Easter Dinner

On Sunday, Kathy and I ended up at my parents’ house for Easter dinner. Dad was cooking and my sister asked for Lasagna or as we affectionately refer to it as La-John-ya (as my father’s first name is John). I had talk to him earlier in the week and he told my that Lasagna and Caesar salad were the menu for the evening and volunteerd to bring the wine to go with both.

"A nice medium bodied Chardonnay"

For the first course of Caesar Salad, I went with a 2005 Louis Jadot “Bourgogne”. I have had this pairing before and it was quite good. This time was no exception and it paired nicely with the Caesar Salad. It wasn’t perfect as there was a touch of sharpness to it, but I find Caesar salad, due the variations in the Caesar dressing, very hard to perfectly pair wine with.

LCBO information –

Loius Jadot Bourgogne Chardonnay
Vintages 933077
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 18.80
Wine, Still Table Wine, White Still Table Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : D
Made in: Burgundy, France
By: Domaine Louis Jadot
Release Date: Mar 1, 2008

Description - A wonderfully versatile wine, this Chardonnay offers aromas of baked apple, citrus, cinnamon and a hint of vanilla. It's creamy, ripe and balanced. Medium-bodied with a lingering finish. Tantalizing with freshwater fish or a vegetable stir-fry.

Tasting Note - From the geographical headquarters of the Chardonnay grape comes this wonderfully versatile wine. Expect aromas of baked apple, citrus, cinnamon and a hint of vanilla. It's creamy, ripe and balanced. Medium-bodied with a lingering finish. Tantalizing with freshwater fish or vegetable stir-fry.

Serving Suggestion - pork chops with apple sauce.

Note – The LCBO is currently selling the 2006 Bourgogne and not the 2005 Bourgogne listed in the blog.

"Joseph Phelps wine on a budget"

For the Lasagna main course, I went with a 2003 Joseph Phelps “Innisfree” Merlot. A meat lasagna is a fairly substantial food item to pair a wine with. The meat, tomatoes, and cheese are looking for a big wine to go with them. Thankfully the “Innisfree” Merlot was big enough to handle it. This is the low end of the Joseph Phelps product line but there is nothing low end about this Merlot – it is deep, rich and very smooth.

The Joseph Phelps isn’t available at the LCBO, but it is available at the Premier Group in NY State. I bought for around $24 US and on the Premier Group’s website it is now listed for $20 US (about $33 CDN after taxes, duty and LCBO markup charge).

Happy Easter! (The Chocolate Bunny one and not the religious one)

Mark