Saturday Night – The Devil’s in the Details – Part 1

Mick and Amy were hosting this past Saturday night’s get together. Mick had a new recipe on tap for the main course and an old favourite for the starter and two new wines to try.

"Spicy Shrimp in a Clam Shell"

The first course was Spicy Shrimp with Mint Sauce paired with a 2009 Barnard Griffin Fume Blanc. Mick also did up a plate of oysters for this course as well.

The nose on the wine was a mix of a yeasty/hops like smell with grapefruit and a hint of peach in the background. There wasn’t much fruit on the initial tasting of the wine but there was a nice gooseberry flavour to it. The structure on the wine was weak; it lacked acidity and there was no tannin whatsoever. We realized that this Fume Blanc hadn’t been exposed to oak in the aging process. Fume Blanc is kind of a funny label as it was coined original by Robert Mondavi to describe an oaked Sauvignon Blanc that they made. Anyone can use the term Fume Blanc on a bottle for Sauvignon Blanc. Usually Fume Blanc is exposed to oak but it doesn’t have to be to be called Fume Blanc. The closest this wine got to oak was if the delivery truck went through a forest on its route. On the upside, it was a decent pairing with the spicy shrimp and helped extinguish the burn.

"Oysters Baby!"

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 87, Mark - 84, Kathy – 84, Amy – 85, Overall – 85.

"Barnyard Fume...tee hee"

I couldn’t find an LCBO listing for this wine but Mick mentioned he picked it up for $10. For $10 it wasn’t a bad deal as it went with the food nicely and was drinkable on its own. The one thing I did have fun with was I kept calling the wine Barnyard Fume which amused to me no end (which shows you how deep your reviewer truly is).

The Spicy Shrimp and the Oysters were both very good.

Click here for Part 2