December Wine Club – Bonus Tasting

After our regular six month long session of Wine Club we change up the format and do a bonus tasting.  In the first six months, I buy a case each month and we split the case eleven ways and do a tasting with the 12th bottle and normally have another bottle of something else as a comparison bottle.  For the bonus tasting there is no take home bottle so it is just two bottles for the tasting and that’s it; this usually allows us to pick up a couple of wines at a much higher price point than usual.

Here is the LCBO information on both of the wines we had for the bonus tasting –

BERINGER PRIVATE RESERVE CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2005

VINTAGES 149955
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 99.95
Wine, Red Wine
14.6% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : D
Made in: California, USA
By: Treasury Wine Estates
Release Date: Jun 11, 2011

Description - This vintage is being offered at a special one-time reduced price. Robert Parker awarded it 92 points and Stephen Tanzer rated it 94.

Tasting Note - Offers richness, concentration and depth while remaining elegant and supple, focusing on the ripe, spicy currant, mineral, herb and sage notes. Ends with a measure of finesse and polish, with the right mix of tannins. Drink now through 2016. Score - 93. (James Laube, Wine Spectator, Oct. 15, 2008)

YALUMBA THE SIGNATURE CABERNET SAUVIGNON/SHIRAZ 2006

VINTAGES 528356
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 51.95
Wine, Red Wine
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: South Australia, Australia
By: Negociants International
Release Date: Sep 3, 2011

Tasting Note - The 2006 The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz is composed of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon and 31% Shiraz. Deep garnet-purple in color, it offers intense notes of blackberry preserves, warm cherries, black currant cordial plus an earthy / gamey undercurrent and nuances of marmite toast. The tight-knit medium to full-bodied palate is firmly structured with a high level of grainy tannins, high acid and just enough savory flesh giving a long finish. Approachable now, it should be best 2012 to 2018. Score - 91. (Lisa Perrotti-Brown, MW, erobertparker.com, Dec. 2010)

The two wines were both excellent but in different ways.  The nose on the Beringer’s was more aromatic of the two with cassis, raspberry, green pepper and leather whereas the Yalumba it was black pepper, strawberry and mint.  Tasting the two wines, the Beringer’s had flavours of cherry, mint, coffee and a leathery flavour to it.  The Yalumba was all fruit with blueberry, blackberry and raspberry notes.  The structure on both was good but the Beringer’s was more tannic than the Yalumba and the Yalumba acidity was more pronounced than the Beringer’s. 

I brought in bars of Lindt 70% dark chocolate and a LaRocca Hazelnut Bomb Chocolate cake to go with the wines.  The general consensus was the Beringer’s was the favourite with the dark chocolate and the Yalumba was the better wine with the Cake.  Overall the Yalumba was the bigger hit as most people liked both wines equally but once the price points were taken into account (the Yalumba at just over half the price of the Beringer’s) was the winner.

We will be looking at more wines again for Wine Club in January when we start the next session and I’m already looking forward to it.

Note - the Blog is probably going to be quiet until the New Year as the next couple of weekends we all have different Christmas obligations to attend so we won’t be together again until New Year’s Eve.  So I will take this time to wish my 3 or 4 loyal readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – Champagne and Sheian – Part 2

Click here for Part 1

The Perrier-Jouët Champagne we first tried down in Las Vegas earlier this year and the four of us loved it.  Amy when we got back located some at the LBCO and we picked more up.  I was itching to try it again and review as we never did this when we were in Las Vegas.

 

The nose on the Perrier-Jouët was a combination of roses and truffles.  Tasting the wine you’ll find an interesting mix of lime and Crème Brûlée  flavour to it.  I was surprised to find the acidity was quite tart and not as smooth as I remember it being from Las Vegas.  It was an OK pairing with the Seafood but was a strong paring with the Alfredo.  I think the tartness of the wine worked against the heavy rich flavour of the Alfredo.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick –87, Mark - 89, Kathy – 85, Amy – 87, Overall – 87.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

PERRIER JOUET GRAND BRUT CHAMPAGNE

LCBO 155341
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 64.95
Wine, Champagne
12.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : 1
Made in: Champagne, France
By: S.A. Champagne Perrier Jouet


I’ll be honest and say that I think we were all a bit disappointed with the Perrier-Jouet as it was nowhere near as good as the one from Las Vegas; it could be that as it is non-vintage, the bottles in Las Vegas were in stock for a while whereas ours was just purchased so we were tasting completely different years/batches.  We still have a bottle each of the Perrier-Jouët  so maybe in a year or two it will improve.

Side note here, the past its prime Beringer’s Chardonnay still made a decent pairing with Alfredo but the wine had taken on too much of a caramel/butterscotch flavour to it and made it very one dimensional.

For dessert, Sheian brought Red Velvet Cake and a bottle of sweet Mosel Riesling to go with it.  I was stuffed to the gills at this point and didn’t try the Cake but the Riesling was quite nice.  The ladies had very clean dessert plates so I can assume the dessert was good too.

Thanks to Mick for bringing the oysters, and to Sheian for the dessert and Riesling, it was fun night and it always a good time adding Sheian to our normal Saturday night dinners.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – Champagne and Sheian – Part 1

This past Saturday night our usual band of four was joined by one more; Sheian joined us for dinner.  Sheian is a friend of ours who is in her twenties and doesn’t mind hanging out with us old folks for an evening of food and wine.

I had three wines on tap for the evening – a bottle of Taittinger Champagne, a bottle of Perrier-Jouët Champagne and a 2004 Beringer’s Napa Valley Chardonnay.

The Champagnes were picked to go with the first course and hopefully everyone would have some left to try with the main course as well.  The Chardonnay was meant to go with the main course.  Unfortunately, the Chardonnay which was lovely a few years ago was past its prime; still drinkable but not anywhere near as good as I remember it being.  I really have to stop saving favourite white wines for special occasions and start drinking them in a more timely matter.  With that said we will just review the Champagnes in this Blog.

The started was shrimp cocktail and oysters and the main course was a Wolfgang Puck Chicken Alfredo recipe. 

I will review the Taittinger first and then in part two review the Perrier-Jouët.

The nose the Taittinger was an interesting mix of lemon, lime, melon, yeast and some vanilla aromas.  Tasting the Champagne you’ll notice a creamy lime flavour to it that is both easy to drink and refreshing at the same time.  The structure on the wine was good as the acidity was fresh without being too tart.  It was a decent pairing with the seafood but really good with the Alfredo.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick –89, Mark - 89, Kathy – 87, Amy – 89, Overall – 88.5.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

TAITTINGER BRUT RÉSERVE CHAMPAGNE

VINTAGES 814723
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 53.95
Wine, Champagne
12.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Champagne, France
By: Champagne Taittinger
Release Date: Oct 29, 2011

Tasting Note - A mature, dusty-minerally expression of champagne, with notable autolysis character of yeast and brioche, with bruised apple and dried citrus zest aromas. The palate is fullish and well balanced, though again dominated by mature flavours and mineral expression. A champagne for the table. Score - 90. (John Szabo, M.S., winealign.com, August 2010)

Click here for Part 2

Saturday Night – Yeah, but what is the name of the recipe?

Mick and Amy hosted this past Saturday night’s dinner. We usually alternate weeks but the Sheian dinner is this upcoming weekend and then our next dinner is New Year’s Eve and both of those are mine so Mick ends up doing back to back dinners.

Mick broke out a new recipe "Jerk Shrimp" to which I replied, "Yeah, I know you made them but what is the name of the recipe?" Thankfully Mick has a good sense of humour about these things.

He paired this course with two different Rieslings, 2007 Max Ferd. Richter Kabinett Riesling and 2008 Kung Fu Girl Riesling. This double pairing was also used for the second course as well. We have reviewed both of these wines before and decided not to review them again.

The "Jerk Shrimp" was good and the Max Riesling was easily the better pairing as the Kung Fu Girl got a touch funky at times with the food. The "Jerk Shrimp" recipe was pretty good but Mick with grilled shrimp has set the bar pretty damn high so I can’t say this was the best shrimp he has ever done but they would be in the top 5.

The second course was Honey Ginger Chicken Satay with the above pairings. Once again the Max Ferd. Richter Riesling was the better pairing but it was closer this time and the Kung Fu Girl was a decent pairing.

The main course was a new BBQ Chicken Wing recipe and Mick paired this with a 2008 Sebastiani Zinfandel. These BBQ Chicken Wings were different as Mick usually does his wings in more of a drier style and these were quite saucy. They were a nice change of pace but Mick, as with the shrimp, has set the bar very high for chicken wing recipes and these weren’t the best wings he has ever made. On the other hand I did clean almost every scrap of meat and skin of these tasty treats.

The nose on the Zinfandel was big with blackberry, butterscotch and menthol aromas with traces of plum in the background. Tasting the wine, you’ll find lots of wild berry flavours and some vanilla lurking there too. This wine was a huge fruit bomb on the nose and in the mouth but in a good way as I was very easy to drink and went great with the ribs. It reminded me of 2000-2003 Rosenblum Zinfandel. I like the more complex Zinfandels like Seghesio but it was a very nice change to get back to a more straightforward one like this.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick –89, Mark - 89, Kathy – 87, Amy – 88, Overall – 88.25.

Here is the LCBO information on this wine –

SEBASTIANI ZINFANDEL 2008

VINTAGES 672667

750 mL bottle
Price: $ 17.95
Wine, Red Wine
14.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: California, USA
By: Sebastiani Vineyards
Release Date: Jun 25, 2011

Description - Wine & Spirits magazine, and Tim Fish of the Wine Spectator, each scored this superbly priced Zin 88 points.

Tasting Note - Quite lithe and lively for Zinfandel with very engaging notes of red cherry, raspberry pie, plum and cinnamon toast on the nose. The palate is dry and medium-full bodied with a bright acidity and well integrated, balanced ripe tannins. Impressively structured with lots of fruit without being jammy. Very nicely made. Perfect for beef kebabs or lasagna. (VINTAGES panel, April 2011)

Interestingly enough we have reviewed this exact Zinfandel before back in July and I had forgotten about it -

http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2011/07/saturday-night-hey-buddy-great-1000.html.

Six months later we all went up exactly one point in our rating and the Blackberry notes on the nose are on both but from there the characteristics on the wine vary greatly. Not sure if the six month of addition aging made the difference, the bottles weren’t from the same barrel, or the food made the difference or all of these reasons but the two reviews were quite different.

For dessert, Amy picked up a Baco Chocolate Cake which was a nice way to end the evening. Thanks to Mick and Amy for hosting and to Mick for the three great new recipes.

Cheers!

Mark