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