Saturday Night – Mick’s Treasures from the Sea

Mick broke out an all seafood menu for our latest Saturday night dinner.

The first course was baked Crab Dip with a 2009 Tokara Sauvignon Blanc. We have reviewed this wine before - http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2011/01/saturday-night-old-favourites-part-1.html so I won’t be reviewing it in full again for this post.

I will say that it was a very good pairing with the Crab Dip; it was actually better with the food than it was on its own. The Crab Dip was very good too but Mick did go a bit heavy on the cayenne pepper so it was zippier than I thought it should have been.

The second course had both a new wine and new dish for us to try – Clams Casino and 2008 Chateau de Ligny Chablis.

The nose on the wine had faint aromas of peach and pineapple and a musty basement smell which I find common in a lot of French wines. Tasting the wine, you’ll find flavours or honeydew melon and lime. The structure on the wine was decent but the acidity on the wine was too soft. It was an easy drinking wine but at times it got lost against the rich flavours of the clams.

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 87, Mark - 86, Kathy – 85, Amy – 85, Overall – 85.75.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –


CHÂTEAU DE LIGNY CHABLIS 2008

VINTAGES 200105
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 18.95
Wine, White Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Burgundy, France
By: Jean Claude Fromont
Release Date: Jan 8, 2011

Description - International Trophy winner at the 2010 Decanter World Wine Awards.
 Tasting Note - Pretty pale straw-yellow colour leads to an attractive nose featuring apple, mineral/wet stones, lees and a hint of pear. Dry, simultaneously fresh and ripe with zippy acidity adding vibrancy. Medium bodied with a fairly lengthy finish. Match it to grilled tuna or swordfish. (VINTAGES panel, Nov. 2010).

Mick did up the Clams Casino on the BBQ and topped them with bacon and cheese. The flavours to the Clams Casino were excellent. My only issue with them was, when I have had them in the past they are usually oven broiled which makes a nice crust on the top which I really like. I discussed this with Mick and said he too would be interested in using the oven next time he makes these to see what kind of difference it makes to the flavour of the dish.

The next course was Mick’s Blacken Scallops with Corn and Avocado salsa and he paired this with a Bottega Brut Prosecco.

I screwed up as we didn’t review this wine; we’ve had it before so I assumed we reviewed but after checking on the Blog, we didn’t fully review it the last time. It was very good on its own but got a little funky with the food at times. This is weird as when we paired this with the Santa Margherita Prosecco di Valdobbiadene (http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2011/01/saturday-night-taking-pro-out-of.html) the last time it was a very good pairing and yet the Bottega Prosecco didn’t work as well as a pairing.

 

"The top of the Bottega bottle - Either drink or leave... can't argue with that!"

 The scallops on the other hand were awesome as always.

Amy picked up a Milky Way cake for dessert which finished the evening off beautifully. I’d like to thank Mick for all his hard work in making three very tasty dishes this evening and to both Mick and Amy for hosting.

Thanks,

Mark

May Wine Club – Rosé

This month’s Wine Club meeting kicked off the latest six month session of Wine Club. I was pleased that everyone re-upped from the last session, so hopefully that means everyone is enjoying it as much as I am. When I started this Wine Club a few years back, I was committed to trying as many different regions, grapes and styles of wines as I could. That commitment to diversity has paid large dividends as I have found many a grape/region that were wonderful that I wouldn’t have on my own. The wines that we were tasting today was a Rosé from Italy as the take home bottle and a Rosé from French as a comparison bottle.

Here is the LCBO information on the wines –


ZENATO BARDOLINO CHIARETTO 2010


VINTAGES 45203
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 11.95
Wine, Rosé Wine
12.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : D
Made in: Veneto, Italy
By: Azienda Vinicola Zenato
Release Date: May 14, 2011

Tasting Note - This delightful candy-apple-coloured wine is made from the same grape varieties as Valpolicella - Corvina, Molinara, and Rondinella. Lively aromas of cherry, strawberry and blood orange greet the nose, along with a nice minerality and a lifted floral note. Dry, medium bodied with plenty of zippy acidity, it offers tart and tangy fruit to start, but sweeter notes emerge mid-palate and throughout the medium-long, crisp finish. Enjoy with crab cakes, or portobello mushroom sandwiches with provolone cheese. (VINTAGES panel, March 2011)


CHÂTEAU D'AQUÉRIA TAVEL ROSÉ 2010


VINTAGES 319368
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 18.95
Wine, Rosé Wine
12.9% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Rhône, France
By: Jean Olivier, Prod.
Release Date: May 14, 2011

Tasting Note - Tavel, an AC located across the Rhône River from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, uniquely makes rosé wines its exclusive focus. This version offers up fresh strawberry, sweet cherry, rosehips, and spring flowers in abundance. Dry, light bodied, fresh and tangy on the palate with waves of vivacious acidity. The lingering finish sports a strawberry-rhubarb character embroidered by herbal and floral notes. Enjoy with salmon-and-cream-cheese appetizers, or turkey breast with paprika. (VINTAGES panel, March 2011)

I have been reluctant to try Rosé in the past as whenever I see it I think of White Zinfandel (or fun wine as I joking call it) from California.

I brought in a selection of Cheese and Crackers and some roasted Red Pepper dip to accompany the two wines.

Nosing the two wines, I was surprise to find the Zenato (the less expensive to the two) had the better nose. The nose on the Zenato had powerful aromas of grapefruit and strawberry whereas the Tavel had strawberry and gooseberry aromas though they were much softer on the nose and harder to find. Tasting the wines, the Zenato had flavours of lime and strawberry but the alcohol of the wine made it seem a touch hot. The Tavel on the tasting really shined with it apricot and herb flavours and its structure was much more balanced than the ‘hot’ Zenato. The fact that Tavel balanced the 14% alcohol better than the Zenato did with 12% alcohol probably accounts for why it is $7 more. I liked the Zenato quite a bit with the herbed Goat’s cheese, but it got a touch funky when paired with the aged cheddar. The Tavel worked very nicely with all the cheeses and both wines were good with the roasted red pepper dip.

I liked both of the wines, though I will give a definite edge to the French Rosé and could see myself happily killing a bottle or two on a warm summer’s day on the patio. On the other hand I wasn’t blown away by either and don’t see myself rushing out to buy tons more.

It was fun trying something completely new and I’m already looking forward to next month where we will be taking a look at two Spanish Riojas.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – Wolfredo

After quite a break due to our schedules Mick, Amy, Kathy and I got together for a Saturday night dinner. It was my turn to host as Mick and Amy hosted the last dinner.

I had a ton of grated parmesan leftover from my TL lunch and needed to use it up. With this in mind I decided to do a Wolfgang Puck chicken fettuccine alfredo recipe or as the ladies affectionately call it ‘Wolfredo’.

I dread doing this recipe as it is very time consuming and the way Mr. Puck lays out his ingredient list is a pain in the ass. Most recipes will total up the same ingredient and list exactly what you need in total. Whereas Wolfgang will list the same ingredient (in this case fresh thyme) in four different places in the ingredient list which makes it very easy to miss one and leave yourself short.


I wanted to do an appetizer but my lovely wife vetoed that idea hard and insisted that as the Alfredo is so heavy it is more than enough food. So I went with her advice; I’m glad I did as it was very filling and there is no way I could have gotten through both an appetizer and the Alfredo.

I paired the Wolfredo with a 2006 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. This wine is 2nd on the Top Ten Zippy Sauce White Wines. I figured that if I’m going to effort of making this dish, I pairing it with a killer wine. It was an awesome pairing with meal and it was also my last bottle of it. The wine was so good that we killed it before we were even half way through the dinner. At this point Mick and I decided that we needed another bottle of something.

A quick peak through the wine cabinet and I grabbed out at bottle of Chateau St. Michelle 2007 Chardonnay. It continues the theme of French sounding California wines I started with the Chateau Montelena. I was worried how this wine would stand up against the first one as it is around a $20 price point whereas the Montelena is $45 a bottle.

The nose on the Chateau St. Michelle was big with plenty of different aromas going on; sage, yeast, pear, pine and butterscotch were some of the aromas we found. Flavour wise it had a pleasing butterscotch and lime flavour happening with it. It was nicely balanced but there was a bit of a sharpness on the finish. The sharpness on the finish may have been more noticeable as we had just had the Montelena which was incredibly silky and smooth. It was a strong pairing with the ‘Wolfredo’ but not quite as good as the Montelena. Considering it was less than half the price of the first wine, I was very pleased with how good this wine was for its price point.

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

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –


CHATEAU STE. MICHELLE CHARDONNAY 2008


VINTAGES 232439
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 17.95
Wine, White Wine
13.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Washington State, USA
By: Chat Ste Michelle
Release Date: Dec 11, 2010

Tasting Note - Bright and jazzy, with pretty pineapple, grapefruit, elderflower and spice flavors that linger on the finish without excess weight. This just floats on for a while. Drink now through 2012. Best Value. Score - 90. (Harvey Steiman, winespectator.com, Feb. 28, 2010)

* Note – the wine listed is the 2008 and not the 2007 reviewed by us.

I really liked the 2007 Chateau St. Michelle and when I saw the LCBO write up for the 2008 was planning on picking up some of the 2008 up but unfortunately there is no stock left. I will have to make a note to look in December for the 2009.

For dessert, I picked up a Chocolate Carmel Ice Cream cake for dessert which was well received.

Thanks to everyone for a fun night and I’m already looking forward to next Saturday.

Cheers!

Mark

Wine Club – April Bonus Tasting.

We finished up our normal Wine Club last month, so this month would be a bonus tasting with the money left over. Most bonus tastings I have anywhere between $150 and $300 to work with so we usually get something much higher end than our usual $20-25 a bottle price point. The time I only had $43 left to do the tasting. I decided a blind red wine tasting would be fun but I really want to add the 2005 Altair as one of the reds. Unfortunately at $65 a bottle the Altair was a touch out of my price range. I discussed this with Wine Club members and everyone decide to pitch in $5 to help make this happen.

So my three reds for the blind tasting were a 2005 Altair, 2008 Chateau St. Jean Merlot and 2004 Robert Mondavi ‘Carneros’ Pinot Noir.


I was pleased that Wine Club members took no time in figuring out which of the 3 red wines in front of them was the Altair. It’s rich and full bodied Cab blend was very distinctive from the other two wines. I was also very happy that everyone loved the Altair and thought it was worth the extra $5 they put in to try it.

Everyone correctly guessed that the second wine was a Merlot and a couple even guessed that it was from California which I thought was impressive. The last wine was a mixed bag as about half guessed Pinot Noir and the other half guess Chianti. Chianti wasn’t a bad guess about the Pinot Noir as we tried Chianti in a recent Wine Club meeting and both of them had that thin colouring that Pinot Noir has and there were some flavour characteristics they both had in common.

It was a fun session and I was pleased Wine Club did so well in picking out which wines were which. Next month we will start a new six month session of Wine Club which will be the 43rd time we have gotten together to try wines. It is fun looking back at all the different regions and grapes we have tried so far during these meetings and look forward to seeing where the next 6 meetings will lead.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – Prosciutto wrapped shrimp and other stuff

Mick and Amy were hosting this past Saturday night’s dinner. Mick was making Prosciutto wrapped shrimp as the appetizer and Diablo Sliders as the main course. I’ll be honest here and say once Mick said "Prosciutto wrapped shrimp", I stopped listening to the rest of the menu and sat in my chair saying "Prosciutto wrapped shrimp… Mmmm" and drooling a lot.

Mick picked a 2006 Dr. Pauly Bergweiler Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett Riesling to pair with the shrimp.

Nosing the wine you get a mild nose of peach, lime, lilac with a touch of faint petrol in the background. Tasting the wine apple, apricot, lime flavours are very noticeable. Structure wise the wine was not very acidic (a little soft), slightly cloying, not very crisp. It was very easy drinking and paired beautifully with the curried notes of the shrimp.

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 88, Mark - 86, Kathy – 87, Amy – 89, Overall – 87.5.


Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

DR. PAULY-BERGWEILER RIESLING KABINETT 2008


VINTAGES 189175
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 16.95
Wine, White Wine
8.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : MD
Made in: Mosel, Germany
By: Dr. Pauly-Bergmeiler
Release Date: Oct 30, 2010

Tasting Note - Light and harmonious, displaying peach, apple, floral and grapefruit aromas and flavors, all matched to a juicy, supple texture. Leaves a ripe apple and slate aftertaste. Drink now through 2025. Score - 90. (Bruce Sanderson, winespectator.com, Dec. 15, 2009)


*Note the wine listed is the 2008 and not the 2006 reviewed here.

For the main course Mick did Diablo Sliders and did a new Spanish Salad recipe that was quite nice. The capers and the tomatoes in the salad with the light dressing make a great side to sliders. Mick paired this course with a 2007 Seghesio Zinfandel. We have reviewed this wine before so we decided not to review it again; I will however say that is was great with the Diablo sliders.

For dessert Amy picked up a Banana cake with cream cheese icing which was very good.

Thanks to Mick and Amy for hosting and especially to Mick for cooking up all the food. It might be a little quiet on the blog for a bit as Mick and Amy are away for the next two Saturdays.


Cheers!

Mark

Best of ComBQ

At our last ComBQ, it was suggested that we do a “Best of ComBQ” as there have been some really great dishes that people wanted to have again. Steve and Melanie were nice enough to set up an online poll so everyone could vote on their favourites. After the votes were in the menu for the evening looked like this –

Roasted Tomato Soup with Parmesan Crisps by Melanie

Almond crusted Goat Cheese salad with a Raspberry/Poppy seed dressing by Mark

Chicken Quesadillas by Mick

Cuban Pulled Pork Sandwiches by Alex

The first course was Melanie’s awesome Roasted Tomato Soup with Parmesan Crisps. Melanie (and Steve) paired this with a 2009 Beringer’s Sauvignon Blanc. When I first heard the pairing I was a little doubtful about it but was surprised how good a pairing this was. I would have leaned towards a Merlot as a pairing here but the crispness of the Sauvignon Blanc made a great contrasting pairing to the richness of the soup.

The second course was mine and I did Almond crusted Goat Cheese salad with a Raspberry/Poppy seed dressing. I picked a 2007 Selbach-Oster Spätlese Riesling as my pairing. It caught a few people off guard on how sweet this wine was especially after just having a dry Sauvignon Blanc. The sweetness was needed however as anything less sweet wouldn’t have held up to the sweetness of the Raspberry dressing. It was a very good pairing with the salad and the eight of us killed two bottles of it with very little difficulty.

The third course was Mick’s famous Chicken Quesadillas. He (and Amy) picked a 2007 Gnarly Head Old Vines Zinfandel as the pairing to go with this course. Both the Chicken Quesadillas and the wine pairing were up to Mick’s usual standard of excellence.

 

The last course ended up actually being the only new dish for the night as Alex couldn’t find the original recipe he did Cuban grilled pork tenderloin sandwiches instead. He picked a 2008 Kim Crawford Pinot Noir as his pairing with the dish. This whole course was the biggest surprise of the evening for both the wine and the food. First off his original recipe was very good but the new recipe he found was even better; I can’t believe how damn good these sandwiches were. Secondly, Pinot Noir wouldn’t have been my first (Red Zin), second (Sangiovese) or even third (Rioja) choice of grape to pair with this recipe but it truly was a stellar pairing and I’d be shocked if any of the pairings I was thinking of would have been better.

For dessert we picked up a selection of baked goodies, chocolate and chocolate based cookies. For anyone having the baked goods I had a bottle of2006 Henry of Pelham Late Harvest to go with them and a 2005 Altair to pair with the chocolate. Both wines were very good.

I would like to thank Melanie, Steve, Alex, Zdenka, Mick and Amy for coming and for all the wonderful food and wine. I really enjoyed our Best of ComBQ but considering how great every ComBQ is with this group, I think every ComBQ is the ‘Best of ComBQ’ and am already looking for the next one.

Cheers!

Mark

Saturday Night – No New Year’s Eve…

After back to back Birthday dinners it was nice to get back to a normal Saturday night with Mick and Amy. Mick had on his chef’s hat and apron for the night and had one favourite dish on tap and two new ones for us to try.

"Prosciutto wrapped Shimp, yummy!"

The first course was Prosciutto wrapped curried shrimp, which I love so much that I’m hoping that Mick will one day do an all you can eat "Prosciutto wrapped curried shrimp" night. Mick paired these delightful morsels with a 2008 Hoffmann-Simon Kabinett Riesling.

"Great wine, but a touch too sweet"

Nosing the wine caused me to peak at the bottle as it initially reminded me of a Sauvignon Blanc with its cut grass, floral and peach aromas. There was also some vanilla and nutmeg aromas in the background. Tasting the wine was my next surprise as it was quite sweet; more what I’d expect from a Spätlese Riesling than a Kabinett Riesling. The main flavour to the wine was Golden Apple. This wine was a very good pairing with the shrimp. I liked this wine but the sweetness at times was a bit too much; if this wine upped the alcohol up from 9%to 10% by converting the residual sugar I would bet this would be in my top 5 Kabinett Rieslings of all time.


Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 88, Mark - 88, Kathy – 86, Amy – 87, Overall – 87.25.

Here is the LCBO Information for the wine -
HOFFMANN-SIMON RIESLING KABINETT 2008


VINTAGES 192575
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 16.95
Wine, White Wine
8.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : MD
Made in: Mosel, Germany
By: Weingut Hoffman-Simon
Release Date: Nov 27, 2010

Tasting Note - Pungent, with a savory edge to the apple, grapefruit and mineral flavors. It's all undercut by a racy, high-voltage structure that keeps this light wine in a high-energy state. Fine length. Best from 2012 through 2021. Score - 91. (Bruce Sanderson, www.winespectator.com, March 31, 2010)

"Baba Ganoush with Pita"

For the next course Mick did Baba Ganoush with Pita and paired this with a 2010 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. We have reviewed the Kim Crawford a number of times so we didn’t bother doing it again. Kim Crawford has made a very good to excellent Sauvignon Blanc year after year and it is probably the wine I use the most as my benchmark for Sauvignon Blanc.

"Excellent year after year"

The Baba Ganoush was good but the eggplant gave it a sweetness that threw the wine pairing for this course. I would probably lean towards an off-dry Pinot Gris or Riesling if I was going to pick a wine for it in the future.

"Curried lamb ribs"

The main course was grilled curried lamb ribs with a 2004 Robert Mondavi "Carneros" Pinot Noir. This was another wine that we reviewed before so we didn’t bother reviewing it again. Lamb ribs were something I have never had before so I was intrigued to see what they would be like. The flavour to the meat with the curried outside was very good; the downside was the meat wasn’t plentiful and hard to find as the lamb ribs were very fatty. Mick is looking at doing this recipe again but doing it as a grilled rack of lamb which I’m very much looking forward to. The Pinot with its strawberry and cherry notes made a very nice contrasting pairing to the ribs.

"A decent Pinot by Mondavi"

For dessert Amy picked up this huge chocolate cake thing from Costco which was pretty good though I don’t think that the four of us made much of a dent in it.

"Is that a giant cake in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?"

Thanks to Mick and Amy for hosting this week and to Mick for all the great food.

Cheers!

Mark