Saturday Night – Tomato Time!

Mick and Amy were hosting this past Saturday night’s dinner and Mick had a Tomato theme going for the evening.  Mick decided that every dish on the menu (thankfully except for dessert!) was going to have tomatoes from his garden in it.

The first course was Caprese salad with a 2010 Graham Beck Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa.  We have reviewed this wine before so I won’t be doing it again now.  I will add that it was a decent match with the Caprese Salad but we thought a Chardonnay might be a better match.

The second course was sliders with a cherry tomato salsa.  Mick paired this with a 2007 Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon.

The nose wine was big with easy to find aromas of cherry, cocoa, wood smoke, green pepper, coffee and mushroom.  Tasting the wine, it came across very French as it was herbaceous and loamy with dark chocolate and a touch of vanilla.  The structure was a little off as it was much more tannic than it was acidic and this caused the wine to come across as extremely dry on its own.  I wasn’t a big fan of this wine on its own but it really redeemed itself with the food and was a very good pairing with the sliders.   The sliders did a good job of neutralizing the tannin and bringing out the fruit in the wine.  

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick –89, Mark - 86, Kathy – 87, Amy – 88, Overall – 87.5.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine -

CONCHA Y TORO MARQUES DE CASA CONCHA CABERNET SAUVIGNON (V) 2009

VINTAGES 337238
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 19.95
Made in: Maipo Valley, Chile
By: Concha Toro S.A.
Release Date: Jul 25, 2012
Style: Full-bodied & Smooth
Wine, Red Wine
13.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Sugar Content: 4 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry
Tasting Note  - A real beauty with graphite, minerality and rich, clean, exciting berry fruit and controlled oak aromas. Very pure and stylish Cabernet Sauvignon with fat but balanced cassis and sweet berry flavors. Big tannins lend structure and framework; young like a baby now; will be better and more evolved come fall, winter and over the next few years. Editors' Choice. Score - 91. (Michael Schachner, Wine Enthusiast, June 2011)

*Note – this LCBO listing is for the current release which is a 2009 and not the 2007 reviewed here.

The main course for the evening was Cherry Bomb Grilled Chicken with oven roasted fingerling potatoes.  The Cherry Bomb Chicken was a soak in a salt, sugar, cherry tomato and habanero brine before being grilled on the barbeque.  Mick paired this with a 2006 Seghesio Zinfandel.  We have had this wine before so we won’t be reviewing it again here.

The Cherry Bomb Grilled Chicken was really good; brine gave the chicken a sweet smoky flavour that was awesome.  The Seghesio was also a good pairing with this dish.

For dessert, Mick had picked up a decadent Chocolate cake which was enjoyed by all.

Thanks to Mick and Amy for hosting and to Mick and his garden for three wonderful tomato based courses.

Cheers!

Mark