by Howie Hart » Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:00 pm
My son Tim went back to Texas today for his final 5 weeks of soldiering. Thursday night I hosted a dinner for 12, with his grandmother, all his brothers (except Pete), girl friends and buddies. With shrimp cocktail, French onion soup and salad I served 2005 Joseph Drouhin Pouilly-Fuissé (about $20). Light golden color. Good nose - mixture of apple cider, licorice and vanilla on the nose. Good acidity with noticeable oak tannins and a long, mouth-filling finish that subsides into a thin layer of sweetness. Nice wine! Next came steaks cooked outside on the grill, despite the 15 degree temps with twice baked potatoes (See Forum kitchen for great recipe) and white button mushrooms sautéed in butter and white vermoouth. With this I opened 2005 Warm Lake Estate Pinot Noir ($26 on futures - $40 in the winery – Niagara Escarpment Appellation). I was anxious to try this and was delighted. Deep ruby color, a very generous aroma that I could pick up as I was pouring it a few feet from my nose – leather, shoe polish, cigar box and cherries. A very long finish that hit the whole mouth in a well balanced manner - juicy acidity and oak tannins. This went very well with the steak, but didn’t last long enough, so I opened a recent purchase: 2006 Inniskillin Pinot Noir VQA ($14 Cdn at the winery in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ont.). Lighter in everything than the Warm Lake, which I could easily attribute to the difference in the vintages. Synthetic cork, ruby color, nose of sweet cherries and a medium finish with hints of black pepper. I didn’t have a dessert wine lined up, so with the apple caramel crumb pie I just served coffee. Nice dinner and some good wines shared with family and friends.
Chico - Hey! This Bottle is empty!
Groucho - That's because it's dry Champagne.
