Saturday Night – Taking the “Pro” out of Propane – Part 1

Mick and Amy were hosting this past Saturday night’s dinner. Dinner ended up being an adventure, as Mick ran out of Propane after the first course, so Mick and I had to head to my place to finish barbequing the main course. Running out of Propane isn’t really a big deal and it happens but after I got my natural gas line but in I gave Mick my Propane tank so he actually has three of them. When you own three tanks of Propane and still manage to run out of gas that is skill. On the upside, at least I have something to ride him about for the next month or so.

"Too Good for Words..."

For the first course Mick did grilled Scallops on tortillas with an avocado salsa. This is one of my favourite recipes that Mick does, and it is one historically we have had trouble finding the right pairing for. We have paired this dish with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Viognier and none of them worked. Tonight we tried a Santa Margherita Prosecco di Valdobbiadene as the pairing.

The nose of this sparkling white wine consisted of yeast and rose and was very faint. Tasting the wine you’ll notice hazelnut, lime and pear as the main flavours. It liked the balance on the wine but would have liked just a touch more acidity to it. It was easily the best pairing that we have found so far for this dish and complimented the food wonderfully.

"Great Pairing"

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 88, Mark - 88, Kathy – 87, Amy – 89, Overall – 88.

Here is the LCBO information on this wine –

SANTA MARGHERITA BRUT VALDOBBIADENE PROSECCO SUPERIORE

VINTAGES 687582
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 17.95
Wine, Sparkling Wine
11.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Veneto, Italy
By: S. Margherita S.P.A.
Release Date: Dec 11, 2010

Tasting Note - Appearance: pale straw with a lime tint. Nose: minerally, nutty, peach. Taste: light to medium-bodied, dry, bitter almond and citrus flavours. Score - 4 Stars (out of 5). (Tony Aspler, www.tonyaspler.com, Feb. 17, 2010)

The scallops were excellent as always and it was very nice to finally find a good wine pairing for this course.

Click here for Part 2