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