Saturday Night - Return of the Sauce – Part 2

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For the main course Mick did up a risotto in fish stock and then added the garlic sauce from New Year’s Eve in just at the end of cooking it. He served the risotto topped with grilled shrimp.

"Better as a risotto!"

His pairing for this meal was a Simonnet-Febvre Premier Cru Chablis.

The nose on the Chablis was an odd mixture of lime, mushroom and lilac. Tasting the wine it was slightly tart and acidic with lime as the main flavour running throughout but there was a bit of a soapy taste in the background as well. Mick’s comment on the wine was “Disappointing, would not buy again.” and that pretty much sums it up. It was nice with the risotto but really lost something when consumed on its own.

"Move along, nothing to see here!"

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

I couldn’t find a listing for a 2005 on the LCBO’s website. Judging by the price points of the 2006 Simonnet-Febvre Chablis listed I would guess this was a $30-35 price point. At that price point I’d advise the following – “Move along, nothing to see here.”

The garlic risotto was very good and probably the highlight of the night. I think the ladies actually enjoyed it more this way then when it was used as a sauce for shrimp and scallops for New Year’s Eve.

Thanks for Mick and Amy for hosting this one and to Mick for all his hard work in getting the food ready.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night - Return of the Sauce – Part 1

As I wrote in my New Year’s Blog, we would be at Mick and Amy’s for dinner this Saturday. Mick was going to use up the garlic cream sauce I made New Year’s Eve in a risotto. The risotto ended up being the main dish of the evening as we started with King crab legs.

"Meaty and perfect with just a touch of lemon!"

Mick pick a 2008 Chateau de Valmer Vouvray to pair with the steamed crab legs which were served with butter or lemon depending on preference.

Rant time – I get somewhat annoyed when people have hot liquid butter with Crab or Lobster. I mean if you are going to drown it in butter, why the hell are you getting Lobster or Crab in the first place. If you are going to use butter with either of those items, go buy a bag of freaking popcorn as you won’t be able to tell the difference anyways and save yourself $20 you would have wasted on good seafood! Rant over and now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

"Vouvray = Chenin Blanc = What the hell is that?"

Vouvray is a region in the Loire Valley in France and it means the wine is Chenin Blanc. If you next question is what is Chenin Blanc, here is the answer - Chenin Blanc is a grape that was popular before Chardonnay became king of the whites. Most Chenin Blanc I’ve tried tends to be highly acidic and somewhat bland.

The 2008 Chateau de Valmer Vouvray caught me a bit off guard as it was anything but acidic or bland. The nose was very mild but you got an interesting combination of pineapple, peach and eucalyptus as the main aromas. The wine was done in a sweeter style that at time I found almost cloying at times. You got a big mango flavour off of the wine and a finish that quickly disappeared. On the upside it was a very easy drinking wine that made an interesting pairing with the crab legs.

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 87, Mark - 85, Kathy – 90, Amy - 88, Overall – 87.5

Here is the LCBO information on the wine -

Chateau de Valmer Vouvray 2008

Vintages 140624
750 mL bottle

Price: $ 16.95

Wine, White Wine,

12.0% Alcohol/Vol.

Sugar Content : MD

Made in: Loire, France

By: Jean Battelier

Release Date: Oct 10, 2009

Tasting Note - A very true-to-type Chenin Blanc with plenty of fruit balanced by zippy acidity. Pear, orange rind, table grapes and McIntosh apple fill the nose and palate. This is one off-dry Chenin that will reward 3-6+ years in a cellar. If you are anxious to try it tonight, match it to spicy dishes, such as vindaloo chicken or green curry shrimp. Or give it a go with soft cheeses, such as brie and Camembert. (VINTAGES panel, May 2009).

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Happy *sniffle* New Year! Part 3

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The Beef Tenderloin was finally ready to go so I plated it and served it up.

"Two years = Too long!"

I’m glad we didn’t kill the Mondavi before dinner as it was a great pairing with the food. The nose wasn’t hard to find with eucalyptus, clove, cedar, green pepper, chocolate and cassis all mixed in there. The balance on this wine was perfect; fine silky tannins with nice acidity and a solid blueberry and chocolate flavour to wrap it all up. The one thing that really stood out was its magnificently smooth lingering finish. The only flaw we found is without the food it was really dry tasting on its own but how good it was with the food more than overcame that deficiency.

"Still great!"

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

The 90.5 rating means I will start the year off by updating the Top Ten red list and I feel it is well deserved to be in that select class of wines.

The beef tenderloin was stellar, and Amy gave it her highest compliment again – “It’s like chocolate in meat form!” Two years between having this dish is too long. We finished the evening off with some more truffles and cheese tray.

Happy New Year’s to everyone and may your 2010 be filled with amazing wines and food!

Cheers!

Mark

Happy *sniffle* New Year! Part 2

The main course was a New Year’s favourite – Beef Tenderloin in a port and shallot sauce with mashed potatoes and caramelize onions. I also usually do up some green beans to go with this dish but this year they looked like shit at the store so I went with sugar snap peas instead. I know early I said I wanted to do more new recipes but this is so good its not funny and mixing one old dish and one new isn’t the worst thing I could do. Besides that, I hadn’t done this since New Year’s of 2008 so it had been awhile!

"Amy's favourite picture of the night for some unknown reason"

I downgraded my original wine choice to another old favourite – a 1999 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (not exactly slumming at around $130 CDN a bottle though, just because I wasn’t a 100% didn’t mean I didn’t want everyone else to suffer!). The amusing thing is this is exactly the same pairing I did two years ago for New Years but that was also before we did ratings and I thought this one deserved to be rated.

"Unexpectedly Good!"

I poured out the wine very early in everyone’s glass to let it breathe a bit before we had it with dinner. Mick nosed the wine and smiles and said, “Buddy, if you think this glass it going to make it to dinner you are crazy!” We talked about this and while it would be good on its own, I knew it would really shine with dinner so we both thought a ‘between courses’ wine would be good and wandered down to the basement to take a look at what was kicking around on the rack. Mick said he was in the mood for a Shiraz. After some searching I found a bottle of Graham Beck 2002 Shiraz on the rack from South Africa that I’d forgotten I’d had and we headed back upstairs.

As soon as I opened this bottle as I was like ‘Wow’ as the nose on it was huge, even with a cold and it still being in the bottle I was picking up a big cocoa/truffle aroma. I poured it out for everyone and bought my glass into the kitchen to ‘keep me company’ as I made the main course.

Besides the cocoa/truffle aromas there was also peat, pepper and a hint of coffee on the nose. Tasting the wine, I really like what I found, smooth and well structured with a mix of dark berry and cocoa flavour. Mick shocked me when he said the alcohol content listed was 15%. You wouldn’t have guessed that by the taste as it wasn’t at all hot. The ladies thought since the wine had a lot of cocoa flavour to it, I would be interesting to try with some chocolate truffles that Kathy got for Christmas. There were soon lots of “Oh’s, Ah’s and moans” echoing throughout the room from both of the ladies. I tried one too and must say it was an amazing pairing.

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 87, Mark - 90, Kathy – 88, Amy - 89, Overall – 88.5

As I mention earlier, I’d forgotten about this wine but I’d guess it was probably about $20 a bottle at the LCBO when I picked it up originally.

Click here for Part 3

Happy *sniffle* New Year! Part 1

New Year’s Eve dinner with Mick and Amy is an event I looked forward to all year long and this year was no exception. Usually we go with a much higher end bottle of wine to celebrate the evening. I had been looking at a certain bottle since May and thinking it would be perfect for New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately one of the surprise gifts I’d got from family over Christmas was a cold – the gift that keeps on giving! By New Year’s Eve I was getting over it but my senses weren’t a 100% so I toned down the wine picks for the evening.

"Shrimp and Scallops in a garlic cream sauce"

Between Christmas and New Year’s I had a chance to review all of the articles for 2009 on Zippy Sauce. I was happy at how many new wines that we’d tried over the past year. What I wasn’t so happy about was the lack of new food dishes. Being without a kitchen due to renovations for a good chunk of 2008, when I got it back, I was tending to do a lot of old favourites that we hadn’t had in awhile. This also allowed me to get used to the new stove; gas rather than the electric took some getting use to. I made an early New Year’s resolution to get back to trying more new recipes and tonight’s menu would be the start of this.

Kathy found a recipe for shrimp and scallops in a roasted garlic creamed sauce in one of the recipe books we own. The recipe looked interesting but did call for a decent amount of Ice wine. I wasn’t too keen about using a $50 bottle of Ice wine to cook with but as luck would have it, Kathy received a homemade bottle of Ice wine as a gift just before Christmas so we were all set. The recipe was from a Canadian winery (hence using a $50 bottle of Ice wine to cook with!) and recommended a Chardonnay as the perfect pairing for this dish. I picked a bottle of Joseph Phelps 2004 Chardonnay that I had on hand to go with the dish.

"Joseph Phelps Chardonnay?"

I love almost any red wine that I’ve tried from Joseph Phelps but had never tried any of their whites and was curious if it would be as magical as their reds.

The nose on the Chardonnay was big, with aromas of buttered toast, apricot, citrus and faint floral notes in the background. Tasting the wine you notice strong oak characteristics of huge creamy tasting vanilla but there was also some lemon flavour there as well. It wasn’t a bad pairing with the food but generally most of us enjoyed it more on its own.

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 87, Mark - 88, Kathy – 86, Amy - 85, Overall – 86.5

I bought this in the US quite awhile back and vaguely remember it being around a $30-40 US price point ($50-60 CDN after duty, exchange and taxes.) I tried finding a current price from the Joseph Phelps’ website but they aren’t even listing a Chardonnay among the current listings. I will say the Chardonnay wasn’t bad but there are much better ones out there at its price point which maybe why there isn’t a listing on their site as they may have stopped making one and are just focusing on what they are good at instead.

The shrimp and scallops in a roasted garlic creamed sauce wasn’t bad. We all really liked the sauce but the scallops weren’t amazing(touch over cooked) but the shrimp were good. I’m never a big fan of cooking two types of seafood together as their cooking times to vary a bit so what is good for one maybe too long for the other or vice versa. There was a ton of sauce left over and Mick told me to save it and he was going to use it this Saturday in a risotto. Mick and I both thought that grilling the shrimps and scallops on separate skewers vs. cooking the in the pan together would make this recipe much better if I attempt it again.

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It Twas the Saturday before Christmas – Part 2

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For the second course Mick did Tandoori Chicken Skewers and paired this with a 2008 Frank Konstantin Gewürztraminer. The bottle was picked up direct from the winery on a recent trip they made to the Finger Lakes region in NY State.

"Spicy but good!"

The nose surprised me as it was very mild for a Gewürztraminer, with aromas of pear and rose. Tasting the wine you found an oily sweet wine that was slightly cloying. The pear aroma carried through to the flavour profile as well. The wine could best be described as ‘simple’ as there wasn’t much to it. The wine also tended to be over sweet with the food but was easy enough to drink so not a terrible pairing by any means.

"Something new and different"

I found this tacked on to the bottom of my notes –

“I like it – it’s yummy” – Amy

Thanks Forest for that insight and now to the group ratings –

Mick - 87, Mark - 84, Kathy – 85, Amy - 89, Overall – 86.25.

I remember Mick mentioning the price on the bottle and being shocked at the price as it was around $20-25 US which with duty and taxes puts this wine in a $40 CDN price… ouch. For that kind of money I’d advise people to look elsewhere.

The food was excellent as always and our next get together will be New Year’s Eve.

Cheers,

Mark

It Twas the Saturday before Christmas – Part 1

Mick and Amy had us over for dinner last Saturday. The starter courses were Smoked Salmon with cream cheese and assorted goodies, followed by a new recipe for Potato Skins that Mick wanted to try.

"Very good for a first attempt!"

Both courses were paired with a 2004 Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve Chardonnay. I’d had this bottle on the rack for awhile and was worried about it getting long in the tooth. (Note - There was a 2006 KJ Grand Reserve Chardonnay as well but we have already review it so I left it out of this review.)

"Smoked Salmon and Chardonnay, best wine pairing ever!"

Opening the bottle and pouring it out, you are rewarded with a pleasant mixture of kiwi, vanilla and a touch of caramel. Tasting the 2004 Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve you immediate notice that this is a big creamy Chardonnay that while being big is also nicely balanced. Flavours of butter, lime and vanilla run throughout the wine. The wine wraps itself up nicely with a smooth lingering finish that just has you aching for more.

"It certainly was Grand!"

The KJ was stunning with the Salmon but only decent with the Potato Skins. It was good on its own but pairing it with the Smoked Salmon took this wine to a whole new level.

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 90, Mark - 89, Kathy – 88, Amy - 89, Overall – 89.

I couldn’t find an LCBO listing on the Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve but it usually ranges in price from about $33 to $39 a bottle depending on US dollar exchange rates and LCBO markup.

Click here for Part 2