Saturday Night – Prime Rib – Part 2

Click here for Part 1

 

The other wine we had with the Prime Rib was a 2004 Château Pontet-Canet.

 

The nose on the Château Pontet-Canet wasn’t as powerful Château de Beaucastel but there was a lot happening with it, as aromas of buttered popcorn, plum, mushroom, thyme, licorice, black pepper and “Cherry Halls” cough candy were to be found.  Tasting the wine sour cherry, black licorice and eucalyptus were the main flavours to the wine.  Structure-wise the wine was a touch tannic.  The wine seemed fairly simple but easy drinking.  It worked as an OK pairing with the food.  This wine also got better as it sat for a bit and opened up and I would suggest decanting it an hour before drinking.

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 87, Mark – 87, Kathy – 88, Amy – 88, Overall – 87.5.　

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

CHÂTEAU PONTET-CANET 2008
VINTAGES 137299
750 mL bottle
Price $ 129.00
Made in: Bordeaux, France
By: Alfred & Gérard Tesseron
Release Date: May 12, 2012
Wine, Red Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content: 4 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

Description -  TASTING NOTE: A candidate for the 'wine of the vintage,' Pontet Canet's 2008 boasts an opaque purple color as well as copious aromas of sweet blueberries, blackberries and black currant fruit intertwined with lead pencil shavings, subtle barbecue smoke and a hint of forest floor. Full-bodied, with fabulous richness, texture and tremendous freshness, this first-growth-like effort is more developed than the uber-powerful 2010. Give it 5-8 years of cellaring and drink it over the following three decades. Bravo! Score: 96 (Robert Parker Jr., erobertparker.com, May 2011)

*Note the LCBO listing is for the 2008 vintage and not the 2004 reviewed here.

As for the food itself, the Prime Rib was good as it was very tender and flavourful.  The big hit for the night was the roasted carrots as they had a wonderful freshness and sweetness to them and next time I will make more of them.  The ‘miss’ for the night was the gravy as it came across as a little bland; I’ll work on that the next time I attempt Prime and already have a couple of ideas on how to tweak it.

For dessert I picked up a Reese ice cream cake from Dairy Queen which went over well.  Mick definitely has a weakness where ice cream cake is involved. 

It was a fun night as I enjoyed trying to cook Prime Rib and it was cool to try two very different French red wines. 

Cheers!

Mark