Saturday Night – All new stuff – Part 3

Click here for Part 1

 

The main course was BBQ’d pork sliders with caramelized onions.  Mick paired this with a 2010 Domaine du Vieux Lazaret Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

 

The nose on the wine was a mix of stewed prunes, chocolate, raisins, green pepper, petrol and marzipan.  Tasting the wine, you will find flavours of black cherry, green pepper and vanilla.  Structure-wise is where this wine breaks down as the acidity was low and the flavours tasted like the grapes were seriously over-ripe; the wine was closer to an Amarone than a Shiraz blend.  It did work as a decent pairing for the food but I found myself looking for a bit more bite to the wine and feel that a pure Shiraz would have been a much better pairing.

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 86, Mark – 84 Kathy – 85, Amy – 86, Overall – 85.25.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine -

DOMAINE DU VIEUX LAZARET CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE 2010
VINTAGES 983650
750 mL bottle
Price $ 35.95
Made in: Rhône, France
By: Jérôme Quiot
Release Date: Oct 26, 2013
Wine, Red Wine
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Style: Full-bodied & Smooth
Varietal: Grenache Blend
Sugar Content: 5 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

Tasting Note  -  Not surprisingly, the 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape (Domaine du Vieux Lazaret) possesses more power, concentration and substance. Dense black raspberry, garrigue, licorice and floral notes are found in this pure, impressively full-bodied 2010 along with lots of fat, glycerin, flesh and succulence. Enjoy this beauty over the next 10-15 years. Score - 90. (Robert Parker Jr., erobertparker.com, Oct. 2012)

 

Not often I find myself disagreeing with Robert Parker but quite frankly he can take his 90 rating and shove it.  Also, as the acidity was already soft, I can only imagine what 10-15 years of aging would do to this wine.  On the other hand, that aging might tone down the over-ripe fruit so maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to sit this one down for a few years.

 

For dessert, Amy picked up a mint chocolate cake… if chocolate cake and After Eight dinner mints had a torrid night of passion, this cake would be their love child.  As I like both chocolate cake and After Eight dinner mints, this was a very good thing as the cake was quite yummy.

 

Thanks to Mick and Amy for hosting and to Mick for all his work in producing three very good dishes.

 

Cheers!

 

Mark

Saturday Night – Mick is pulling out all the stops – Part 1

Mick and Amy were hosting this past Saturday night’s dinner and Chris and Jan joined us as well. Mick had two new courses and three new wines for us to try. As an extra bonus, Chris and Jan brought dessert and an ice wine to go with it, so we have four wines to review in this Blog article today.

The first course was Tuna Crostini that was paired with a 2009 Simon Alexandre Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

 

The wine was a concern to me when I first opened it as it had a strong alcohol and chemical aroma to it and when I poured it out the colour was more golden than I was expecting. As the wine sat for a bit and opened up, the alcohol aroma was still there but aromas of peat, pineapple, honeysuckle and burnt marshmallow developed. Tasting the wine flavours of vanilla bean, grapefruit and oak were to be found. The wine had a slight oiliness to it, with a large mouth-feel and was quite hot. It also had a not so nice bite to it on the finish. I really wasn’t a fan of the wine on its own but it did work well as a pairing for the tuna crostini.

 

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 86, Mark – 83, Kathy – 84, Amy – 85, Overall – 84.5.

Bonus Rating – Chris – 83, Jan – 83.

I couldn’t find an LCBO listing for this wine but Mick said it was about $35 a bottle. At $35 a bottle there are much better white wines out there that I would go with instead. It was fun to try something new though and we haven’t done much white Chateauneuf-du-Pape so that was an interesting change up.

The Tuna Crostini course was really good. I’m not usually a huge fan of Tuna as I can take it or leave it but I really liked this course and lovely fresh flavours of it.

Click here for Part 2

 

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

Saturday Night – What was that 3rd wine we had? – Part 1

Kathy and I were doing some shopping in Burlington on Saturday afternoon and decided to visit the LCBO while we were out there.  My lovely wife spotted 3 bottles of 2009 Robert Mondavi “To Kalon” Fume Blanc.  Mick and I have been huge fans of earlier versions of “To Kalon” Fume so I grabbed all three bottles.  We picked up some other wines as well and Kathy sent Amy a text when we got home mentioning our purchases.  It wasn’t long after that Mick called saying he’d heard a rumor about 3 bottles of “To Kalon” which I confirmed.  He added that a bottle of it would be great for a pairing for one of the courses he had planned for the tonight’s dinner.  I said I would happily bring one along. 

The thing I forgot about “To Kalon” is “To Kalon” is Latin for “I’m going to f^%k you up” … as the wine is evil – 14.5% alcohol and it goes down like Kool-Aid.  We weren’t feeling much pain by the time we hit the 3rd bottle of wine for the night.  Amy’s penmanship for the notes on the 3rd bottle of wine was so bad that I’m sure it could be used in a Public Service Announcement - “If your writing is this bad when you're drunk, imagine how dangerous you’d be behind the wheel of a car – Don’t Drink and Drive.”

We had the “To Kalon” with the second course but I will get to that in more detail in Part 2.  Mick started us off with a new barbequed Potato skins recipe and paired this with a 2006 Perrin and Fils. Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

The nose on the wine was dominated by strawberry aromas with eucalyptus and clove aromas in the background.  Tasting the wine, cherry and raspberry flavours jumped out at you with a hint of black pepper sneaking around in the background.  I found the wine a little sharp on its own but with the potatoes skins with their bacon, cheese and creamy BBQ sauce toppings they neutralized the sharpness completely and the wine made an awesome pairing.

Here is the group rating for the wine –Mick – 88, Mark – 87, Kathy – 87, Amy – 87, Overall – 87.25.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

PERRIN AND FILS LES SINARDS CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE (V)

VINTAGES 926626
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 34.95
Made in: Rhône, France
By: Perrin & Fils
Release Date: Apr 18, 2012
Style: Full-bodied & Smooth
Wine, Red Wine
13.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Blend - Other
Sugar Content: 4 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

Description  - DID YOU KNOW? Some of the grapes for this were sourced at Perrin's great Château de Beaucastel estate. The Perrin family are without question the dominant, and one of the finest, producers in the southern Rhône. FLAVOUR & STYLE: Packed with fine aromas such as blackberry, cranberry, sour cherry and tobacco. FOOD MATCH: Fine Dining: roast leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic.

Mick mentioned that the potato skins were a lot of prep work, I liked them but I’m not sure they were worth the amount of effort he had to put into them.

Click here for Part 2

Saturday Night – Mick’s Excellent Adventure – Part 2

For the second course Mick made Prime Rib for the first time. He did up mashed potatoes and green beans as sides. Mick paired the meal with a La Fiole du Pape, Chateauneuf du Pape. Interesting thing about this wine is there was no vintage date on the bottle anywhere so we have no idea what year it was. The blacken glass in its warped shape and aged looking bottle makes this wine bottle very distinct and easy to find.

"Naked Beef"

The nose had big aromas of brownie batter, chocolate, coffee and black pepper. Tasting the wine you were rewarded with a very smooth and balanced wine with a raspberry and plum flavours running throughout. With the food the wine became a touch sharper but not in a bad way and was a good pairing with the meal.

"Dressed and ready to eat!"

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

"Nice wine"

Here is the LCBO Information on the wine –

ANSELME LA FIOLE DU PAPE CNP

LCBO 12286
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 38.25
Wine, Red Wine
13.4% Alcohol/Vol.
Made in: Rhone, France
By: Maison Brotte

Tasting Note- Garnet ruby red colour; dried berries, sour cherry, sweet fruit, minerals and herbs on the nose with black pepper, olive and clove notes; dry, full-bodied with spice, vanilla and ripe cassis and red berry fruit on the palate.

Serving Suggestion - Roasts, Mediterranean dishes, sharp cheese or kidney pie.

"Won't mistake this bottle for something else!"

Mick did a very good job with the Prime Rib as it was cooked to perfection and very flavourful.

Click here for Part 3