Saturday Night – A Casual Dinner for Five – Part 1

Mick was away for the weekend as he was down in North Carolina for a meeting with some motorcycle buddies so Kathy and I volunteered to take care of dinner for Amy.   Later in the week we added in Chris and Jan to dinner as well.  The plan was for the five of us to get together and have a nice, casual dinner.  I was going to make a big pot of lemon cream prosciutto pasta and Chris and Jan were going to bring dessert.

I talked to Amy earlier in the day and she was having a rough day… client issues at work and Mick called and said he got in an accident with the bike (he’s fine – thigh and ego bruised and the bike is working but has cosmetic damage) .  So Amy mentioned that she really needed a drink of wine with dinner. 

I was planning on pairing a Merlot with the pasta but I knew that Amy loved Riesling and want to add that to the menu.  I decided to add a simple salad to the menu – baby spinach, red pepper, raspberries and cashews with Kraft Chipotle and Mango dressing.  I paired this with a 2007 Scharzhofberger Kabinett Riesling.

The nose was faint but had a lot going on as aromas of yeast, peach, roses, lilac and petrol could be found.  Tasting the wine, it was dryer tasting than I expected for a Kabinett Riesling with green apple and pear flavours and a creamy taste in the mid-palate.  The structure on the wine was good with lots of acidity and a long lingering finish.  It made a very good pairing with the salad as it was sweet enough to stand up to the raspberries and the sweetness of the mango in the dressing.

Here is the group rating for the wine –Mick* – 86, Mark – 86, Kathy – 87, Amy – 88, Overall – 86.75.

* As Mick is away, Jan and Chris are doing his rating for him.

Here is the LCBO rating on the wine -

07 SCHARZHOF RIESLING KABINETT (MULLER)

VINTAGES 720201
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 49.00
Made in: Moselle, Germany
By: Markus Muller Wien Export
Release Date: N/A
Wine, White Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Riesling
Sweetness Descriptor: M – Medium

I liked this wine but wasn’t blown away by it.  When I pulled it off the rack, I figured it was a $20-30 Riesling and was kind of shocked when I did the LCBO search and found it was a $50 wine.  It was good but not enough in my mind to justify the price point.

Click here for Part 2