Saturday Night – Prime Rib – Part 1

This past Saturday, it wasn’t our turn to host originally but Mick needed to get some work done in the garden this weekend and asked if we could switch weekends.  Thankfully my weekend was fairly open so I didn’t mind hosting this week.  On the other hand, I had no idea what to do for dinner.  After pondering for a bit I decided to attempt a Prime Roast for the first time ever.  The main reason for my Prime Rib attempt was I had a bottle of 2004 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape that I thought would be a great pairing with it.

So the main course was Prime Rib roast, mashed potatoes, oven roasted carrots and onions, Yorkshire pudding and gravy.  I paired this with a 2004 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape but to make this interesting I also paired a 2004 Château Pontet-Canet with the meal as well.  I figured a little Rhone vs. Bordeaux action would be fun.  I will review the Château de Beaucastel in part 1 and then cover the Château Pontet-Canet in part 2.

The nose on the Château de Beaucastel was big and initially mushroom was the dominate aroma but as the wine sat and opened up, strawberry, licorice, cotton candy, marzipan, pipe tobacco and vanilla aromas were very noticeable.  Tasting the wine, it started off very dark chocolate/cocoa but as it opened up it developed a lovely black cherry flavour to it.  The structure to the wine was great with big and chewy mouth-feel and had a nice balance of acidity, tannin, fruit and alcohol.  The finish on the wine lingered for quite a while.  It was a great pairing with the Prime Rib and most of the other items on the plate, though it got a bit sharp against the sweetness of the roast carrots.

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 91, Mark – 91, Kathy – 90, Amy – 90, Overall – 90.5.　

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

CHÂTEAU DE BEAUCASTEL CHÂTEAUNEUF DU PAPE 2010
VINTAGES 711317
750 mL bottle
Price $ 89.95
Made in: Rhône, France
By: Vign. Pierre Perrin
Release Date: Nov 24, 2012
Wine, Red Wine
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Grenache Blend
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

Tasting Note  -  The Chateau Beaucastel 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape is a classic blend of 30% Grenache, 30% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah, 10% Counoise and the balance other permitted varietals. Surprisingly ripe and soft with a dense ruby/purple color as well as lots of blueberry, scorched earth and blackberry notes intermixed with hints of roast beef and bouquet garni, this wine has structure, but the fruit dominates at present. By the standards of most top vintages of Beaucastel, this cuvee will be drinkable earlier than the normal ten years. I suspect it will put on more weight, so give it 5-6 years of cellaring and drink it over the following three decades. Score - 92-94+. (Robert Parker Jr., erobertparker.com, Oct. 2011)

* Note the LCBO listing is for the 2010 vintage and not the 2004 reviewed here.

The Châteauneuf-du-Pape blend of grapes is usually not a red that lights me up but this one was very good.  I was surprised as even though the wine was 9 years old, I would say it was leaning to the young side of things and I have no doubt that the 2004 vintage we had would drink well for the next 15 years without an issue.   I’m usually not a big fan of decanting but this wine would have benefitted from it as the longer it sat the better it got.

Click here for Part 2