Saturday Night – Back to normal – Part 2

Click here for Part 1

For the main course, Mick did Grilled NY Strips with mixed veggies and roasted potatoes. He paired this with a 2002 Beringer’s Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. I was looking forward to trying Knights Valley again as it has been awhile. As the 1999 vintage sits in the Top Ten Reds, I couldn’t wait to see how the 2002 vintage was.

"NY Strip Grilled to Perfection"

Nosing the wine brought a smile to my lips; green pepper, raspberry and leather. A number of California Cabs have an aroma to them that we joking call, ‘smells like love’. I haven’t nailed down into words what aromas or combination of aromas make up that ‘love’ but the 2002 has it in spades. Tasting the wine I was a little caught off guard as there was raspberry and cherry flavour to the wine but also a coffee flavouring there too. The wine was a touch tannic which when combined with the coffee flavour gave this wine a slight bitterness to the mid-palate. Knights Valley Cabs are generally very fruit forward and exceptionally smooth and this one was a little outside that normal which I wasn’t overly happy about but Mick really liked that the wine was different. One thing we both agreed on was that the wine absolutely a killer pairing with the meal.

"Same as the 1999?"

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 89, Mark - 88, Kathy – 90, Amy - 89, Overall – 89.

I won’t bother with an LCBO listing here as I know they are at least up to the 2006 vintage now and they don’t carry the 2002 anymore. Knight’s Valley generally ranges in price at the LCBO from $30-39 a bottle.

"At least some cake left..."

For dessert Amy picked up a Baco Chocolate Cake for dessert. Mick cracked open a bottle of Cathedral Cellars Cab from South Africa to go with this. We didn’t formally taste or review this wine but the general impression around the table was everyone liked it.

I like to thank Mick and Amy for hosting as it was a good night. It was also very good to just have a ‘normal’ Saturday night again.

Cheers!

Mark