Saturday Night – Recipe on a box – Part 2

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For the main course "Recipe on a box" or Creamy smoked salmon rotini was on tap.
I picked a 2007 Tabali Chardonnay from Chile as my pairing for this dish.

"Looks good but..."

The nose on the Chardonnay was much more powerful than the earlier Riesling, with big aromas of lemon zest, truffle and vanilla notes. Tasting the wine the lemon aroma carried through to the taste, with hints of vanilla mixed in. The Chardonnay was done in more of white Burgundy style than a California fruit forward/big oak style wine. The oak was very subtle. The balance on the wine was good but it was a touch acidic at times. It was an OK pairing with the pasta. The wine would be an ideal pairing for Caesar salad or Gorgonzola dip. I wasn’t blown away by this wine but did like the character it displayed

"You sure this isn't French?"

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 87, Mark – 86, Kathy – 86, Amy – 84, Overall – 85.75.
　
Here is the LCBO information for this wine -

TABALI RESERVA ESPECIAL CHARDONNAY 2007

VINTAGES 663005
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 18.95
Wine, White Wine
14.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : D
Made in: Chile, Chile
By: Vina Tabali
Release Date: Dec 5, 2009

Description - Jancis Robinson, MW, also recently praised this wine, giving it a score of 17 out of 20.(www.jancisrobinson.com, Oct. 7, 2009).

Tasting Note - The grapes for this stellar 100% chardonnay were grown in a coastal area of the dry Limarí Valley, where the vines are cooled daily by winds blowing off the cold Pacific Ocean. It shows in the lovely crisp and refreshing texture, which is a perfect counterpoint to the rich, full fruit flavours. Mouth-filling and stylish, it's a great choice for richer poultry and seafood dishes. Score - 4 1/2 Stars (out of 5). (Rod Phillips, www.rodphillipsonwine.com, Aug. 13, 2009).

The Creamy smoked salmon recipe was OK but I wouldn’t do it again. Or as Amy put it best "It tastes like a recipe off of a pasta box". I was kind of surprised at how this turn out, I have bet that with the capers, smoked salmon, lemon zest, dill, garlic and red onion in the recipe this would be much more flavourful.

"The superstar of the evening - Triple Lemon Tart"

The big surprise for the evening turned out to be dessert. I wanted something lighter for dessert as pasta is usually quite heavy and the salad with the blue cheese and pecans can be quite filling as well. I picked up a La Rocha Triple Lemon tart from our local supermarket for dessert and it was awesome. The lemon tart was nicely balanced between tartness and sweetness and it was the perfect size too as there wasn’t a morsel of this dessert left at the end of the evening.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – Recipe on a box – Part 1

Mick and Amy were over for dinner this past Saturday night. For the evenings menu, my wife found a recipe on the back of a pasta box (Creamy smoked salmon rotini) that she wanted me to try so I went with that as the main course.

For the starter I went with Poached Pear salad and a bottle of 2006 Dr. Pauly- Bergweiler Spätlese.

"Blue Cheese, Poached Pears and Spiced Pecans"

The nose on the wine was very mild with petrol and roses with a bit of peach in the background. Mick’s first comment after tasting the wine was "So you’re serving Ice wine with the salad?" as the wine was very sweet. It wasn’t quite Ice wine in sweetness but it wasn’t far off. The wine also had a bit of a bitter/metallic taste on the finish. At this point I wasn’t overly enamored with the wine. With the salad though completely different story; it was a great pairing. The Poached Pear salad it a tricky dish to pair with due to the sweetness of the pears and the raspberry dressing combined with the tanginess of the Blue cheese and the spiced Pecans. The Dr. Pauly Spätlese stood up well to all of the different flavours and blended nicely as a complimentary paring.

"Too sweet?"

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 86, Mark – 87, Kathy – 87, Amy – 86, Overall – 86.5.
　
Here is the LCBO information for this wine -
　
DR. PAULY-BERGWEILER RIESLING SPÄTLESE 2006

VINTAGES 71142
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 32.95
Wine, White Wine
8.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : MS
Made in: Moselle, Germany
By: Dr. Pauly-Bergmeiler
Release Date: Oct 25, 2008
　
Tasting Note - Pale straw yellow in colour, the nose reveals notes of peach, apple blossom, clover honey and mineral. It shows lovely sweetness on the palate, with flavours reminescent of peach, apple and honey. Enjoy this medium-bodied white with an apple and creamy cheese tart or with a fresh fruit and cheese platter. (VINTAGES panel, Aug. 2008)

At $33 a bottle, I probably won’t be rushing out to buy another bottle of this but we easily killed the bottle we did have with the Poached Pear salad and probably could have drained a second one with not much effort.

Click here for Part 2

Saturday Night – Mick and Amy who?

As I explained in my last post, Mick and Amy were away this weekend so we were on our own and Kathy decided that we’d have a wine weekend in spite of this.

"One of Kathy's favourites"

I did up a Chicken Caesar salad for our Saturday night dinner as this is a big favourite of Kathy’s. I picked a 2006 Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River Ranches Chardonnay to go with it.

The nose on the wine was green apple with vanilla and tropical fruit notes. Tasting the wine, lime was the main favour to you noticed. I wasn’t enamored with this wine on its own as it was a touch bitter and really didn’t have much going for it. With the Caesar salad this wine became much better; the bitterness went completely away and the lime flavour made a nice compliment to the food. On Sunday I did up a Chicken Alfredo and we had some of the wine leftover and it was also a very good pairing with this too.

"A great food wine"

With Chardonnay I have two wines that I usually use as my benchmarks; Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reverse Chardonnay and Louis Jadot Bourgogne. The KJ is filled with tropical fruit and lots of oak where as the Jadot is subtly oaked and is done more in a crisp mineral style. The Sonoma-Cutrer sits right between these two but leans more towards the Jadot in style.

Here is our ratings for this wine – Kathy – 85, Mark – 88, Overall – 86.5

Here is the LCBO information on this wine –

SONOMA-CUTRER RUSSIAN RIVER RANCHES CHARDONNAY (V)

Vintages 608653
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 24.95
Wine, White Wine
14.2% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: California/Californie, United States
By: Sonoma Cutrer Winery
Release Date: May 15, 2010

Description - Once again rated the most popular Chardonnay in Wine & Spirits' 20th Annual Restaurant Poll (April 2009), this is Sonoma-Cutrer's flagship wine. This medium-bodied Chard serves up flavours of tropical fruit, roasted hazelnut, citrus, florals, butter and hints of mineral. Terrific with grilled whole fish, or serve it with a good Camembert and homemade bread.

The thing I like about this wine is it is a very food friendly wine, if you know a food calls for a Chardonnay but are unsure what type of Chardonnay it should go with, this would be the wine I’d grab. The thing I don’t like about this wine is the price; I’d save the $5 and grab a KJ Chard or a Jadot instead.

Cheers!

Mark

Friday Night – Just the two of us

Mick and Amy were away this weekend, so Kathy and I had the weekend to ourselves. Kathy suggested it was "wine time" this weekend and I wasn’t about to argue that fine bit of logic.

"Beef Tenderloin with Zippy Sauce"

Our Friday night meal was Beef Tenderloin with a Seafood salad and a Rosemary Potato salad. Kathy looked over the wine rack and selected a 1999 Sterling Vineyard Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon pair with the food.

"1999 Sterling Cabernet Sauvignon"

The nose upon opening the wine was an interesting mix of blackberry, green pepper and a hint of mushroom in the background. After about 15 minutes the wine’s aroma changed and was dominated by cocoa with the earlier aromas fading to the background. Tasting the wine you notice a dark chocolate flavour with a hint of blackberry. The structure on the wine was nicely balanced; velvety tannins and good acidity but lacking some fruit. Tasting the wine again with the Beef Tenderloin and the wine became even better as a cherry flavour appeared giving the wine the fruit that it was lacking earlier. The wine was smooth but on occasion developed a small amount of bitterness on the finish.

Here is our ratings – Kathy – 90, Mark – 89, Overall – 89.5

We picked this up awhile back at the Premier Group in NY state for $79 US (about $125 CDN after duty, taxes and exchange).

I liked this wine as it was a very well crafted Cab but it just seem to missing that ‘wow!’ factor for me to give it a higher rating.

Cheers!

Mark