Saturday Night – Ups and Downs – Part 1

Mick and Amy hosted this past Saturday night’s dinner and Mick had two new wines on tap for us to try and three new recipes.

 

The first course was corn fritters topped with avocado and sour cream with a lime and chipotle dipping sauce. Mick paired this with a 2011 Coudoulet de Beaucastel Cotes du Rhone by Perrin. This wine was also used as the pairing with the second course.

The nose on the wine consisted of rose, smoke, melon and toffee aromas. Tasting the wine initially I got honeydew melon and grapefruit flavours but as the wine sat and opened up, the dominate flavour was red Delicious apple. The structure was interesting as there was a slight oiliness to the wine, with soft acidity and a short to medium length finish. The wine was decent on its own but really shined as a pairing with the corn fritters.

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

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

CHÂTEAU DE BEAUCASTEL COUDOULET DE BEAUCASTEL BLANC 2011
VINTAGES 48892
750 mL bottle
Price $ 33.95
Made in: Rhône, France
By: Famille Perrin
Release Date: Oct 13, 2012
Wine, White Wine
14.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Blend - Other
Sugar Content: 3 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: D - Dry

Tasting Note -  This blend of Marsanne, Viognier, Bourboulenc, and a touch of Clairette features pretty aromas of apricot, peach, cantaloupe, citrus, white flowers and vanilla. Juicy and soft-textured with a ripe mid-palate leading to a tangy finish. An approachable, satisfying wine with plenty of finesse. Enjoy it tonight with grilled calamari, or impress your guests when you serve it alongside turkey dinner. (VINTAGES panel, Aug. 2012)

I liked the wine but found it a bit of an odd duck as to what I’d pair this wine with.  Hummus would probably be a nice pairing and it worked well with the corn fritters but after reading the LCBO write-up, I think their suggestion of Turkey dinner is right on the money. 

The corn fritters were quite tasty and so was the lime and chipotle dipping sauce which really brought the fritters up to the next level.

The second course was a new mussel recipe that Mick found in his Julia Child’s cookbook.  Mick has been batting a thousand recently on new recipes, he was due for a curveball and this recipe was it.  This recipe used breadcrumbs as one of the ingredients which I thought was different as most mussel recipes I have found tend to steam the mussels in a liquid based sauce.  I’m assuming the idea to the recipe was the breadcrumbs would form a coating on the mussels sort of like you’d get on breaded chicken fingers.  Instead the mussels and the ‘sauce’ turned out more like oatmeal porridge.  The flavour wasn’t bad on the dish but the texture really left something to be desired.   The wine was also a decent pairing with this course.

Click here for Part 2