Saturday Night – Nach-Rogies – Part 1

One weekend when Mick and Amy were away, I was about to head out the door and go grocery shopping when Kathy asked me what was for dinner.

"It’s a surprise!" I replied

 

"Ok, but no Perogies!" answered my wife

 

"Sure."

 

"And no Nachos!" insisted Kathy

 

"Whatever." I replied

 

"And no combining the two!"

 

At that point the light went on and I suddenly thought – "Nach-Rogies!" (I swear when I thought of that term I could hear Angels’ singing and a bright heavenly light shined down on me). At the time I was actually going to pick-up steaks so Perogies and Nachos were the furthest thing from my mind but I kept thinking about "Nach-Rogies" and decided that I had to try them. 

 

This past Saturday night it was my turn to cook so "Nach-Rogies" were going to be the main course. I started the night however with Carrot soup with fire-roasted chilies as this was a Mick and Amy request. Mick did chicken wings about a month ago for him and Amy and cracked a bottle of 2011 Predator Old Vine Zinfandel. He liked it with wings but thought it would be an awesome pairing with my carrot soup recipe.

The nose on the Predator Zinfandel was powerful and complex with aromas of cherry, cedar, black pepper, tar, vanilla and coffee. It was easily one of the more enjoyable noses I have ever experienced with a Zinfandel. Tasting the wine, blackberry and cinnamon were the dominate flavours but it finished with more of a dried cranberry flavour. I found the body was a bit thin for a Zinfandel and I felt I could have used a bit more body to it. It was a good pairing with the carrot soup but I think the Rosenblum and Seghesio Zinfandels made a better pairing in the past.

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

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

PREDATOR OLD VINE ZINFANDEL 2011

VINTAGES 219485

750 mL bottle
Price $ 18.95
Made in: California, USA
By: Rutherford Wine Company
Release Date: Jan 5, 2013
Wine, Red Wine
15.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Zinfandel
Sugar Content: 14 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: D - Dry

Description - Winner of a Silver Medal at the 2012 New York World Wine and Spirit Competition.

Tasting Note - Tremendous crowd-pleasing Zin with aromas of plum, pine boughs, sour cherry and hickory smoke. Dry to slightly off-dry, this flavourful wine is a must-have for your pizza, burgers, or sausage night. No pretensions, just a good, rich, honest, fun-food wine. (VINTAGES panel, Nov. 2012)

At $19 a bottle it was very tempting to raise my rating to a 90 as it is very hard to find such a well-crafted Zinfandel at that price point. The Seghesio is still my favourite but it is usually in the $24-30 range vs. the sub $20 that the Predator is in. Do yourself a favour, pick and bottle up and give it a try as this was a very good wine.

Click here for Part 2