Saturday night – “C” is for Chile – Part 2

Click here for Part 1

As I mentioned earlier, I had a red wine that I wanted to try – a 2004 Altaïr from Chile. The Altaïr is a Chilean wine that is made in a Bordeaux style with input from a Bordeaux wine maker, similar in concept to Opus One. I picked it up on a recommendation from an LCBO consultant earlier in the week which is why I wanted to try it now as the LCBO still has good stock on it.

"Monster sized beef"

The first thing anyone will notice about this wine is the bottle as it is easily the heaviest 750mL bottle I have ever come across!

The nose on the wine was a wonderful combination of blackberry, blackcurrant, cedar, black pepper and eucalyptus. Tasting the wine you are rewarded with a nicely balanced wine, though the alcohol/heat in the wine seemed a bit harsh at times. Good fruit with a cherry and currant flavour running throughout and a lingering finish. The wine did have a bit of young taste to it but the potential for how good this wine will be in a few years was very obvious. It was a great pairing with the beef tenderloin and ok with the vegetables. We had a little of the Altaïr left to go with dessert which was a Black and White chocolate cake and I really liked it with the cake.

"Heavy bottle"

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

Altaïr Red 2004
Vintages 38430
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 52.40
Wine, Red Wine,
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Chile, Chile
By: Altair Vineyards & Winery

Release Date: Nov 22, 2008

Description - Altaïr is a joint venture between Laurent Dassault of Châteaux Dassault and La Fleur and the Chilean powerhouse, Viñas San Pedro. This is the fulfillment of Dassault's dream to find a vineyard where he could produce a 'grand cru' wine in Chile. This is only the second vintage for this wine but this collaboration is clearly paying off.

Tasting Note... Ripe black fruits persist through the pure finish. Cellar this beauty for 6-8 years and drink it through 2030. Score - 94. (Jay Miller, www.erobertparker.com, June 2007).

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

The 90.5 rating means this wine squeaks into the Top Ten list in a 4 way tie for the 8th spot. This wine is deserving of that Top Ten status and I will be ordering a few more bottles to put down. I’m going to enjoy re-visiting the Altaïr in 3 or 4 years to see how it has matured.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday night – “C” is for Chile – Part 1

Saturday during the day was spent out on the golf course with Mick and Amy so I went with a more basic dinner menu. Caesar salad to start and beef tenderloin with grilled shrimp, baby potatoes and green beans with Béarnaise sauce as the main course. The other motivation behind the main course is I found a new red wine that I wanted to try, but I will get to that later as I will start with the white wine first.

"Mmmm... Bacon"

For the Caesar salad I was about to grab a bottle of Louis Jadot “Bourgogne” Chardonnay to go with the salad and spotted a 2005 Joseph Drouhin “St. Romain” and went with it instead. A little Romain to go with the romaine if you will.

"Something new"

The nose on the St. Romain was dominated by green apple with just a hint of vanilla and lychee in the background. Tasting the wine, grapefruit is the first flavour that hits you with a bit of oaky-vanilla hiding beneath the grapefruit. The structure of the wine was off to me as I found the acidity high. I was an OK to good pairing with the Caesar salad but the Louis Jadot would have been a much better one.

There was no LCBO information on the wine which is where it was purchase about a year or so ago for about $27. The Wine Spectator didn’t have any information on this wine either.

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

The wine wasn’t bad but not the greatest pairing for Caesar salad. We discussed what pairing would be good for this wine and most of us were leaning towards seafood being a nice match for this wine. For the $27 price point, I would go with the Louis Jadot or a Kendall Jackson Chardonnay (which are both around a $20 price point) instead.

Click here for Part 2

Saturday night – Southwest theme night – Part2

Click here for Part1

The 2005 Carmen Merlot was second bottle we opened for the evening. This wine was brought over by Pat and Jack a couple of weeks ago when they were around for dinner and while we got through a lot of wine that night we didn’t get to this bottle. I have been looking at on the rack since then and my curiosity was peaked.

"A little bit of everything"

The nose on the wine was a combination of big plum and cedar aromas with a hint of white pepper in the background. The first sip of this wine brought a smile to my face as it was a big ‘chewy’ Merlot. The wine was smooth, nicely balanced but the acidity was maybe a touch too high, with a really nice smoky finish. Amy described this wine as a very Cab-like Merlot. It was a better pairing with the food than the Zinfandel was.

"Awesome value for money!"

After we finished rating the Merlot, I really wanted to know what the price was on this wine and hit the Internet for the LCBO’s website.

Here is the LCBO information on this wine –

Vina Carmen Reserve Merlot
LCBO 620690
750 mL bottle
PRODUCT DISCONTINUED*
Price: $ 10.95
Wine, Red Wine,
14.7% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : 1
Made in: Chile, Chile
By: Vina Carmen

Tasting Note - Deep ruby red colour; aromas of cherry, oak with earthy notes; dry, medium bodied, with ripe fruit flavours and notes of almond, coffee and plum.

Serving Suggestion - Steak with fried mushrooms or lamb.

"Yeah, the piece was that big!"

$10.95 a bottle?!?!? You have to be kidding me, as this wine was exceptional for that price. The unfortunate thing is the LCBO doesn’t have anymore stock on this which is a shame as I could easily see me picking up a case or two of this. Mick was also very disappointed that there was no more stock on this wine as he was thinking the same thing I was when I told him the price.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 88, Mark – 91, Kathy – 88, Amy – 89, Overall – 89.

For dessert we had a Mango-Raspberry Cheesecake which was a nice way to finish the evening as we all sat on the couch watching the race and chatting.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday night – Southwest theme night – Part1

The Nascar race in Phoenix was on last Saturday night and Mick and I wanted to watch the race, so I decided to go with a buffet menu. This way I could enjoy the race and not be stuck in the kitchen all night. We also had 3 extra guests for night - my friend John and his wife Kimmy and new baby Ethan.

"The boys at work"

Mick volunteered to make chicken quesadillas and I made nachos, steak and chimichurri toasts and a black bean and corn salad with grilled shrimp. I had in mind two bottles of wine for the evening – a 7 Deadly Zins Zinfandel from California and a Carmen Merlot from Chile.

I’ll cover the 2006 7 Deadly Zins Zinfandel first, as it was the first bottle we opened to have with the meal. I picked this wine up on our last trip down to NY state for 14.99 US (about $26 dollars CDN after duty, exchange and taxes) and was looking for an excuse to try it.

"Heavenly?"

The nose on the wine was a medley of strawberry, cocoa and pepper that you didn’t have to work to hard to find as the nose was huge. Tasting the wine, I found it to be a bit thin for a Zinfandel but there was good fruit there and surprisingly quite a bit of pepper as well. The spice in the food magnified the pepper even more and made the wine quite hot.

The wine was not listed on the LCBO’s website or on the Wine Spectator’s website.

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

I would sum this wine up as good but not good enough that I rushing out to buy more.

Click here for Part2

Wine Club – Cyprus

Last Thursday we had our latest Wine Club meeting and our mandate of trying not to repeat region or grape(when possible) we were trying a new wine and new grape from Cyprus.

"Festive Box"

Here is the LCBO Information –

2007 Etko Nefeli

Stock Number – 92882
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ 16.95 (+ $.20 deposit)
12.6% Alcohol/Vol.
Made in: Cyprus, Cyprus
By: Etko Ltd.
Release Date: Jan 17, 2009

Description - The Cypriot wine industry has undergone tremendous change in the last twenty years, moving from a focus on quantity to quality. Etko was created in 1844 by Christodoulos Haggipavlu. Nefeli is made from Xynisteri, which is the most common white grape grown on Cyprus. Imagine yourself on a Mediterranean beach with a glass of this refreshing, dry and fruity white.

"Etko Nefeli"

Xynisteri (Grape) (Pronounced – “xee-nee-steh-ree”)
From Wikipedia.org

Xynisteri (also spelled xynistery, xinisteri; Greek: ξυνιστέρι) is an indigenous white grape grown on Cyprus. 13% of Cyprus vineyards, or 500 hectares (1250 acres) on the south slopes of the Troodos mountain range are planted with this grape variety. It is used in the production of several local (mainly white) wines. Notably, it is blended with Mavro grapes for the production of Commandaria, a well-known Cypriot dessert wine.

Trying to find information on Xynisteri is challenging as all the websites I found list almost word for word the description above. So I guess we’ll just go with my tasting notes...

The wine is a pale to golden yellow in colour. The nose on the wine was very familiar as it was cut grass, gooseberry and cat’s pee or the exact same nose you’d get off a Sauvignon Blanc. Tasting the wine also reminded me of a Sauvignon Blanc as there was medium fruit to start with big acidity through the mid-palate and a crisp finish.

One the Wine Club members brought in hummus, a garlic cream cheese, a havarti with basil and tomato and crackers to try with the wine. All were a good pairing with the wine. The most common comment about the Etko Nefeli was “This would be a good summer patio wine” which I think sums up the wine perfectly.

I was hoping the wine would be more different than it was, as it was a new grape that we hadn’t tried before. I think in a few years UC Davis or another wine institution will do DNA testing on this grape and find that it is very closely related to Sauvignon Blanc as there were way too many similarities between the two grapes.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – Just a quick one

My wife was sick all week so our normal Saturday night with Mick and Amy was not looking good. Thankfully she was better on Saturday so we decided to have dinner but not our usual appetizer, dinner and dessert with three bottles of wines. Instead we cut the dinner down to dinner and dessert with one bottle of wine.

"You lika da sauce?"

I had been craving steak all week so I picked up four filets from the local butcher in the morning. The dinner menu was beef tenderloin with grilled shrimp, Béarnaise sauce, green beans, baby potatoes and Greek salad. Wine wise I went with a bottle of 2000 Château de Candale from Haut-Médoc.

"Too bad this was my first and only bottle!"

The nose was very French with plum, cherry, cedar, tobacco, moss and coffee notes. Tasting the wine on its own, the first thing you noticed was the balance of the wine was out as the acidity was a touch high. I’m not sure if the acid was too high or the super fine tannins made the acidity seem high. The wine did have good fruit for a French wine and the finish lingered in a nice way. Where this wine shined was with the food, it was a stunning pairing with the steak and Béarnaise sauce though it did get a little funky at times with the Greek salad.

"Mmmm...Feta"

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 87, Mark – 89, Kathy – 88, Amy – 87, Overall – 87.75

"Black and White cake"

Here is the LCBO information -

Château de Candale 2000
Vintages 43679
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 35.65
Wine, Red Wine,
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Bordeaux, France
By: Dubos Freres & Cie

Release Date: Nov 10, 2007

Tasting Note - From the Cruse family of the Margaux grand cru Château d'Issan, this simple Haut-Médoc wine rivals many much pricier Bordeaux, with its classic combination of plum and black-cherry fruitiness; classic Bordeaux. (Richard Nalley, www.foodandwine.com, March 2005)

For dessert we had a Black and White cake which was very good. The wine was decent with the cake but not amazing.

It was nice getting back to a semi-normal Saturday night with Mick and Amy and I’m already looking forward to next Saturday.

Cheers!

Mark

2009 TL Lunch/The Mondavi Flu

It has been a little quiet on the Blog recently as there were no posts in the past couple of weekends. Two Fridays ago I did my annual TL Staff lunch. I just got the pictures from the event so I thought I’d do a quick Blog about it.

"One half of the buffet"

I work in a mid-sized accounting firm and as this being Tax Season, most of the Partners and staff are extremely busy. I used “most” staff as this time of year is usually a quiet time for me on the computer support side of things.

"Chicken Caesar Salad and Pear and Walnut Salad"

So to help make Tax Season a little easier from everyone, I do lunch for the Firm. I enjoy the challenge of making lunch for 55-60 people. At work, we have a good sized kitchen, with a full sized fridge, a bar sized freezer and a couple of microwaves but no stove or oven. I own a couple of portable hot plates and last year I bought two chaffing dishes so I could add more ‘warm’ dishes to the menu.

"Wine to left of me, Food to the right of me!"


The Menu

Thai Curried Sweet Potato Soup
Chicken Caesar Salad
Spicy Vegetables
Calabrese Salad
Anti Pasta
Hummus with Pita
Gorgonzola Dip
Pear and Walnut salad with fresh Parmesan
Sushi Tray

"Spicy Vegetables"

The Wines

Robert Mondavi Riesling
Kendall Jackson Chardonnay
Ravenswood Zinfandel
Beringer’s Founder’s Estate Merlot

"Sushi"

I did most of my shopping on the Wednesday night and started prepping/cooking at about 1:00pm on Thursday and finished up about 10:30pm that night. The next morning I was in work by 8:00am and had the car unpacked by 9:00am and spent the next three hours prepping more food and setting everything up.

"Dessert table"

By shortly after noon the line up started and lunch was served. I did “cheat” a bit as I got a couple of cold meat and cheese trays from our local supermarket and had the Sushi place across the street from work do a couple of trays of Sushi. I had 10 different volunteers that each made a dessert, as I love cooking but hate baking.

"Wow, does that look good!"

I’m getting better at do this each year as usually by 11:45am on Friday, I’m in full on panic mode trying to get everything finished but this year by 11:45am things were well in hand.

"Building a plate!"

The biggest challenge of the lunch is making sure there is enough food and I was pleased that I was the last person to make a plate and there was still at least some of each dish remaining.

"Keep moving!"

After cleaning up, packing and unpacking the car again I was done for the day at about 3:30pm. Mick, Amy, Pat and Jack all came by at 6:30pm to help finish off the leftovers which included the wine remaining from the lunch. Mick agreed to cook Saturday night as after cooking for the last 24 hours the last thing I wanted to do was cook again. We killed a lot of wine Friday night and Mick was playing ‘clean-up’ hitter on the wine and the food. I didn’t realize how much wine he had had until Amy and him were leaving and Amy had to do up his coat for him for in his drunken state he couldn’t figure it out.

Thankfully both Mick and Amy are in walking distance so no cars were involved in this story.

I got a call from Amy the next day around lunch and she informed me that Mick wasn’t feeling well and “thinks he has the flu” to which I reply with a laugh “yeah, the Mondavi Flu from the 1.5L bottle of Riesling he killed last night!”. So dinner might be cancelled for the night.

Mick called me later in the afternoon and said that he and Amy were going to take us out for dinner to a new restaurant in town – Spice Avenue.

Spice Avenue to quickly sum up, as this Blog is getting long, – great food especially the appetizers, good portions, nice interior, reasonable prices but the crappiest wine list ever. I think Swiss Chalet has a better one and that is saying something. On the other hand they have only been open less then month so the wine list might improve.

Cheers!

Mark