Saturday Night – Mick’s big Four Oh bash!

This past Saturday night we got together with Mick and Amy, Chris and Jan and John and Kim to celebrate Mick’s 40^th Birthday. I did a five course tasting menu and paired each course with wine. Chris and Jan were nice enough to bring dessert which was an amazing Bowling themed chocolate cake which I also paired with wine.

"Who's 40?"

The six wines were all different grape varieties from four different regions. The wines are also wines that I have reviewed before so this Blog entry won’t be reviewing any of them in detail.

"Honey Gorgonzola Crostinis"

Here is the menu –


Gorgonzola dip and Honey Gorgonzola Crostinis paired with a 2008 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

Sausage, Pasta and Bean soup paired with a 2003 Rutherford Hill Merlot

Fried Coconut Shrimp with a Honey Mustard and Horseradish dip paired with a 2007 Max Ferd. Richter Kabinett Riesling

Island Pork Tenderloin paired with a 2003 Rosenblum Zinfandel

Chicken Caesar Salad paired with a 2006 Louis Jadot Chardonnay

Chocolate Cake with a 1999 Beringer’s Cabernet Sauvignon

"Gorgonzola Dip"

"2008 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc"

It actually worked out to be nine bottles of wine as for all the white wines pairings there were two bottles of each so we got though quite a bit of wine for eight people. My favourites for the night were the Beringer’s Cab and the Rutherford Hill Merlot as they were both excellent and I was a bit sad that they were my last bottles of each. I was a little disappointed in the Rosenblum as a pairing; it is a usually a very fruit forward wine but as this was a 2003 the fruit was almost all gone and black Liquorice flavour dominated the wine. I liked the Liquorice flavour but the Island pork needed a more fruit forward Zinfandel as a pairing. Mick and I both thought 2003 Rosenblum would be a fantastic pairing with his chicken Quesadillas.

"Sausage, Pasta and Bean Soup"

"My last of this Beauty"

"Coconut Shrimp fresh from pan"

"Coconut Shrimp with Honey-Mustard Horseradish dip"

I also had no trouble drinking more than my fair share of the Louis Jadot Chardonnay with the Caesar salad as that has always been a great pairing.

"Setup for Island Pork"

"Island Pork"

"2003 Rosenblum Zinfandel"

"Caesar Salad prep"

"Chicken Caesar salad"

"Louis Jadot Chardonnay"

"Mick with the cake"

"Close-up with the Bowling Cake"

"Last bottle of a Zippy Sauce Top Ten Red"

I would like to thank everyone for attending as the atmosphere around the table was awesome with lots of conversation and laugher. A special thanks to Amy for all these great pictures you are looking at. Finally to Chris and Jan for going above and beyond with the Bowling Cake which was perfect.


Happy Birthday Buddy!

Cheers!

Mark