Everyone was telling me that the best wine for Cajun food is Beer!
So when a good friend asked me to supply the wines for her birthday dinner at Magnolia private kitchen in Sheung Wan, I was a little apprehensive. However, being the fool that I am, I accepted the challenge.
Not having eaten a lot of Cajun I was expecting food that was quite spicy so I headed in the direction of the whites. It was, of course, a celebration so a couple of bottles of Verve sufficed as a starter and soon relaxed the room. The 07 Domaine Marcel Deiss Riesling ($230) was the perfect starter and held up nicely to the Gumbo. We then moved on to soft shell crab and wonderful smokey ribs for mains. I opted to go for another white but this time something a bit bolder with a fresh palate and good acidity. My choice was the 08 Clos La Roquette, Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc ($300) and the combination was excellent.
It turned out that the food was less spicy than I was expecting yet full of wonderful character. The resulting merger meant that the wines were able to contribute handsomely to the flavour combination.
So it was left to the Pecan Pie to wrap up the evening and what better than an Antonin Rodet 2006 Bourgogne Pinot Noir ($145) to finish off.
Everyone was delighted with the meal and I could finally relax, reassured in my decision not to bring beer! Phew!
PS: I'd really like to hear if anyone else has found some great combinations with foods that are a bit harder to match with wine. Leave a comment below.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Not so Chile!
If you're looking for something to warm you up on those cold winter nights I have a great suggestion from Chile.
On Saturday I opened the 2004 Undurraga, Founders Collection Cabernet Sauvignon that I haven't had for about 6 months. It seems that I have been spending too much time with Shiraz and Rhone valley blends of late and, coming from the Coonawarra area, I do need a good Cabernet Sauvignon every now and then.
This is quite a big wine, especially for a Chilean and it has a bold character. If you can stand to leave it I'd decant it for 1/2 an hour just to take the edge off it and to let it settle down. This wine will fill your mouth with velvety black currents and juicy black berries. As it develops on the palate and then lingers you'll start to notice some more delicate tones of cigar box and leather with gentle and smooth tannins.
It will go along very nicely with any game or red meat but my personal indulgence is Dark Chocolate.
Now, I don't mean to do the sales pitch .... BUT ...... it is only HKD$195 a bottle and you can buy it in a very attractive 6 bottle wooden case or we do have a very nice single bottle gift tube. Very good gift idea for Chinese New Year.
If you're interested send me an email at: deanaslin@saveurs.com.hk
Dean
On Saturday I opened the 2004 Undurraga, Founders Collection Cabernet Sauvignon that I haven't had for about 6 months. It seems that I have been spending too much time with Shiraz and Rhone valley blends of late and, coming from the Coonawarra area, I do need a good Cabernet Sauvignon every now and then.
This is quite a big wine, especially for a Chilean and it has a bold character. If you can stand to leave it I'd decant it for 1/2 an hour just to take the edge off it and to let it settle down. This wine will fill your mouth with velvety black currents and juicy black berries. As it develops on the palate and then lingers you'll start to notice some more delicate tones of cigar box and leather with gentle and smooth tannins.
It will go along very nicely with any game or red meat but my personal indulgence is Dark Chocolate.
Now, I don't mean to do the sales pitch .... BUT ...... it is only HKD$195 a bottle and you can buy it in a very attractive 6 bottle wooden case or we do have a very nice single bottle gift tube. Very good gift idea for Chinese New Year.
If you're interested send me an email at: deanaslin@saveurs.com.hk
Dean
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
SPANISH WINES IN A TRADITIONAL STYLE
Nowadays it's easy to pick a wine from Spain with a more approachable style. Luscious forward fruit, nice oak integration, good balance, and tannins that, once aged, sit beautifully on the palate. These are great wines and very affordable, but I have started to see an increase in people trying to find Spanish wines with a taste profile of a more traditional style.
It seems people are looking for something a bit, dare I say it, "rustic". A traditional wine will have thinner fruit concentration, it will have harsher tannins, it will be aged in larger old oak barrels and the grapes will be harvested earlier before full ripeness. A wine of a traditional style will seem dull and thin to the majority of wine lovers. These wines are likely to be medium body with less concentration; a wine that you can even smell and maybe taste the winery as well as the terroir; a more earthy wine, with fruit that is more stewed than juicy; sometimes the wine shows some herbal and tea tones the older they get as the fruit disappears and the earth, wood and tobacco takes over.
Personally, I love these wines, but they can be difficult to understand. Lovers of these wines say they have soul, and new modern wines are boring. I'm a relatively recent wine lover and sometimes I can find them too different for my palate and I crave for more fruit. The majority of my first wines were mostly new world which is a vastly different style.
If you are like me and are looking to experience wines of this style then I suggest looking at the Ribera del Duero region. They're not that easy to find so I recommend starting with our own bodega (winery) Valduero. This bodega delivers wines that are a mix of traditional and more modern styles. One particular wine I tasted recently has both taste profiles; a beautiful experience. The wine has been aged for a total of 6 years consisting of 3 years in new Canadian and French oak and 3 years in the bottle before release. It was the Valduero 1999 6 Anos! The wine shows modern styles with its dark ruby colour, supple fruity palate, black currents and black berries plus a traditional feeling of damp earth tones, tobacco and cedar wood. The flavours even mature in the mouth as you drink and enjoying it with a rack of lamb is truly amazing.
The wines from Valduero range from the modern fruit forward entry levels of Arbucala for drinking young through to the Gran Reserva with a mix of traditional and modern styles, suitable for drinking from 10 years old.
The Valduero 6 Anos and Valduero 12 Anos display the history of Ribera del Duero in a bottle. I highly recommend them for that traditional style made in a modern Bodega.
Once you taste a Valduero wine you can tell they are definitely an honest bodega trying to keep with tradition in viticulture and vinification, but seem to use the modern methods with caution and care, this will show through once you try the wine
Lee Watson.
Lee Watson is Sales Manager with Saveurs International (Asia) Limited.
It seems people are looking for something a bit, dare I say it, "rustic". A traditional wine will have thinner fruit concentration, it will have harsher tannins, it will be aged in larger old oak barrels and the grapes will be harvested earlier before full ripeness. A wine of a traditional style will seem dull and thin to the majority of wine lovers. These wines are likely to be medium body with less concentration; a wine that you can even smell and maybe taste the winery as well as the terroir; a more earthy wine, with fruit that is more stewed than juicy; sometimes the wine shows some herbal and tea tones the older they get as the fruit disappears and the earth, wood and tobacco takes over.
Personally, I love these wines, but they can be difficult to understand. Lovers of these wines say they have soul, and new modern wines are boring. I'm a relatively recent wine lover and sometimes I can find them too different for my palate and I crave for more fruit. The majority of my first wines were mostly new world which is a vastly different style.
If you are like me and are looking to experience wines of this style then I suggest looking at the Ribera del Duero region. They're not that easy to find so I recommend starting with our own bodega (winery) Valduero. This bodega delivers wines that are a mix of traditional and more modern styles. One particular wine I tasted recently has both taste profiles; a beautiful experience. The wine has been aged for a total of 6 years consisting of 3 years in new Canadian and French oak and 3 years in the bottle before release. It was the Valduero 1999 6 Anos! The wine shows modern styles with its dark ruby colour, supple fruity palate, black currents and black berries plus a traditional feeling of damp earth tones, tobacco and cedar wood. The flavours even mature in the mouth as you drink and enjoying it with a rack of lamb is truly amazing.
The wines from Valduero range from the modern fruit forward entry levels of Arbucala for drinking young through to the Gran Reserva with a mix of traditional and modern styles, suitable for drinking from 10 years old.
The Valduero 6 Anos and Valduero 12 Anos display the history of Ribera del Duero in a bottle. I highly recommend them for that traditional style made in a modern Bodega.
Once you taste a Valduero wine you can tell they are definitely an honest bodega trying to keep with tradition in viticulture and vinification, but seem to use the modern methods with caution and care, this will show through once you try the wine
Lee Watson.
Lee Watson is Sales Manager with Saveurs International (Asia) Limited.
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