Saturday Night – Wolfredo

After quite a break due to our schedules Mick, Amy, Kathy and I got together for a Saturday night dinner. It was my turn to host as Mick and Amy hosted the last dinner.

I had a ton of grated parmesan leftover from my TL lunch and needed to use it up. With this in mind I decided to do a Wolfgang Puck chicken fettuccine alfredo recipe or as the ladies affectionately call it ‘Wolfredo’.

I dread doing this recipe as it is very time consuming and the way Mr. Puck lays out his ingredient list is a pain in the ass. Most recipes will total up the same ingredient and list exactly what you need in total. Whereas Wolfgang will list the same ingredient (in this case fresh thyme) in four different places in the ingredient list which makes it very easy to miss one and leave yourself short.


I wanted to do an appetizer but my lovely wife vetoed that idea hard and insisted that as the Alfredo is so heavy it is more than enough food. So I went with her advice; I’m glad I did as it was very filling and there is no way I could have gotten through both an appetizer and the Alfredo.

I paired the Wolfredo with a 2006 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. This wine is 2nd on the Top Ten Zippy Sauce White Wines. I figured that if I’m going to effort of making this dish, I pairing it with a killer wine. It was an awesome pairing with meal and it was also my last bottle of it. The wine was so good that we killed it before we were even half way through the dinner. At this point Mick and I decided that we needed another bottle of something.

A quick peak through the wine cabinet and I grabbed out at bottle of Chateau St. Michelle 2007 Chardonnay. It continues the theme of French sounding California wines I started with the Chateau Montelena. I was worried how this wine would stand up against the first one as it is around a $20 price point whereas the Montelena is $45 a bottle.

The nose on the Chateau St. Michelle was big with plenty of different aromas going on; sage, yeast, pear, pine and butterscotch were some of the aromas we found. Flavour wise it had a pleasing butterscotch and lime flavour happening with it. It was nicely balanced but there was a bit of a sharpness on the finish. The sharpness on the finish may have been more noticeable as we had just had the Montelena which was incredibly silky and smooth. It was a strong pairing with the ‘Wolfredo’ but not quite as good as the Montelena. Considering it was less than half the price of the first wine, I was very pleased with how good this wine was for its price point.

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

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –


CHATEAU STE. MICHELLE CHARDONNAY 2008


VINTAGES 232439
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 17.95
Wine, White Wine
13.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Washington State, USA
By: Chat Ste Michelle
Release Date: Dec 11, 2010

Tasting Note - Bright and jazzy, with pretty pineapple, grapefruit, elderflower and spice flavors that linger on the finish without excess weight. This just floats on for a while. Drink now through 2012. Best Value. Score - 90. (Harvey Steiman, winespectator.com, Feb. 28, 2010)

* Note – the wine listed is the 2008 and not the 2007 reviewed by us.

I really liked the 2007 Chateau St. Michelle and when I saw the LCBO write up for the 2008 was planning on picking up some of the 2008 up but unfortunately there is no stock left. I will have to make a note to look in December for the 2009.

For dessert, I picked up a Chocolate Carmel Ice Cream cake for dessert which was well received.

Thanks to everyone for a fun night and I’m already looking forward to next Saturday.

Cheers!

Mark