It was my turn to host this past Saturday night’s dinner but Kathy and I just got back from Las Vegas on Friday so my goal was to keep the menu simple. I decided on Steak Fajitas and picked up dessert from the grocery store. I did the Steak Fajitas for Kathy and I about a month or so ago and they were very good and since then I have been meaning to do them for Mick and Amy.
Mick and Amy picked up a bottle of 2006 Clarendon Hills Syrah as a birthday present for Kathy 39th birthday and Mick has been looking forward to trying it since then. I thought it would make a good pairing for the Fajitas.
The nose was a rich mix of eucalyptus, cocoa, plum, blackberry and coffee. You could also detect the heat/alcohol on the nose which wasn’t surprise as the alcohol content was listed as 16.1%. Tasting the wine the main flavours were chocolate, concentrated raspberry juice with hints of coffee and marzipan. The wine had a huge mouth-feel to it which I really liked. Good tannin and acidity levels but the wine still came across a slightly hot. The wine was also unfiltered as there was quite a bit of sediment in all of our glasses which isn’t unexpected as more intense filtering would have taken something away from this wine. It was a good pairing for the fajitas as it was big enough to stand up to all the flavours such as salsa, sour cream and guacamole that were heaped on to the fajitas.
Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 90, Mark – 89, Kathy – 89, Amy – 89, Overall – 89.25.
There was no LCBO information on the wine as it was purchased over a year ago. Mick said it was around $89 at the time. I do want add that this was certainly one of the better Australian Shirazes I’ve tried probably because it reminded me more of a high end California Cabernet Sauvignon than an Australian Shiraz as I’m not the biggest fan of Australian Shiraz.
For dessert our local grocery store had a new La Rocca dessert – Swiss Chocolate Flan with Lindt chocolate that I picked up for dessert. By this time the Clarendon Hills Syrah was long gone so I cracked a bottle of 2005 Altair which is a Chilean Bordeaux style blend. We have reviewed this wine before so I won’t go into too much detail other than to say it was a very good pairing with the dessert. The Swiss Chocolate Fran was also one of the better La Rocca desserts we’ve had in a while too.
Thanks to Mick and Amy for the great company and for picking up the Clarendon Hills Syrah as it did make a great focal point for the night.
Cheers!
Mark
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