Saturday Night – Curried Mussels (and some other dishes and wines) – Part 2

The second course was a grilled eggplant dip with toasted pitas.  This was paired with a 2009 Grande Reserve Caves de le Tourangelle Touraine (a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley in France).

The wine had aromas of kiwi, gooseberry, chalk, honey and some floral aromas in the background.  Tasting the wine you will find a pleasant mix of white grapefruit and gooseberry with an under ripe pineapple flavour on the finish.  For a French Sauvignon Blanc the acidity was softer than I would have expected but it was a nicely balanced wine.  Blind tasting this, I would have guessed it was a South African Sauvignon Blanc and that is not a knock against it as I really like South African Sauvignon Blanc.  The wine was a strong pairing for the rich flavours of eggplant and garlic dip, though this was one of those times where more acidity would have been good to cut through the richness of the food.  This was a very good wine to drink on its own.

Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 89, Mark - 89, Kathy – 86, Amy – 87, Overall –  87.75.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine -

CAVES DE LA TOURANGELLE GRANDE RÉSERVE TOURAINE 2009

VINTAGES 196733
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 14.95
Wine, White Wine
12.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Loire, France
By: Bougrier
Release Date: Mar 19, 2011

Description - The Touraine region in the Loire Valley is home to some of the world's finest value-priced Sauvignon Blancs. This example demonstrates why. Grass, passion fruit and citrus are classic aromas you will find in these wines. Fresh and lively, it is a great palate refresher or enjoy it with pan-seared scallops with asparagus.

At $15 a bottle this wine is a very good value for a lovely Sauvignon Blanc that works equally well with food or on its own.

The eggplant dip was very good though the garlic needed to be cut back a bit.  Mick said the recipe called for 2 cloves of garlic and he used 4.  I think 3 cloves would be the perfect amount.  I not a huge eggplant fan but really liked this dip and hope it will make another menu appearance on a Saturday night in the future.

Click here for Part 3