Saturday Night – Grill, baby grill! – Part 3

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The 2003 Sterling Napa Valley Merlot was the other bottle that we had with dinner.

"A BBQ'd bounty!"

The nose was a complex mix of cedar, plum, cinnamon and pipe tobacco. Tasting the wine you’ll notice a cherry/raspberry flavour to it. The balance on the this wine is superb with velvety tannin, nice acidity and a subtle finish. This is a very easy drinking wine. It was very good pairing with all of the food. My only disappointment with this wine is this was the only bottle I had left.

"Wow!"

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 89, Mark – 90, Kathy – 91, Amy – 90, Overall – 90.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine -

STERLING MERLOT (V)

VINTAGES 330241
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 24.95
Wine, Red Wine
13.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : D
Made in: California/Californie, United States
By: Ravenswood Lynn Rogers
Release Date: May 15, 2010

Description - This classic Napa Merlot is rich and succulent with ripe blackberry and sweet cherry aromas. Dry and silky smooth, this medium-bodied Merlot has a ripe, juicy, fruity core that is accented by spice and toasty oak characters leading to a long, full-flavoured finish. Try it with roast chicken and herbed stuffing, or grilled tuna steaks.

*Note this is probably 2005-2007 Merlot and not the 2003 reviewed as this bottle had been on my rack for a couple of years now.

The 90 rating puts this wine just out of the Zippy Sauce Top Ten Red wines but if you come across a bottle of it, pick it up, as you won’t be disappointed.

I’d like to thank Mick with his help in breaking in the new BBQ (he has a similar model so I let him grill and took this as a learning experience). I was a little worried as Mick’s BBQ is propane and my old one was too and people had commented to me that Natural Gas doesn't burn as hot, but that wasn’t not an issue, as the BBQ was plenty hot in a very short amount of time. All of the food was cooked to perfection and everyone enjoyed themselves.

I’m hopeful that this will be the first of many a great BBQ evening.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – Grill, baby grill! – Part 2

For the main course, I went with a mixed grill of NY strips, sausages and chicken breasts with a side of grilled veggies.

"A ton of food"

I wanted a Merlot to go with the food but my lovely wife wanted a Shiraz/Syrah so I compromised and opened a 2003 Sterling Merlot and 2002 Arrowood Syrah.

I’ll review the Arrowood Syrah first and then review the Sterling Merlot in Part 3.

"A very good Syrah"

The nose on the Arrowood was a pleasing mixture of cassis, blackberry, pine and black pepper. Tasting the wine, you quickly notice the black cherry and black pepper flavour. The structure on the wine is good but there was quite a bit of heat (15% alcohol), nice acidity and soft tannin rounded out the wine nicely. There was also a long lingering peppery finish to the wine that I liked. It was a good pairing with all of the food.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 89, Mark – 90, Kathy – 88, Amy – 88, Overall – 88.75.

The Arrowood Syrah was purchased in the US by me a couple of years ago for about $27 US a bottle ($42 CDN a bottle after duty, taxes and exchange).

Click here for Part 3

Saturday Night – Grill, baby grill! – Part 1

Last weekend Kathy and I bought a new BBQ. It was delivered on Friday and the Natural gas line was hooked up Saturday morning. With a shiny new BBQ out on the deck, the menu choice was easy – if it could be grilled it was on the evening’s menu.

"Me with my new baby"

First course was spicy shrimp with mint sauce. This was good for two reasons; the shrimp needed to be grilled on skewers which satisfied my grilling requirement and I had so much fresh mint growing in the backyard it was stupid.

"Mick and a ton of spicy shrimp"

To pair with shrimp, I went with a 2004 Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc.

"Sauce good"

The nose on the wine was a mix of wood, cut grass, vanilla and tropical fruit (papaya?). The main flavours to the wine were pear, vanilla and a faint citrus flavour that lurked in the background. The Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc had a big rounded mouth feel with good fruit but was missing that crisp sharpness that I expect from a Fume Blanc. I actually found it closer to a Chardonnay than a Fume; it was a very good wine, just not what I was expecting. Mick’s interest was peaked by this wine and he wants to get another year and see what it is like and I wouldn’t upset at trying another bottle of this wine either.

"Spicy shrimp with fresh mint sauce"

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

"Great wine, just not what I was expecting..."

This wine was purchased in the US and there is no LCBO listing for it. A web search show the price on the 2009 at around $12 US ($20-22 CDN a bottle after duty, taxes and exchange). At this price point I would certainly recommend picking up a bottle or two.

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Wine Club – South African Sauvignon Blanc

For this month’s Wine Club meeting we took a look at two South African Sauvignon Blancs. South Africa is a wine region that I’m quite excited about as their currency is not that strong vs. the Canadian dollar so there are some very good valued wines to be had. The two wines that we tried were an Edgebaston Sauvignon Blanc and Graham Beck Sauvignon Blanc.

Here is the LCBO information on the 2008 Graham Beck Sauvignon Blanc –

Stock Number –948620
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ 13.95
Wine, White Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: South Africa, South Africa
By: Graham Beck Wines
Release Date: Apr 3, 2010

Tasting Note - Gorgeous tropical whiff on 08, well rounded silhouette, juicy greengage flavours, bouncy & zesty, but still dry. Score - 3 1/2 Stars (out of 5). (Irina von Holdt, John Platter South African Wines, 2009)

The Edgebaston was purchased in the US and details and review can be found here –

http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2010/05/saturday-night-were-back-part-1.html

As I’ve already reviewed and covered the Edgebaston, I was going to focus on the Graham Beck but unfortunately the wine was oxidized. The Graham Beck poured out a dark golden colour that looked like an aged Chardonnay and was no where near the pale green yellow colour that you’d expect from a Sauvignon Blanc. So no review for the Graham Beck.

The upside was that everyone very much enjoyed the Edgebaston so the tasting wasn’t a total loss. Hopefully when we take a look at two Zinfandels next month we’ll have better results.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – We’re Back! - Part 2

Click here for Part 1

For the main course I made lemon Prosciutto pasta. This is a big time favourite of both Kathy and Amy. Amy was actually so excited about it that she was half through hers when she realized that she hadn’t taken any pictures of it. Thankfully we have had this before and there is a nice picture of it here -

http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2009/07/saturday-night-request-night-part-2.html

"Aged French wine... yum!"

I decided that I wanted something French to pair with this and picked a 2000 Chateau Bel-Air-Ouÿ from the Saint Émilion region of Bordeaux.

Nosing the wine you get aromas of licorice, eucalyptus, blueberry and dark berry. Cocoa, hazelnut and blackberry were the main flavors to the wine. The structure of the wine was nice but tannic; this is not a wine I’d sit around and drink on its own but with the pasta it was awesome and both of the ladies mention that they thought it would be great with dark chocolate.

"Are those capers?"

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick –91, Mark – 89, Kathy – 89, Amy – 89, Overall – 89.5.

There was no listing at the LCBO for this wine, though I’m pretty sure this that is where I got but it had been on my wine rack for a number of years. Doing a quick Internet search it looks like this bottle would be in the $40 CDN range for price.

For dessert I’d picked up a Key Lime meringue cake from LaRocca that looked interesting. It wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be as I found it too sweet but it was fun to try out a new dessert.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – We’re Back! - Part 1

Kathy and I spent the week in central NY state on vacation. On the way back we stopped at Prime Wines in Kenmore NY (see Premier Group under links for website) which is our favourite wine store. We picked up some wine for ourselves and a couple of cases of wine for the next two sessions of Wine Club; a South African Sauvignon Blanc and a California Zinfandel. Both of these wines are not available in the LCBO.

"Tastes much better than it looks..."

On the drive home Kathy and I were discussing what the menu would be for this Saturday’s dinner with Mick and Amy. Kathy wanted Gorgonzola dip as a starter and lemon Prosciutto pasta as the main course so I went with that as the menu.

"A craving"

The Gorgonzola dip pairs very well with Sauvignon Blanc so I decided to raid the case of wine I picked up for Wine Club and use my bottle from the case. The wine is a 2008 Edgebaston Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa.

"Tissue paper...oh, classy"

In addition to the Gorgonzola dip, I had a craving for Miss Vickie’s chips with sour cream dip so we ended up with two starters.

"First peak"

Pouring out the Edgebaston, you were greeted by a nose of vanilla, lime, wet grass and a faint hint of floral in the background. Tasting the wine you’ll notice the gooseberry and grapefruit flavours running throughout. The structure of the wine was very good; balanced, nice fresh, crisp acidity without being tart. I really like this wine as I found it sat smack in the middle of my two favourite Sauvignon Blancs – It had the crispness of a French one and enough fruit to it that New Zealand comes to mind when drinking it.

"A close up"

Don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoy both French and New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs but with the French at times I find myself wishing for more fruit and with New Zealand at times I find the fruit is too heavy/ripe.

We had no problem finishing the bottle with the starters and I found myself wishing this wasn’t my only bottle.
　
Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 89, Mark - 92, Kathy – 89, Amy – 89, Overall – 89.75.

This wine is not available at the LCBO and works out to around $20 CDN after duty, taxes and exchange.

The 89.75 rating puts this wine into the Zippy Sauce Top Ten Whites which makes me happy as this is the best Sauvignon Blanc I have ever had. What makes me sad is that was my only bottle of it. Hopefully I can buy a bottle off of a Wine Club member when we try this wine in a couple of weeks!

Click here for Part 2