit (papaya?). The main flavours to the wine were pear, vanilla and a faint citrus flavour that lurked in the background. The Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc had a big rounded mouth feel with good fruit but was missing that crisp sharpness that I expect from a Fume Blanc. I actually found it closer to a Chardonnay than a Fume; it was a very good wine, just not what I was expecting. Mick’s interest was peaked by this wine and he wants to get another year and see what it is like and I wouldn’t upset at trying another bottle of this wine either.

"Spicy shrimp with fresh mint sauce"

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 88, Mark – 87, Kathy – 88, Amy – 88, Overall – 87.75.

"Great wine, just not what I was expecting..."

This wine was purchased in the US and there is no LCBO listing for it. A web search show the price on the 2009 at around $12 US ($20-22 CDN a bottle after duty, taxes and exchange). At this price point I would certainly recommend picking up a bottle or two.

Click here for Part 2