Saturday Night – What was that 3rd wine we had? – Part 2

For the second course of the evening, Mick did barbequed chicken with pesto served on a corn, black bean, onion and Cilantro salad with a lime/Cilantro dressing.  This was the course he paired with the 2009 Robert Mondavi “To Kalon” Fume Blanc.

The nose on the wine was very aromatic and powerful with fresh watermelon, pineapple, green apple, lychee and tropical fruit aromas.  The nose was very intriguing as it was changing all the time – at the beginning the watermelon aroma was dominate, later it was the pineapple  and towards the end as it warmed up more the green apple was the dominate aroma.  Tasting the wine, honeydew melon flavours jumped out at you.  The wine was nicely structure with good acidity but it also had a nice rounded mouth-feel to it and a linger finish that hung around for ages.  I wasn’t sure about this as a pairing for the food as I thought the sweetness of the corn might throw it for a loop but it ended up being  a great pairing and held its own against a wide range of flavours.  In short a very well-crafted wine that worked very well with all the food flavours.

Here is the group rating for the wine –Mick – 92, Mark – 91, Kathy – 90, Amy – 90, Overall – 90.75.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

ROBERT MONDAVI TO KALON ESTATE RESERVE FUMÉ BLANC 2009

VINTAGES 147488
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 44.95
Made in: California, USA
By: Constellation Wines U S
Release Date: May 26, 2012
Wine, White Wine
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Fume Blanc
Sugar Content: 2 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

Tasting Note  - (includes 2% semillon): Bright, pale yellow-green. Lively, perfumed aromas of ripe grapefruit, flowers and spearmint. Saline and dry in the mouth, with sexy high tones to the grapefruit and wild herb flavors. Dense, savory and aromatic, this bracing sauvignon really stains the palate. Aged entirely in oak, 24% new, but I never would have guessed it. Score - 92. (Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, May/June 2011)

The LCBO still has a number of bottles in stock and I would strongly recommend picking this up if you like Sauvignon Blanc.  I will also caution you to only buy what you are going to drink in the next few months.  We have found that Fume Blanc is a wine that doesn’t improve with age and doesn’t last that long before turning.  This is not a wine you want to keep for years for a ‘special occasion’ this is a wine that you should buy and raise a glass to celebrate the summer of 2012.

Click here for Part 3