Saturday Night – Salsa for 700 people

Mick and Amy were hosting this past Saturday night’s dinner.  The first course was a new recipe – crab and corn fritters with salsa.  He paired this with a 2010 Cape Point Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa.  We have reviewed this wine before so I won’t be going into too much detail on it - http://zippysauce.blogspot.ca/2012/08/saturday-night-tomato-extravaganza-part.html

 

The crab and corn fritters were very good, as was the salsa Mick made to go with it.  Mick is lucky that the salsa was so good as there was a ton leftover. He did the salsa as per recipe but it made probably 4 times more than was needed.  I’m assuming Amy will be having salsa on her cereal for the next few days and Mick with be finding other creative ways to use it up.  The wine was a decent pairing with the dish.

The main course of the evening was Mick’s chicken quesadillas and he paired them with a 2009 “The Prisoner” by winemaker Dave Phinney.  The Prisoner is a blend which contains the following - 51% Zinfandel 19% Cabernet Sauvignon 18% Syrah 7% Petite Sirah 3% Charbono 1% Grenache 1% Malbec. 

The nose on the wine was powerful with aromas of raspberry, dark chocolate, mint, cedar and nutmeg.  Tasting the wine, strawberry is the main flavour with raspberry, dark chocolate and vanilla notes in the background.  The structure was off on this wine as it came across very hot as the fruit, acidity and tannin weren’t enough to temper the high alcohol level (15.2%).  It was an OK pairing with the chicken quesadillas but the pure Zinfandels we’ve had in the past made a better pairing.

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 87, Mark - 86, Kathy – 85, Amy – 85, Overall – 85.75.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

11 THE PRISONER RED NAPA VLY (HUNEEUS)
VINTAGES 104299
750 mL bottle
Price $ 49.95
Made in: California/Californie, USA
By: Huneeus Vintners, Llc
Release Date: N/A
Wine, Red Wine
15.2% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content: 10 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: D – Dry

* Note – this is for the 2011 and not the 2009 reviewed here.

Mick actually bought this in the US for $22.  Either the price of the wine has gone up since the 2009 was released or Mick got a really good deal on this.  When I rated this wine I thought it would be in a $30 Canadian price point based on Mick $22 US purchase price.  As $50 Canadian a bottle wine, I would probably lower my rating from 86 to 85/84 as for that money there are much better wines out there.

 

For dessert Amy picked up a Chocolate Banana cake which made a great ending to the night.

 

Thanks to Mick and Amy for hosting and to Mick for the wonderful dishes.

 

Cheers!

 

Mark