This past Saturday night we got together for dinner to celebrate my lovely wife’s 40th birthday. I wanted to do something special as it was the big ‘four oh’ and picked a number of different wines for the evening. The wines were special due to price point or because they were past favourites and it ended up being a killer line-up of wines.
The first course was a blue cheese and bacon dip with crackers. I paired this with a 2002 Cristal Champagne.
We first tried Cristal at New Years and it was stunning –
http://zippysauce.blogspot.ca/2012/01/saturday-night-happy-new-year-part-1.html
The one from New Year’s was a 2004 and the 2002 was rated higher so I was very much looking forward to trying this one.
The nose on the Cristal was interesting as it had aromas of apple, peach, cinnamon and smoked salmon. I thought the smoked salmon aroma was odd but I swear it smelled the same as if I had just cut open a package of my favourite smoked salmon. Tasting the champagne it was a nice mix of green apple and lime with some spice on the mid-palate. The structure on the champagne was good with racy acidity and a lovely lingering finish. I will be honest here and say I was a bit disappointed as it was not as creamy as the 2004 was but the 2002 did become more creamy as it started to warm up more. I found that the more the wine warmed up the better it got. On the plus side, it was a stellar pairing with the blue cheese dip.
Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 91, Mark - 89, Kathy – 89, Amy – 89, Overall – 89.5.
Here is the LCBO information on the wine -
CRISTAL BRUT CHAMPAGNE
VINTAGES 268755
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 286.95
Wine, Champagne
12.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Champagne, France
By: Champagne Louis Roederer
Release Date: N/A
At close to the $300 a bottle this is obviously not an everyday wine (well, unless I win the lottery sometime in the near future); I thought the 2004 was worth the money but didn’t feel the 2002 was worth it. I enjoyed it and am glad I tried it but won’t be rushing out to get another bottle of the 2002. I do have a bottle of the 2004 on the rack and will be saving that for another special occasion in the future.
For the second course Mick braved the rain and grilled up his famous Prosciutto wrapped curried shrimp. I paired this with the number one White Wine on the Zippy Sauce Top Ten White – a 2005 Wegeler Kabinett Riesling. I had two bottles of this which I had been hoarding and thought tonight was a night worthy of using one of these up. I was also a little nervous as the last time we had this was February 2009 so it had been over 3 years since we last tried it. I was praying it was still as good as I remember it being. The nose on the wine was still big and aromatic and as soon as I took a sip I smiled as it was just as wonderful as it was three year ago. We didn’t rate this wine as it was covered three years ago but I will add that it was a great pairing with the shrimp. Mick grilled the shrimp perfectly and we really need to have this dish more often.
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