After back to back Birthday dinners it was nice to get back to a normal Saturday night with Mick and Amy. Mick had on his chef’s hat and apron for the night and had one favourite dish on tap and two new ones for us to try.
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| "Prosciutto wrapped Shimp, yummy!" |
The first course was Prosciutto wrapped curried shrimp, which I love so much that I’m hoping that Mick will one day do an all you can eat "Prosciutto wrapped curried shrimp" night. Mick paired these delightful morsels with a 2008 Hoffmann-Simon Kabinett Riesling.
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| "Great wine, but a touch too sweet" |
Nosing the wine caused me to peak at the bottle as it initially reminded me of a Sauvignon Blanc with its cut grass, floral and peach aromas. There was also some vanilla and nutmeg aromas in the background. Tasting the wine was my next surprise as it was quite sweet; more what I’d expect from a Spätlese Riesling than a Kabinett Riesling. The main flavour to the wine was Golden Apple. This wine was a very good pairing with the shrimp. I liked this wine but the sweetness at times was a bit too much; if this wine upped the alcohol up from 9%to 10% by converting the residual sugar I would bet this would be in my top 5 Kabinett Rieslings of all time.
Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 88, Mark - 88, Kathy – 86, Amy – 87, Overall – 87.25.
Here is the LCBO Information for the wine -
HOFFMANN-SIMON RIESLING KABINETT 2008
VINTAGES 192575
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 16.95
Wine, White Wine
8.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : MD
Made in: Mosel, Germany
By: Weingut Hoffman-Simon
Release Date: Nov 27, 2010
Tasting Note - Pungent, with a savory edge to the apple, grapefruit and mineral flavors. It's all undercut by a racy, high-voltage structure that keeps this light wine in a high-energy state. Fine length. Best from 2012 through 2021. Score - 91. (Bruce Sanderson, www.winespectator.com, March 31, 2010)
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| "Baba Ganoush with Pita" |
For the next course Mick did Baba Ganoush with Pita and paired this with a 2010 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. We have reviewed the Kim Crawford a number of times so we didn’t bother doing it again. Kim Crawford has made a very good to excellent Sauvignon Blanc year after year and it is probably the wine I use the most as my benchmark for Sauvignon Blanc.
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| "Excellent year after year" |
The Baba Ganoush was good but the eggplant gave it a sweetness that threw the wine pairing for this course. I would probably lean towards an off-dry Pinot Gris or Riesling if I was going to pick a wine for it in the future.
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| "Curried lamb ribs" |
The main course was grilled curried lamb ribs with a 2004 Robert Mondavi "Carneros" Pinot Noir. This was another wine that we reviewed before so we didn’t bother reviewing it again. Lamb ribs were something I have never had before so I was intrigued to see what they would be like. The flavour to the meat with the curried outside was very good; the downside was the meat wasn’t plentiful and hard to find as the lamb ribs were very fatty. Mick is looking at doing this recipe again but doing it as a grilled rack of lamb which I’m very much looking forward to. The Pinot with its strawberry and cherry notes made a very nice contrasting pairing to the ribs.
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| "A decent Pinot by Mondavi" |
For dessert Amy picked up this huge chocolate cake thing from Costco which was pretty good though I don’t think that the four of us made much of a dent in it.
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| "Is that a giant cake in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?" |
Thanks to Mick and Amy for hosting this week and to Mick for all the great food.
Cheers!
Mark
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