Best match for Rib Roast?

I've got a bottle of Perrin & Fils Chateauneuf du Pape 2004...and a bottle of Chateau Chantemerle Bordeaux 2005. Which do you think would go better with a dinner of standing rib roast, parsnip mashers and carmelized brussel sprouts?

[Robin Garr]

Thery're both good wines, but both a little young ... on the other hand, the roast - especially if you keep at least part of it nice and rare - will work well to smooth out the tannins and make the young wine seem more accessible. Both Rhones and Bordeaux make a classic match with roast, but I'm really fond of the Rhone and would probably open the Chateauneuf with this dish, then maybe save the Bordeaux for a year or two before opening it with a steak.

I too will be having a standing rib roast for my Christmas dinner, and have an older red wine from Lebanon that I wish to open. However I agree with Robin that both of the wines you mention are very young. Opening either of these at this young age will deprive you of what the wines would become a few years down the road. Having said that though, there is no reason you should not open one of them with your dinner, then replace it for the cellar. Also, like Robin, I would elect to open the Rhone instead of the Bdx. I hope you will come back and let us know how it went with your dinner.[/url]

Thanks for the input, I'll go w/ the Chateauneuf and post the results. Merry Christmas:-)

This convinced me to drop the 2003 Chimney Rock Cab in favor of of a 2003 CdP (Ogier Les Closiers) that I found just before Thanksgiving. A local upscale grocer was pouring tastes. I got the last bottle and now have to wait for the 04 (Feb) to get more.

Best match for Prime Rib?


My fork and a knife

I too have been debating which wine to serve with a prime rib tonight. And the tannin situation came to mind. Initially, I was going to open an 82 Barolo, a bottle that should be prime for drinking. But then realized the tannins were probably gone and the wine could be overwhelmed by the beef. With limited Barolo experience, is that a correct deduction?

So I started thinking of wines with some tannins left. I'm looking at a 97 Grgich Hills Cab, a 98 Duckhorn Howell Mountain Merlot, a 99 Kelham Merlot, an 00 Stags Leap Merlot, a 99 Beaucastel CdP, a 97 Chapoutier "La Sizeranne," an 00 ESJ Wylie-Fenaughty, or an 03 Lagier Meredith Syrah.

Choices, choices. Comments?

MikeH, I wish I could offer suggestions, but I am really quite a novice so I'll leave it to the others.

I opened the CdP about an hour ago. My language and ability to pull nuances is still really unsophisticated, so the best description I can give on the first impression is that it is indeed very young, since it didn't taste very...full...to me? Not sure exactly how to describe it. Very simple and just not much "meat" to it.

However, I just poured a bit more, and having let it sit has benefited it I think. Stronger and fuller, both on the nose and the palate. Maybe I taste black cherries?

Sorry...this must be terribly offensive to those of you who know what you're doing!!

Anyway, I'll come back later and give my thoughts on how it went with the meal (whether you want to read them or not

I opened the CdP about an hour ago. My language and ability to pull nuances is still really unsophisticated, so the best description I can give on the first impression is that it is indeed very young, since it didn't taste very...full...to me? Not sure exactly how to describe it. Very simple and just not much "meat" to it.

However, I just poured a bit more, and having let it sit has benefited it I think. Stronger and fuller, both on the nose and the palate. Maybe I taste black cherries?

Sorry...this must be terribly offensive to those of you who know what you're doing!!

Not at all! Nobody has a patent on wine descriptions, although there is a common wine geek jargon floating around.

The wine geek jargon for "didn't taste very full" is "closed". It's a common phenomenon in young red wines. For several years after bottling, a young wine may "close up" or "shut down". It becomes not very aromatic or (because most of what we call the sense of taste is really sense of smell) very flavorful. After several more years of bottle aging, the same wine "opens up" again, gaining in both aroma and depth of flavor.

Letting the wine sit in a glass exposed to the air is a sort of accelerated aging process. So what you saw was the wine opening up again and becoming more flavorful.

Black cherries are a very common tasting note in red wines.

Salut,

-Paul W.

Well, I drank the bottle over roughly a 5 hour period, and I found it most enjoyable when I was gnawing on some of the crispier, fatty pieces from the end of the roast. Both the meat and the wine tasted better, and the wine actually tasted kind of chocolatey with this part of the meat (vs. the rare cuts that are my favorites). It tasted kind of earthy w/ the rare cuts.

Didn't go well at all w/ the bread pudding and vanilla ice-cream, obviously:)

Or with the chocolates that I had when finishing off the last glass. I've heard so many people advocate red wine and chocolate together, but I've never really found that they appeal to me as a pair. When we were in S. Africa one of the wineries paired some pretty distinct Belgian chocolates w/ some of their reds, and it just didn't knock my socks off. Although I've had some port that I thought went fantastically w/ dark chocolate.

Anyway, that's my Christmas meal story. Taking a six week class from the Washington Wine Academy in January, so hopefully my descriptions and scope will improve soon!

[James Roscoe]

I had a CdP but it was an "03 and was too hot and sweet. I switched to a couple of Pomerols that did the trick very nicely.

I had a CdP but it was an "03 and was too hot and sweet. I switched to a couple of Pomerols that did the trick very nicely.

James, which 2003 CndP did you open. Robin and others are on record of saying that the southern Rhone faired much better than the northern Rhone, and I think there is probably some validity in that assessment. But since my wine budget is of finite boundaries, I so far have been careful to not buy 2003's from any of France. I will likely miss out on a lot of good wines, but I am going on the premise that I have enough wine that I can wait on the 2004's

I have noted that in most cases the 2003 CndP's took a pretty darn hefty price increase, and I do not think for a moment that it is all about the disparity between the dollar and the Euro either. A case in point is what has happened to the 2003 Pegau. I paid $30 for the 2001, and the 2002 was not worth even that, although it went up by 6-10 dollars. The 2003 (locally) was stocked at $70, and when the Speck put it as their number 2 of 2006, the local baron robber BAWS jumped even that by $30 making it $99.99 so I stay away from 2003's.

I remember that when the Cinc Cepage was a top 100 wine a few years ago, and it went from $28 per to $75 per, it still sits there, and I still think it is a nice wine at $25 or so. I do not expect to see Pegau for under $60 anywhere ever again.

[James Roscoe]

I had a CdP but it was an "03 and was too hot and sweet. I switched to a couple of Pomerols that did the trick very nicely.

James, which 2003 CndP did you open. Robin and others are on record of saying that the southern Rhone faired much better than the northern Rhone, and I think there is probably some validity in that assessment. But since my wine budget is of finite boundaries, I so far have been careful to not buy 2003's from any of France. I will likely miss out on a lot of good wines, but I am going on the premise that I have enough wine that I can wait on the 2004's.

Bob, the CdP was a Le Vieux Donjon and if it had been from California I would probably have said it was restrained and a pretty good effort. The friends we had for dinner are big California wine lovers. They thought this wine was great. Another friend, who has a more refined palate, liked it, but liked the two Pomerols (a 2000 and a 1996) much better. For the record the Pomerols were a La Plincette (2000) and a Tretyns (1996). The prime rib (20 lbs) was simply done in the oven with some basic seasonings. It was divine. We also had twice baked potatoes, some with gorgonzola and vidalia onions as well as the ubiquitous, but delicious green bean casserole. The Bordeaux made the better match. A magnum of champagne made its way around the table for our traditional family toasts and sauternes and a variety of pies (pecan, lemon custard, and five berry) were for dessert. Other wine flowed freely and tarot readings by my niece completed an enjoyable Christmas.

James, your dinner sounds great, and the wines were to say the least interesting. The Donjon CndP is a good one, if a few years too young. I would likely have liked the bdx best too. Man a 20 pound rib roast, you must (I hope) have lots of left overs. My little 7 pound dry aged roast pales in comparison. Happy New Year James, and bring some of that beef and wine to chat tonight.