Saturday Night - Julie/Julia and Mick – Part 3

Click here for Part 1

 

For the main course Mick did a NY Strip Steaks with a peppercorn sauce recipe that was also a Julia Childs recipe.  He served this with homemade French Fries and Asparagus.  The meal was paired with a 2003 Chateau St Jean Cinq Cepages.  The Cinq Cepages is a Bordeaux style red wine blend.

 

The nose on the wine was beautiful with strong aromas of cherry, green pepper, cedar and black pepper (really, there was black pepper in the wine’s aroma and not from Mick’s peppercorn sauce!).   Tasting the wine black cherry and chocolate were the main flavours with a hint of vanilla in the background.  The structure on the wine was the failing point as it came across hot and acidic and really needed more fruit and more tannin to balance/round out the wine.  It was a good pairing with the meal but I think this was more of a case of the excellent food helping out the wine vs. the other way round.

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 87, Mark - 86, Kathy – 86, Amy – 86, Overall – 86.25.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

CHATEAU ST. JEAN CINQ CÉPAGES 2008
VINTAGES 710913
750 mL bottle
Price $ 75.95
Made in: California, USA
By: Treasury Wine Estates
Release Date: Dec 8, 2012
Wine, Red Wine
14.4% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
All other wines that match this varietal »
Sugar Content: 5 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

Description -  Cinq Cépages refers to the five Bordeaux varieties used to make this wine.

Tasting Note -  The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Cinq Cepages is an explosive wine endowed with tons of depth and richness. It is an impeccably textured wine graced with notable size and elegance. Blackberry jam, savory herbs, graphite, tar and licorice inform the exuberant, polished finish. The 2008 relies heavily on fruit from vineyards in Knights Valley, with the addition of fruit from Alexander and Sonoma Valleys. In 2008 the blend is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2028. Score - 94. (Antonio Galloni, erobertparker.com, Feb. 2012) 
*Note this is for the 2008 and not the 2003 reviewed here

Cinq Cepages is a funny wine, as if you hit the right year it can more than compete with wines at almost double its price, hit the wrong year and you have trouble justifying its $75 price point.
Mick’s peppercorn steak and fry dish was amazing.  The peppercorn sauce was perfect, just enough bite from the pepper but not enough to make it overbearing.  His steaks were cooked to an exact medium rare and were so flavourful it was incredible.  The homemade French fries were to die for and I think you’d be truly hard-pressed to find better fries on the planet.  This truly was an amazing dish all around.

For dessert, Amy picked up a Carrot cake which capped off the evening nicely.

Thanks to Mick and Amy for hosting and to Mick for some wonderful dishes and his hard work for making them.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – I got VQA’d and I liked it – Part 4

For dessert Chris and Jan made a hazelnut chocolate cake that they jokingly called “Ferrero Rocher” cake.  This was paired with a 2008 “Snow Angel” Cabernet Franc Ice wine by Angel’s Gate winery.

The nose on the “Snow Angel” Cabernet Franc was just like the aroma you get opening a bag of licorice allsorts.  Tasting the wine, you will find mango, raisin, cranberry and candied apple flavours that finish with spice overtones.  I liked this wine as a pairing for the cake but did find it was a little cloying at times and wished for a bit more acidity to help balance out the sweetness of the wine.

Here is the group rating for the wine –Mick – 88, Mark – 87, Kathy – 87, Amy – 87, Overall – 87.25.

I liked the “Ferrero Rocher” cake as it was rich but not overly heavy and I was starting to get quite full at this point.

Click here for Part 5

Saturday Night – I got VQA’d and I liked it – Part 3

The 2009 Chateau de Charmes Cabernet Franc was the other Cabernet Franc we had with the sliders.

The nose on the Chateau de Charmes was very hard to detect, you really needed to swirl the glass just to pick up a hint of almond/marzipan and cherry.  Tasting the wine it started sour cherry and finished with a soapy/Thrills gum flavour to it.  Structure-wise, the flavour barely managed to cover the heat of the alcohol and it too was more acidic than tannic.  This wine was not very nice and didn’t work on its own and didn’t improve that much with the food.  I’m not sure if it was simply not very good or it was OK but against how good the Tawse Cabernet Franc was made this wine seem worse than it really was.

Here is the group rating for the wine –Mick – 78, Mark – 79, Kathy – 79, Amy – 78, Overall – 78.5.

Here is the LCBO listing on the wine –

CHATEAU DES CHARMES CAB FRANC EST BOTTLED VQA

LCBO 162602
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 13.95
This is a VQA wine
Made in: Ontario, Canada
By: Chateau Des Charmes
Style: Medium-bodied & Fruity
Wine, Red Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Cabernet Franc
Sugar Content: 3 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

Tasting Note - clear deep ruby with a hint of youthful violet at rim; forward ripe spicy blackberry fruit with a hint of earth; dry with medium body and fine grippy tannins; juicy plum and berry flavours on a lengthy finish .

* Note – I’m not sure if the wine listed above is the exact wine we had or not and I didn’t ask Jan the price on this wine.

I find it strangely reassuring that I can give the wine a low rating as I know Chris and Jan won’t take it personally.  I like the fact that we have become so comfortable with the both of them that we can be so honest in the reviews.  Normally if I wasn’t a big fan of a wine with someone other than Mick and Amy providing the wine, I wouldn’t bother reviewing it.

Click here for Part 4

Saturday Night – I got VQA’d and I liked it – Part 2

The main course for the evening was Angus sliders with a mixed green salad.  Jan paired this with two Cabernet Francs – a 2009 Tawse Grower’s Blend and a 2009 Chateau de Charmes.

I will review the Tawse first and then cover the Chateau de Charmes in Part 3.

The nose on the Tawse was easy to find with green pepper, cherry, leather, strawberry, black pepper and clove notes.  Tasting the wine, fresh strawberry was the dominate flavour.  The structure was interesting as the acidity far outweighed the tannin but not to the detriment of the wine as it was very smooth.  The wine had a thin precise mouth-feel but its finish lingered around for a long time (in a good way).  In short a very easy drinking wine and worked very well with the sliders.

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

This wine was also a winery only purchase and not available at the LCBO.  Jan listed it at a $25 price point. 

Click here for Part 3

Saturday Night Combique – Mustangs and Mini-vans

This past Saturday we got together with Mick, Amy, Steve, Melanie, Zdenka and Alex for a Combique. A Combique is our pet name for a get together where each couple brings a course and a bottle of wine to pair with their course.

The evening started off with cars being the big topic of the evening. Steve just picked up a 2011 Mustang GT which I thought was funny as most people after having their 3rd child lose the Mustang for a Mini-van but Steve went the other way. I would have thought a Minivan with its 2 in the front and 5 in the rear seating would be much more practical for a family of 5 but hey who I’m I to judge. I will say the new Mustang is a pretty sweet ride. Mick (who has a 2010 Mustang GT) and Steve were busy talking about the cars and their differences. Zdenka and Alex are shopping for a replacement vehicle as Alex’s was stolen recently. Kathy’s new Audi also was discussed. Enough about cars and on with this article…

The first course was mine and I did a poached pear salad with spiced pecans and blue cheese with a raspberry vinaigrette. I picked a 2007 Lingenfelder Kabinett Riesling to pair with. This wine is on the Zippy Sauce Top Ten Whites and we haven’t had it in the awhile so I was looking forward to sampling it again.

The wine paired nicely with salad though I was a bit disappointed with it as it didn’t seem quite as good as I remembered it being. This may have just been me over anticipating it. In the end the eight of us had no problems killing two bottles of it so it couldn’t have been that bad!

The second course was Melanie’s and she made pulled pork tacos with guacamole, grape tomato salsa & lime cilantro sour cream. She picked a 2007 Couly-Dutheil Chinon (Cab. Franc). As the pulled pork had a sweeter BBQ sauce with it I probably wouldn’t have picked a Cabernet Franc as my pairing. Trying the wine without the food it was very dry, almost bone dry with not much fruit showing. Trying the wine again with the food was amazing as the fruit popped out at you and the wine became much more accessible; it was a truly stunning pairing.

The third course was Mick’s and he made Tandoori chicken skewers with rice. He went with a 2008 Becker-Steinhauer Kabinett Riesling to pair with this.

Mick course had quite a bit of spice to it and the Riesling loved it. The Becker-Steinhauer Kabinett Riesling had a nice balance of sweetness and acidity and had a bit of frizzante happening as well and made a great pairing to the food.

The fourth course was Alex’s and he made grilled rib-eye with peppercorn brandy sauce & prosciutto parmesan asparagus. He paired this with a 2008 Rodney Strong Pinot Noir.

I feel very bad as I didn’t eat much of it as I was well past comfortably full at this point. The rib-eye and sauce were very good. I’m usually not a huge fan of asparagus but Alex cook these to absolute perfection; soft enough to enjoy but with a nice amount of firmness to them that they weren’t limp and overcooked. Add the prosciutto and parmesan and these were some seriously good asparagus. The Pinot was a good pairing with this dish; enough fruit and crisp acidity to stand up to the all the flavours in the dish but not overpowering the food either.

I picked up a Brown Sugar Torte Cake made by La Rocca for dessert. I had never seen this dessert before so either it was new or it is something our local supermarket doesn’t normally carry. I passed on the Torte that night as I mention earlier I was too full. I tried it the next day and found the two main flavours were maple and mocha and it was overly sweet for my taste buds, oh well they can’t all be winners.


I would like to thank Alex, Mick and Melanie for there wonderful courses and the hard work they put into them. I would also like to thank Melanie as a certain Official Zippy Sauce Photographer forgot her memory card for her camera, Melanie jumped in with hers and took all the pictures displayed in this article.

These Combiques are always a blast as I’m sure everyone had a good time and I always look forward to them. Next time though we are going to have to watch portion sizes or my ever expanding waistline is going to require a mini-van to get me around!

Cheers!

Mark

Wine Club looks at 3 of the 5 Bordeaux blending grapes

"The 3 wines on tap"

This month’s Wine Club we took a look the three lesser grapes of the five that make up a classic red Bordeaux blend. The five grapes used in a Bordeaux blend are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

Here is the LCBO information on all three -

2004 Trius Cabernet Franc

Stock Number – 587964
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ 14.95 (+ $.20 deposit)
12.5% Alcohol/Vol.

This is a VQA wine

Made in: Ontario, Canada

By: Andres Wines Ltd

Tasting Note - Medium-deep red brick colour; aromas of cedar, white pepper and red cherries; dry, with fine textured tannins, medium body and flavours of raspberry, smoked meat and cloves; medium finish.

Serving Suggestion - Beef stew or pasta in a meat sauce

2004 Chateau Haut-Monplaisar “Prestige” (Malbec)

Stock Number – 936534
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ 17.95 (+ $.20 deposit)
Sugar Content : XD

Made in: South West, France

By: Chateau Du Cedre

Release Date: Nov 8, 2008

Tasting Note - Well-incorporated oak gives smoky edge to sweet fruit. Lush, soft; more accessible than many. Sumptuous, multi-layered. Drink 2007/8. , Score - 3 Stars (out of 5). (www.decanter.com, 2007)

2005 Pirramimma Petit Verdot

Stock Number – 986752
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ 23.95 (+ $.20 deposit)
Wine, Red Wine,

14.0% Alcohol/Vol.

Sugar Content : D

Made in: South Australia, Australia

By: Malesco Wine Broker

Release Date: Nov 8, 2008

Description - Over a century ago, winery founder and McLaren Vale pioneer Alexander Campbell Johnson chose the name 'pirramimma', an aboriginal word meaning 'the moon and the stars'. Today chief winemaker Geoff Johnson shares his grandfather's pioneering spirit, having planted the first Petit Verdot vines in Australia over twenty years ago. This rare single-varietal offering of the lesser-known Bordeaux grape is considered among the world's best

I have never tried a wine made only with Petit Verdot, so I was looking forward to this opportunity. Pouring out all three wines, the Cabernet Franc was the most unique of the three as it was a thin red-brown in colour sort of like the thinness you get with Pinot Noir. The Malbec and the Petit Verdot were both dark and opaque, though the Malbec was more purple-red vs. the ruby red of the Petit Verdot. I’m guessing that the Malbec, due to the purple in the colour, had some Merlot blended in.

The aroma from the Cabernet Franc was a mix of Black Currant and Cedar, I didn’t get the white pepper or red cherries that the LCBO had in their description. The Malbec has a classic earthy aroma to it that I find common in French Wines as well as some green pepper and oak. The Petit Verdot had a huge nose of smoke, cedar, vanilla and chocolate.

The structure on all three wines was very different. The Cab. Franc was high in acidity with weak soft tannins making the wine light, easy drinking and approachable. The Malbec’s acidity seemed lacking but big tannins and good body made this wine seem much bigger than the Cab. Franc. Lastly, the Petit Verdot was a big huge wine with fresh acidity and good tannin and body and was probably the most balanced of the three.

A Wine Club member brought in a selection of soft cheeses; a spiced goat’s cheese, a cranberry goat’s cheese and a fig goat’s cheese as well as a brie. With the cheeses the Cabernet Franc was the crowd favourite, follow by the Petit Verdot and the Malbec came in dead last. I like Malbec though with the spiced cheese but would agree with the rest on the order. I will also note that the sweetness of the cranberry and the fig goat cheese didn’t make it a good match for any of the wines.

I’m a little surprised that for me a VQA Cabernet Franc was my first choice of the three and that the Australian Petit Verdot was second and the French Malbec was dead last as usually Canada and Australia are my two least favourite wine regions and France is one of favourite areas but that is the nice thing about trying new wines and keeping an open mind is that you can be pleasantly surprised at times!

Cheers

Mark

Saturday Night Combique - Part 2

Second Course – Cheddar Apple Soup and 2007 Vineland Cabernet Franc

Melanie and Steve’s course was a Cheddar and apple soup garnish with fresh parsley and served with a slice of multi-grain bread. The wine was a 2007 Vineland Cabernet Franc.

"Working the cheese in!"

The aroma of the wine was a very strong candied cherry aroma with a hint of a mossy/green aroma. The wine had a thin precise mouth-feel with a strawberry and green pepper flavours. It had a slightly acidic finish to it but overall a light to medium body wine that was very easy drinking. There was a sweetness to the wine that leads me to suspect that the sugar was a one vs. being a bone dry zero.

"Lots of flavours!"

Melanie did a great job with the soup; the flavours combined to give the soup a hearty rich flavour. The sweetness of the apples was showing through the richness of the cheese. We talked about the idea of adding bacon to the soup to round it out a touch more. The multi-grain bread was terrific with the soup. The Cabernet Franc was a good pairing the slight sweetness of the wine playing well with the apples in the soup.

"Suprisingly good"

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick - 88, Mark - 89, Kathy – 85, Amy - 86, Overall – 87

As there were two other couples, I will list their ratings of the wine here as well – Zdenka – 86, Alex – 87, Melanie – 85 and Steve – 87.

LCBO Information -

Vineland Cabernet Franc VQA
LCBO# 594127
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 12.95
Wine, Red Wine,
12.2% Alcohol/Vol.
This is a VQA wine
Made in: Ontario, Canada
By: Vineland Estate Wines Limited

Tasting Note - Pale ruby/purple; aromas of black fruit, herbs and green pepper; light to medium-bodied, lively finish.

Serving Suggestion - Sautéed beef and pepper or vegetable risotto.

I’m not a huge fan of Canadian wines (except for dessert wines) as I stated before on this blog but for $13 a bottle this wine was quite good. A few more like this and I might be changing my opinion of VQA wines.

Click here for Part 3

Friday for a change

As we didn’t get together with Mick and Amy last Saturday and this Saturday wasn’t looking like we’d be able to get together either, we all decided to grab a bite on Friday. The four of us hit Montfort’s for dinner.

"Chocolatey Goodness!"

After dinner we decided to visit the grocery store, pick-up a dessert and then head back to Mick and Amy’s for some wine and dessert. The ladies picked out a LaRocca Chocolate Truffle Royale for dessert. Mick and I retired down to his cellar to find a wine to go with it. There is no LCBO information for this wine as Mick picked this up in the US.

"Something different!"

After looking over a number of bottles, we came across a 2000 Newton Claret and settled on it as our choice.

Here is what the Wine Spectator had to say about –

Newton Claret Napa Valley 2000, Rating 87, Price $20.

Well-balanced, with spicy herb, dill, currant and cedar flavors of moderate depth and complexity. Drink now through 2006. 7,300 cases made. –JL

"Sediment"

Uncorking the bottle there was a fair amount of sediment. Mick decanted the bottle and after the dessert was served up poured out glasses for everyone.

Here is the 4 person review of the wine –

2000 Newton Claret Napa Valley

Nose – Mushroom, Green Pepper, Leather, and Berry.

Taste – The wine came across as very vegetal and green, I’m going to guess and say that Cabernet Franc is in this wine at a high percentage. Balance seemed off - high tannin and high heat (even though the alcohol was only 13.9%), low acidity and not much fruit left. The wine struck us as being very French style of wine, but without the nice balance that good French wines have. Looking at the Wine Spectator review, we may have left this wine down a little too long. In spite of the issues above, the wine did go down nicely with the cake and grew on us towards the end.

Ratings – Mick – 84, Mark – 85, Kathy – 86, Amy 83, Overall – 84.5

Cheers!

Mark

Wine Library TV

Mick loves this site - http://tv.winelibrary.com/ for wine reviews.

He came across this video and sent it to me. -

http://tv.winelibrary.com/2008/03/24/canadian-wines-from-pelee-island-in-the-middle-of-lake-erie-episode-429/

The video is funny as the host is so excited to try Canadian wines and raves about how Canada will be one the hottest new wine area in the 36 months. Unfortunately, the wine doesn't meet his expectations.

Cheers!

Mark