Saturday night – Amy’s needs two and half people to replace her! Part 2

Click here for Part 1.

For the main course, Mick was firing up the grill again but this time for lamb skewers. He accompanied the lamb with roasted baby potatoes and Greek salad. He also made up a batch of homemade Tzakiki “Hey you lika da sauce!” sauce. Mick choose to pair the lamb with a 2005 Castle Rock “Edna Valley” Pinot Noir.

"Sorry for the poor quality picture - I though the picture was blurry 'cause I was drunk... turns out it was blurry!"

I laughed as I poured out the Pinot Noir as it was slightly more opaque than the Zinfandel was and was wondering if this was going to be the most “Zinfandel like” Pinot I’d ever had. The nose was odd as there were some aromas like green pepper, mint and pine there that I usually don’t associate with Pinot Noir as well as a good hit of cherry. Thankfully the taste was very Pinot Noir; nice fruit, high acid and low tannin with a nice cherry/plum favour working throughout.

The lamb was beautifully grilled to medium-medium rare and Mick’s Tzakiki was very good as well. The wine was a good pairing, not perfect but still quite good. The Greek salad would throw the wine a bit at times but the lamb and potatoes went really well with the wine.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick - 86, Mark - 87, Kathy – 87, John - 90, Overall – 87.5.

The LCBO doesn’t list the wine and I couldn’t find the exact review for this wine but after web searching it looks like this bottle was about $12 US so $19-20 CDN after duty, taxes and exchange. Not a bad wine for the price point.

For dessert we broke out a bottle of Yalumba Antique Tawny Port (I have reviewed this a couple times so I won’t bother doing it again) and three different types of Blue cheese. Kimmy made a pumpkin pie which I didn’t have any room left to try after all of the food but my wife really liked it and considering she isn’t a huge fan of pumpkin pie that is really saying something.

It was fun getting together with John and Kimmy, Mick did an outstanding job with the food but without Amy there it felt like something was missing but as the song says 2 out 3 ain’t bad!

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday night – Amy’s needs two and half people to replace her! Part 1

Amy was off this weekend on a business trip so our usual Saturday night cast of characters was different this weekend. Mick was cooking up his usual Saturday night bevy of delights and added in two guests for the night – John and Kimmy.

John and Kimmy have been living in British Columbia for the last few years, but have returned to the nest as they are expecting a little John (shudder) or a little Kimmy (please God, let it be a girl that takes after Kimmy as we only need one John on this planet!) in the next few months. All of John and Kimmy’s families are in Ontario so this area has a much better support network than BC did. (Note – I kid John because I care, Mick, John and I have been buddies for so long that it isn’t funny.)

So as Kimmy wasn’t drinking due to the pregnancy, John would have to take Amy’s place as the ‘Russian’ judge for the evening.

"Great Pinot! Oh it's a Zinfandel?"

Mick’s starter for the evening was his world famous Chicken Quesadillas paired with a 2006 Bogle Old Vines Zinfandel. As Mick was out cooking up the Quesadillas, I poured out the wine. I was surprised as I poured the wine into the glasses how ‘thin’ it was. Usually the colour and clarity for Zinfandels is dark and opaque, the colour was a nice ruby red but the clarity was almost Pinot Noir like.

The Bogle did have a pretty nose of vanilla, raspberry, strawberry and smoke. Tasting it was interesting as well as it had big fruit, high acid and low tannin which caused the balance to be off on this wine. Funny with the fruit, acid and tannin this was another thing that was more Pinot like than Zinfandel like. On its own I wasn’t impressed with this wine but it was much better with the food. The cheese in the Chicken Quesadillas and the sour cream dip help neutralize the acid in the wine and made it very agreeable.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick - 87, Mark - 86, Kathy – 84, John - 85, Overall – 85.5.

I know Mick picked this wine up in the US as the LCBO has no listing for any of the wines that are made by Bogle.

Here is what the Wine Spectator has to say about the wine –

Bogle Zinfandel California Old Vine 2006

Supple, juicy and easygoing, showing cola and bright cherry aromas, with spice and zesty licorice flavors. Drink now. 100,000 cases made. –TF

Score – 85, Price $11

At an $11 US price point that would be about $19 CDN after duty, taxes and exchange. At that price point this wasn’t a bad Zinfandel, though it was probably the most Pinot Noir like Zinfandel I have ever experienced.

Click here for Part 2.

Wine Club - Malbec

Our October meeting of Wine Club was this past Thursday and we were comparing two Malbecs from Argentina. I’d picked both of them up during our wine shopping trip to the Premier Group in NY state in September.

"The Battle of the Malbecs!"

I was looking forward to this meeting as I haven’t had a lot of exposure to wines from Argentina or Malbec. I picked up some hard cheeses (Aged Cheddar, Asiago and a Swiss) as well as a couple of salamis (Genoa Mild and Hot) and a selection of crackers.

Here is the information on both wines -

Premier Group Information – Altos Las Hormigas Malbec 2006

Stock Number – 46781
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ 9.99 US - Club Discount - $1.22 = $8.77
Duty + Exchange - $5.88
Final Price - $14.65
Made in: Argentina

Wine Spectator Description – Ripe and juicy, with lots of plum, sweet toast, cocoa and boysenberry jam notes that are fleshy and delicious through the finish. A crowd-pleaser. Drink now. 20,000 cases made. –JM

Score - 87

Premier Group Information – Bodega Renacer Malbec Mendoza Punto Final 2006

Stock Number –
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ 9.99 US - Club Discount - $1.50 = $8.49
Duty + Exchange - $5.69
Final Price - $14.18
Made in: Argentina

Wine Spectator Description – Juicy and fresh, with raspberry and blackberry fruit, followed by a round, easy finish. Drink now. 5,000 cases made. –JM

Score – 86

Both wines had great aromas coming off them that were similar but slightly different. The Altos Las Hormigas had a stronger nose and the fruit aroma was stronger on it and it also had an earthy smell to it that the Punto Final didn’t. Taste wise things were similar to the aromas of the wines - the Altos Las Hormigas was more vibrant and seemed ‘fresher’ than the Punto Final. The wines were ok with the cheeses but really good with the salamis. What was interesting with the salamis pairing is the wines were equally as good with the mild as they were with the hot.

Both Malbecs remind me of a Cabernet Sauvignon with their high tannin and their preliminary taste but didn’t have the full mid-palette that Cabs usually do. The colour of the wine was closer to a Merlot as both were a nice inky purple in colour.

Nice advantage to not Blogging right after a Wine Club meeting is I sometimes get feedback as one of the wine club members had a bottle of the Altos Las Hormigas over the weekend with pork tenderloin and raved about how good this wine with it. This was cool as most of the pairing information I had found on Malbec leaned towards beef rather than pork, so it was interesting to hear that a pork pairing was so good.

I will say that I wasn’t ‘blown’ away by either of the Malbecs, though I did enjoy both of them and it was fun to try something new. The wines were good enough that I will be looking for more Malbec in the future.

Cheers!

Mark

Friday Night – 2005 Rosenblum Zinfandel

As Canadian Thanksgiving was this past weekend, Mick and Amy/Kathy and I had family commitments this weekend, so we decided to get together for a quick dinner on Friday instead. We settled on ordering wings and ribs for dinner. We have a local wing place that is quite good.

We went and picked up the food and retired back to Mick and Amy’s to eat. Mick had a couple of Zins out and we picked the 2005 Rosenblum Zinfandel to go with dinner. Rosenblum Zinfandels are a long time favourite of mine and is listed as one of my $20 favourites.

The 2000-2004 Rosenblum Zinfandels were a great value for money, I had the 2006 back in the spring and was extremely disappointed. I was curious to see if the 2005 leaned towards the earlier years or was closer to the 2006 in taste.

The nose was quite nice with raspberry, leather and sour cherry showing through. The structure of the wine was ok as it had a nice mouth feel but the acid seemed to be a touch high. There was a raspberry/strawberry taste with a woody finish happening with this wine on its own.

The 2005 Rosenblum was good with the wings and ribs as they helped cut the sharpness of the high acid.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick - 86, Mark - 87, Kathy – 86, Amy - 87, Overall – 86.5.

Here is the LCBO Information –

Rosenblum Zinfandel

Vintages 284653
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 17.95
Wine, Red Wine,
14.1% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : D
Made in: California/Californie, United States
By: Diageo Canada Inc
Release Date: Oct 11, 2008

Description - Rosenblum is one of California's Zinfandel masters. This version serves up-front aromas of strawberry preserves, ripe berries and mocha. Full-bodied, this delicious Zin possesses rich and plush flavours that are well-balanced by acidity. It has a very nice spicy-berry finish. Excellent with prune-and-almond-stuffed pork tenderloin or grilled back ribs.

The 2005 Rosenblum wasn’t as good as the previous years but was much better than the 2006. Hopefully the 2007 will get back to the quality of the 2000-2004 years.

Cheers!

Mark

A hundred posts and a thousand spelling mistakes later…

I just crossed the hundred post mark on Zippy sauce and thought it was something to celebrate. In two weeks I will also hit the one year anniversary of my first post.

It was fun to look over the early Blog posts and see how things have changed. There are more pictures on the later posts and the quality of pictures improved as Amy’s photography skills are much better than mine.

Standardizing on colours in the articles – Blue for our group ratings on the wine, red for the Wine Spectator comments and brown for the LCBO information is another improvement over the earlier posts.

The Wine List in the right hand column providing an easy list of wines with links that have been reviewed over the last year.

Hopefully the writing skills have also improved on the Blog over that time, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for positive feedback on that!

I recently added the Top Ten Wines reviewed Zippy sauce to the right hand column. This will provide a quick links to the Blog posts about those wines.

Last month I added my first book review to the site and hope to do more.

It will be fun to look back on this post next year and see what else has changed or been added to the site.

Anything that the 2 or 3 readers of this site would like to see added, just drop a comment and I will do my best to accommodate it. Feedback is always nice to get.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday night – A very good Knight! Part 2

Click here for part 1

Mick for the main course decided to use up the rest of the crab topping to top beef tenderloin with Béarnaise sauce. A side of grilled vegetables completed the menu. Mick opened a bottle of 1999 Beringer’s Knight’s Valley Cabernet Sauvignon to pair with this course.

I was looking forward to this wine as this was an old favourite. At one point in my life I would have said that 1999 Beringer’s Knight’s Valley Cabernet Sauvignon would have been my absolute favourite wine period. We hadn’t had it 2 to 3 years so it will be interesting to see what it is like.

"Not as magical but still damn good!"

This wine has a strong nose of sour cherry, dark berry, loam, green pepper, and cocoa with a bit of earthiness to it. Upon tasting the wine you get nice fruit, good acidity, fine tannins and a smooth finish; a very nicely balanced wine. The mouth feel on it was a bit thin and it just didn’t have that “wow” factor to it to take it to the next level. It was a great pairing with the beef and a good paring with the grilled vegetables.

There is a line in a Bob Seger song that goes “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then…” and that is how I feel about the 1999 Beringer’s Knight’s Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. At one time I would have described this wine as stunning, amazing, legendary, and now I’d describe it a good value for money and a solid Cab. It isn’t as magical as it once was as since then I have tried a number of higher end Cabs that are superior to this one.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick - 91, Mark - 91, Kathy – 90, Amy - 90, Overall – 90.5.

Here is what the Wine Spectator had to say about this wine –

Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Valley Appellation Collection 1999

Vanilla, cedar, cassis and roasted plum flavors have very good intensity, with tart, gripping oak tannins that firm up in the finish. Drink now through 2008. 43,000 cases made.

Price - $26 US, Score – 86

Here is the LCBO information on this wine –

Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon

Vintages 352583
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 39.95
Wine, Red Wine,
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: California, United States
By: Beringer Vineyards
Release Date: May 10, 2008

Description - This sensual Cab from the Knights Valley appellation in Sonoma County displays aromas of plums, cocoa, blackcurrant, sweet cherry and cedar. Creamy textured and loaded with sweet fruit flavours and a nice backbone of acidity, it is medium full-bodied with a long fruity/gently tannic finish. An excellent companion for barbecued leg of lamb.

* Note the wine listed above is probably a 2005 and not the 1999 reviewed here on the blog.

For dessert we did cheese and crackers with a bottle of Yalumba Antique Tawny. I have covered this port a couple of times and decided not to write it up again (see the Wine List and click on the links for previous write-ups).

Cheers!

Mark