Saturday Night – Mick gets Curried Away – Part 3

Click here for Part 1

 

For the main course of the night Mick did curried seafood chowder.  This dish was very good with all the shrimp, scallops, white fish, corn and ton of other goodies in it.  The one downside to it was it was extremely spicy… which had me going “So good must have more but it burns… oh how it burns!”  Toning down the curry would have brought the flavours of all those wonderful ingredients out more.

 

The final review is the 2009 white Burgundy and I saved the best for last.

The nose on this wine was very mild and you really had to swirl the glass to get the vanilla and honeydew melon aromas to appear.  Tasting the wine you will find an interesting mix of ginger and vanilla flavours.  The structure on this wine was the best of the three as the acidity was nice and crisp, the oak was subtle and there was a lovely creaminess to it.  It was the best pairing with the curried chowder and was probably the best overall pairing for the night.  That said, in spite of the fact that it was the best of all three, it really didn’t blow me away and was decent but forgettable as there are better Chardonnays out there in the same price point.

 

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

 

There was no LCBO information on the wine but a quick web search and it looks like if it was available in the LCBO it would be about $35 a bottle.

 

I really hope Mick will do the curried seafood chowder again but a more toned down version as it was really awesome.  

 

It was a lot of fun trying the three different Chardonnays from the same producer and I want to thank Mick for making this happen.  I also want to thank him for the great food and for Amy and him hosting last night’s dinner.

 

Cheers!

 

Mark

Saturday Night – Mick gets Curried Away – Part 2

For the second course, Mick made blue cheese Caesar salad with homemade crotons and used prosciutto instead of bacon which was a nice change of pace.

 

With this course the Oregon Chardonnay was my favourite with the white Burgundy a very close second and the Niagara one being dead last.

 

The nose on the Oregon was milder than the Niagara one and had aromas of orange, yeast and vanilla.  Tasting the wine lime and buttered toast were the dominate flavours.  For the structure, it was better than the Niagara one as the oak was softer (still too much) and the acidity was higher (still needed more) and it didn’t get awkward in the mid-palate.  The lime and butter toast flavours really worked with the flavours of the salad and made this a very nice pairing.  It was OK on its own but not great.

 

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 86, Mark - 85, Kathy – 85, Amy – 85, Overall – 85.25.

 

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

 

BACHELDER OREGON CHARDONNAY 2010
VINTAGES 273334
750 mL bottle
Price $ 29.95
Made in: Oregon, USA
By: Les Bougognes Delaney-Bachelder
Release Date: Dec 8, 2012
Wine, White Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Chardonnay
Sugar Content: 2 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

 

Tasting Note  - Peaches and cream corn, caramel, citrus, green apple, spice and flowers are built on a medium to full bodied frame. There is excellent length as well as sturdy backbone of acidity. It should age well for the next 5 years. Score - 91. (Evan Saviolidis, evanwinesavvy.com, Sept. 2012)

 

Once again at $30 this one too would be a pass as there are better Chardonnays out there for less money.

 

I liked Mick's salad but not sure about blue cheese and Caesar together as it was a little over the top at times, that said there wasn’t a single morsel remaining in my bowl at the end of the course.

 

Click here for Part 3

Saturday Night – Mick gets Curried Away – Part 1

Mick and Amy were hosting this past Saturday night’s dinner.

 
Sometimes when writing up this blog, coming up with a clever title is the hardest part but for today’s article there were three different ones I wanted to go with. 

 

My second choice for a title was “Mick makes an out of this world dinner” as dinner was awesome and we took a small break in the middle of dinner to watch the International Space Station (ISS) fly over.  NASA has a service (http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/) that you can subscribe to (no cost) that will e-mail you whenever the ISS is going to pass over your city.  Saturday night’s sky was crystal clear so we stood out on Mick and Amy’s driveway and watched it pass overhead which was very cool.

My third title for this blog entry was “Goldilocks and the three Chardonnays” as Mick found something pretty cool – a winemaker (Bachelder) who is based in Bourgogne, Oregon and Niagara and he had a Chardonnay from each of those regions.  Mick poured out all three and made three different courses to pair with them.

The first course was fried shrimp and oysters served with a sweet Thai chili dip and Chipotle mayo dip.   The two dipping sauce were fun as both added a very unique flavour to the food, I’d preferred the Chipotle mayo but the Thai chili was a very close second.

 

We’ll take a look at the Niagara Chardonnay now and review the others in part 2 and 3.

 

The nose on the Niagara one had the strongest intensity of the three and had aromas of vanilla, cheap perfume, wet oak and nutmeg.  Tasting the wine, you’ll find apple, pear, oak, pineapple and vanilla.  The balance on the wine was OK but the acidity was lacking and the wine became awkward on the mid-palate, it was also heavily oaked.   Really didn’t like this wine on its own but it was my favourite of the three with the shrimp and oyster course.

 

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 86, Mark - 83, Kathy – 80, Amy – 84, Overall – 83.25.

 

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

 

BACHELDER NIAGARA CHARDONNAY 2010
VINTAGES 302083
750 mL bottle
Price $ 29.95
Made in: Ontario, Canada
By: Les Bougognes Delaney-Bachelder
Release Date: N/A
Wine, White Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Chardonnay
Sugar Content: 3 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

 

At $30 for this Chardonnay, I will be passing on buying this wine as there are a number of $20 Chardonnays that are much better.

 

Click here for part 2

Saturday Night – Bacon’s a vegetable, right?

This past Saturday night Mick and Amy were over for our usual Saturday night dinner and we were joined by Sheian and David. 

 

This was an interesting night as Sheian and David are vegetarians.  I wasn’t too concern about this as no meat wasn’t a big deal to work around especially since seafood was ok.  About a week before the dinner, Kathy got a text from Sheian that seafood was off the menu too.   At this point I was like no meat, no seafood, what the heck am I going to make for dinner?  We kicked around a number of different ideas and decided to do a buffet of appetizers – hummus with pita, a cheese tray and roasted red pepper dip with crackers, Greek salad from scratch, homemade cheese sticks with marinara, bruschetta, and Mick did up an avocado corn relish with tortillas.  As a bonus for the non-vegetarians I skewered some shrimp and Mick did grilled blacked scallops and grilled both on the barbeque.

Since we were being eclectic with the food, I decided to have some fun with the wine and went with a couple of unusual choices – a 2010 D’Arenberg Hermit Crab Viognier and a 2007 Lealtanza Rioja Reserva.  The Hermit Crab we have had many times before and we have reviewed it already.  I picked it as one of my choices as it pairs very well with hummus and I figured it would be good with the Greek salad as well and it was. 

The 2007 Lealtanza Rioja Reserva I picked as a pairing for the cheese sticks.  We haven’t had this wine before so let’s take a closer look at it –

The nose was powerful and aromatic with black pepper, nutmeg, black cherry and eucalyptus notes.  Mick added that he absolutely loved the nose on this wine and I fully agree with that comment.  Tasting the wine it was an interesting mix of cherry, green pepper and coffee flavours.  The structure on the wine was disappointing and it was tannic, needed more fruit and finished thin.  On the upside, it was a very good match with the food, especially the cheese sticks as they neutralized the tannin and brought out the fruit in the wine.  This wouldn’t be a wine that I sit and drink on its own but with tomato based pastas, NY strips steaks, ribs on the BBQ this wine would be very good pairing.

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 87, Mark - 88, Kathy – 87, Amy – 87, Overall – 87.25.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine -

LEALTANZA RESERVA 2007
VINTAGES 208223
750 mL bottle
Price $ 19.95
Made in: Rioja, Spain
By: Bodegas Altanza S.A.
Release Date: Dec 8, 2012
Wine, Red Wine
13.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content: 6 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

Tasting Note -  Vivid ruby. Spicy, assertive aromas of candied cherry and blackcurrant, with smoke, rose and anise accents. Sappy and seamless on the palate, which displays gently sweet cherry-cola and vanilla flavors and a hint of bitter chocolate. Finishes with good breadth and focus, leaving a suave floral note behind. Score - 90. (Josh Raynolds, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2012) .

I was surprised at the end of the meal how stupid full I was and really the scallops and shrimp weren’t needed as all the other food was more than enough. 

Sheian brought dessert which was a nice selection of individual pastries and this finished the night up nicely.

A fun night with a different menu from the norm and a couple of different wines to try as well but I’m looking forward to next Saturday at Mick’s house.  I pretty sure I heard him saying something about seafood wrapped in bacon and served on a large helping of beef… 

Cheers!

Mark