We returned to Ana and Evan's house on Saturday, January 17th, 2009 for another wonderful evening of food and wine. We started with probably our favorite wine of the night: a crisp, well-balanced Vouvray (white) made from the Chenin Blanc varietal (picture missing). The first course, also missing here because I was too busy eating it, was a wonderful brie-stuffed filo shell with brown sugar. This one will be copied often.
Before sitting down for the second course, we decided to open all of the wines for more of a true tasting experience. For this evening, we ended up with six wines (probably one too many). We started with the Vouvray and then went on to reds: I brought two Zinfandel selections, Tom and Carla brought two Cabernet selections, and Evan and Ana also purchased a French Rhone wine. The second course above is a goat cheese salad with strawberries and Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette.
The main course was Evan's family recipe for Beef Bourguignon. I think I would like Evan's family. I certainly like their food. This was served over rice. And the grand finale was a home-made brownie with vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberries. You can never go wrong with chocolate and ice cream in my book.
The two Zinfandel wines were a 2006 Layer Cake Primitivo from Italy and a 2005 Joel Gott from California. Zinfandel wines are typically bold wines with aromas of blackberry, boysenberry, plum, anise and pepper. I thought the Layer Cake was uninteresting. But I liked the Joel Gott, which I thought displayed all the characteristics mentioned. I would purchase it again.
Thanks to Tom for supplying a description of his wines: 2007 Gold Pocket Cabernet - Gold Pocket is the classic Californian style - Winemaker Steve Miller blends in a small amount of his best Malbec for an even richer mouthfeel. Enticing dark cherry aromas, black current, raspberry & spicy oak.2005 Sebastiani Cabernet - 2005 proved an outstanding vintage for Californian Cabernet - and with vineyards dating back to 1825, local experts at the Sebastiani family knew how to make the most of it...blending premium fruit from three Sonoma County sub-appellations - Sonoma Valley, Dry Creek valley, and Alexander Valley. 10 months patient aging in American oak adds even greater complexity. Intense black cherry aromas with hints of cigar box and mocha. Silky, full-bodied flavors of raspberry, cocoa and vanilla. Terrific now, but will cellar for 5 years or more.
Typical of French wines, the 2006 Domaine La Garrigue Vacqueyras is a blend, and in this case a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsault. The wine hails from southern Rhone (Provence). I thought this was a very nice wine. I like Rhone wines for their drinkability. Read more on this wine here.
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