Saturday Night – It’s your Birthday! – Part 3

Click here for Part 1

For dessert I picked up a Chocolate Caramel Cake as I wanted something with Caramel or Butterscotch in it for the pairing I had in mind. 

Years ago when we were down at Premier Group in NY Kathy put a 375ml bottle or half bottle in the cart.  The wine was a 2003 Schloss Johannisberger Beerenauslese Riesling.  I was curious about this and then saw the price and nearly choked  as it was $250 US (around $375 Cdn) and it was a half-bottle!  I mention this to Kathy but she didn’t care, she wanted to try it so I didn’t argue that much about it.

For the last few years, this pricy bottle has been taunting me everything I opened the wine cabinet but I needed a very special occasion to justify opening this wine.

Pouring out the wine, I was shock at colour as it was a dark amber colour that reminded me of tawny port.  The nose on the wine was a disappointment as I was expecting the same powerful and vibrant nose that Canadian Ice Wines have.  You really had to swirl the glass to get something off of it but once you did there was a pretty nose of lychee, roses, and a slight medicinal aroma.   Tasting the wine you quickly realize why this wine was so expensive as it was so incredibly smooth.  Honey and black currant flavours dominate this wine.   The wine was very sweet but the lively acidity kept this wine from being anywhere even remotely close to being cloying.  This is a wine where after a single sip the first word out of your mouth will be ‘wow’.  It paired nicely with the cake.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 90, Mark - 90, Kathy – 90, Amy – 90, Overall – 90.

This wine was very enjoyable to try and I would have rated it much higher than 90 except for two things – price and the lack of power on the nose.  I really liked this wine but won’t be rushing out to get another one anytime soon.  I will add that if you have a bottle of this, you don’t need to be in a rush to open it as by its structure this wine still be amazing twenty years from now.

It was one heck of night, some of the wines maybe didn’t live up to my hopes but none of them were anything to sneeze at.  The food was great and only surpassed by the company.  Happy Birthday Kathy!

Cheers!

Mark