Friends in for a visit, so a chance to whip up a dinner and open some wines.
Ch. Mosny Montlouis sur Loire – this nonvintage bubble is one I have liked for quite awhile. Chenin based, made across the river from Vouvray, it is little known and usually quite affordable. It showed a pretty fruit nose, some ginger and nutmeg and mated very well with the Gruyere and Asiago choux pastry puffs I’d made to accompany it.
2009 Vieux Pin Rosé – this BC wine is made from Pinot Noir in small amounts (350 cases) and showed some nice fruit in the nose, a good medium pink colour, and lots of flavour, finishing fairly dry. Much better than some of the pallid attempts we see using PN in this province.
Served this with a rustic vegetable soup of lentils, parsnips, carrots and hot Italian sausages.
Main course was a quite spicy North African lamb stew with a definite after-burn even after simmering for a couple of hours. Cayenne, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom with ginger, in my opinion, mate far better with red wines than many people believe, even when the flavour temperature gets up there, as long as it fall short of the “I’m a better man than you” chili levels.
1988 Ch. Pichon Baron – this has always been one of my favourite wines of this vintage. It had a textbook nose of vanilla/oak and cigar box, a smooth entry with soft tannins, smooth middle and clean well balanced finish with good length. I though that this wine had the best nose.
1988 Ch. Lynch Bages – a big hitter in this vintage, the nose was always a tad reticent even after extensive airing, but did show some spicy plum notes. Good fruit at the beginning and the tannins showed up right after, not hard but more prominent than the previous wine and a tad harder. Excellent length – a well made, well balanced claret that lacked only the expressiveness in the nose that the Pichon had. A delightful pair, in no way harmed by the food.
I did fresh figs stuffed with Stilton and thyme, wrapped with prosciutto and puff pastry for a finisher and served:
1988 Villa Rocca Amarone – not a big name in Veneto and not a heavy hitter Amarone, more along the middle weight wines I associate with producers like Negrar, but I think that was what was called for to accompany the dessert. It was dark, with a fairly ripe recioto nose with some espresso, and was mellow and medium, long in the mouth. Worked quite well with the fig, and the cheese I served on the side a (believe it or not) mango Stilton!
