Saturday Night – Two cases later – Part 2

Click here for Part 1

For the main course I decided on beef tenderloin as Mick and Amy had been in Cuba and I heard beef is the one food that is not in good supply down there.  As it happened, the resort Mick and Amy stayed at was well supplied with Alberta beef so they weren’t lacking in that department on their vacation.

Earlier in the week we got a cheese promotion flyer/magazine in the mailbox that had a bunch on interesting recipes in it.  There was one for a potato salad with crab and Swiss cheese that looked pretty tasty so I decided to do it as a side dish.

As we were going with Grilled Beef Tenderloin as the main course, I need a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Bordeaux-style blend as my pairing.  I decided to make it an all South African night and went with a 2006 Vilafonté Series M as my wine pairing.  I picked this up 4 to 6 months ago and remember paying $40-42 for it.  The LCBO usually doesn’t carry much South African wine over $20 so I was really curious to try this as I find South African wine is usually a great value for money.  The Series M is a Bordeaux-style blend red wine.  Vilafonté is a joint venture between South African and California wine makers.  Here is a link to their website - http://www.vilafonte.com/framework/index.asp 

The nose on this wine was easy to find with lovely aromas of tobacco, cherry, raspberry, smoke and evergreen.  Tasting the wine, cassis, juniper, raspberry/blackberry notes dominate this wine but the wine finishes with a dark chocolate flavour to it.  The wine’s structure is a well-crafted blend of super fine tannin, nice acidity and alcohol.  Even though the alcohol is 14.5% it certainly doesn’t come across as hot.  It was very good on its own but I really loved this wine paired with the beef tenderloin.  I will note that was a lot of sediment (see picture below) in the wine and would recommend decanting this wine first.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 91, Mark - 91, Kathy – 91, Amy – 91, Overall –  91

Here is the LCBO information for the wine –

VILAFONTÉ SERIES M

VINTAGES 7757
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 34.55
Wine, Red Wine
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Made in: Region Not Specified, South Africa
By: Vilafonte
Release Date: N/A 

The price on this wine has been reduced since I bought it as I firmly remember it being in the $40-42 range.  At $35 dollars a bottle this wine is an exceptional deal and I have order a case of it.  Mick said it best during the night when he commented “There are $100 bottles of wine that I would put this against and pick it over them…”  The Overall rating of 91 puts this wine in a tie for 6th on the Zippy Sauce Top Ten Reds.

Amy really liked the potato salad with crab and Swiss but we all agreed it was more of a summer time dish. 

For dessert I picked up a Carmel Brownie Cheesecake which went over well. 

To sum up – two decent new recipes, two Top Ten wines and Mick and Amy back for a normal Saturday night… life is very good.

Cheers!

Mark