For the main course I did a summer favourite of mine; the dish has sliced NY strips, baby potatoes, corn, cherry tomatoes and arugula. I paired this with a 2003 Chateau Haut Sarpe from Saint Emilion.
We hadn’t done a French merlot in a while so I was looking forward to trying this wine. The nose on it was big with rubber, black licorice, pine needles, eucalyptus, cherry and fresh mushroom. Tasting the wine black licorice and black cherry were the two main flavours with a touch of cocoa mixed in. It was well balance but finished very dry. It made a good pairing and handled all the different flavours in the dish without a problem. I liked this wine but wasn’t blown away by it. The wine was also much better with the food than on its own.
Here is the group rating for the wine –Mick – 89, Mark – 88, Kathy – 87, Amy – 87, Overall – 87.75.
This wine was purchased down in the US a few years back and a web search is listing its price at about $51 (CDN.) a bottle. At $51 a bottle, there are better choices out there for less money, so I won’t be rushing out to get another one.
For dessert I picked up a plain cheese cake and made a mango coulis to go with it. I also picked up some fresh raspberries and blackberries to add some colour to the dish. The berries and mango coulis made the cheesecake seem like a lighter summer type of dessert and we enjoyed it. I was however a bit disappointed in the mango coulis, it was ok but I think a peach coulis would have been better as it would have been a bit tangier.
Fun night, though two Fumé Blancs with just a shrimp starter is a very good way to get rapidly drunk. Thanks to Mick for prepping and grilled the spicy shrimp to perfection.
Cheers!
Mark
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