Saturday Night – Two cases later – Part 1

Mick and Amy were back from vacation and it was my turn to host dinner this past Saturday night.  One of our local supermarkets had a few different types of pre-made pesto that Kathy and I have been trying and enjoying with Gnocchi.  I decide to start the night with Gnocchi but to make a pesto from scratch and see if I could do better than the pre-made ones.

I did a quick web search and found this - http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fresh_basil_pesto/ and decided to give it a go.
 
The pesto didn’t take too long to whip up but then my next question was what to pair with it.  I was leaning toward a Chardonnay but decided to do some web searching again and a number of sites were recommending Sauvignon Blanc instead of Chardonnay. I went with their advice and paired the first course with a 2010 Graham Beck Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa.

The nose on the wine was classic Sauvignon Blanc with cut grass, gooseberry and some cat’s pee in the background.  I was surprised at the strength of the nose as a number of Sauvignon Blancs you really have to swirl the glass to get any nose off the wine whereas this one no swirling was needed as it had very easy to find aromas.  The colouring was also very typical of a Sauvignon Blanc as well as it was a very pale greenish-yellow in colour.   Tasting the wine you will find a pleasant combination of white grapefruit and gooseberry running the length of the wine.  Structure on the wine was good as it was a very clean, crisp wine that was very drinkable.  It was good on its own but was a great pairing with the pesto.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 88, Mark - 89, Kathy – 92, Amy – 88, Overall –  89.25

Here is the LCBO information for the wine –

GRAHAM BECK SAUVIGNON BLANC 2010

VINTAGES 948620
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 13.95
Wine, White Wine
13.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Region Not Specified, South Africa
By: Graham Beck Wines
Release Date: Oct 15, 2011

Tasting Note - [The 2010] shows nettles, limes, with dusty pebble finish. Well judged, solid and elegantly balanced. Score - 31/2 Stars (out of 5). (Greg de Bruyn, Platter's South African Wine Guide, 2011)

The 89.25 just puts this wine in a 10th place tie on the Zippy Sauce Top 10 White Wines.  The other thing I did want to point out is the $14 price which makes this wine a heck of a deal so much so that I have ordered a case of it.

As to the homemade Pesto recipe, it was slightly better than the store bought stuff as it was richer tasting.  Mick and I discussed the recipe and both thought that upping the pine nuts from 1/3 of a cup to 1/2 a cup would be a good idea as it would make the pesto sauce a bit more ‘meaty’.

Click here from Part 2