Dinner - With the Peeps (My Home)

Last week I enjoyed a very nice wine dinner with my family.  We planned a three course extravaganza with some extremely nice wines from around Europe and Argentina.  There was no central theme to the dinner other than to have some spectacular wine, good company, and great food.  And all in all I think the evening turned out to be pretty enjoyable. 

The dining room table a few hours prior to our meal.  Getting everything laid out.

2013 Saurus Sauvignon Blanc

Jump Shrimp wrapped in bacon &
Kent

We kicked the night off with a white wine and bacon-wrapped shrimp combo.  The shrimps were fried in butter and garlic and then oven roasted to ensure crispy bacon.  It was every bit as delicious as we planned it.  We paired the shrimp with a Sauvignon Blanc from Patagonia, Argentina.  Our first wine, the 2013 Saurus, was delightful,  packing strong tones of lemongrass or lemon peel.  It was citrusy with a low heat component, but also refreshingly crisp.  It finished with a interesting sugar water like taste.  When paired with the jumbo shrimp any sweetness melted away into a glass full of hot melted butter.  The heat was also slightly more pronounced.

Our "wine experiment" using the
Caymus Nappa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 (L) &
Montagne Saint-Emilon Concerto Merlot 2010 (R)

While we waited anxiously for the rest of our meal to finish, a few of us decided to try a little taste experiment with a wine from the Bourdeaux region of France and the amazing red wine we would be sipping on with dinner.  We brought out two decanters, one for each of the wines, and emptied both bottles to let them breathe a little while before the main course.  We would be comparing the tastes of two famous wines, one from the "Old World" and one from the "New World."  These wines were made from two different grapes, one Merlot and the other Cabernet Sauvignon, but the point here was to get a general sense of the taste differences between old and new world wines.  Also, there were six of us and we all really like wine.  One glass per person per bottle was not going to cut it.

Mom and Jackie waiting to try the two great reds

The Caymus, and a very large wine
glass decanter. Awesome!

As the next course of our meal was being prepared we faded away from the kitchen where we had been enjoying the appetizers and transitioned into the dining room.  For dinner we were served a nice cut of steak paired with Cajun style potato wedges, green beans, and an assortment of pickled peppers and olives.  The real component of this meal that was going to pair with the wines and successfully alter the tastes was the steak though.  You know what a steak tastes like, so I'm not going to go into some overdrawn explanation about the "flavor" and "terroir" of  a grass fed free range cow that is exclusively available at Wegmans or something.  Instead, I'm going to do that with the wine (minus the terroir part).  The main table wine here was the Caymus Nappa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2012.  This was an incredible wine!  Jammy, plummy, rich spices, silky, vanilla, I mean the list goes on.  This wine was in a perfect balance between the tannins and alcohol.  It brought out such intense fruit and buttery or vanilla like aromas and flavors.  And with the steak things just got better.  The same core flavors were accentuated even more!  It's a real shame we could only spare one glass per person.  Now for that taste experiment I mentioned earlier.  After experiencing a great California wine packed full of flavors and complexity, I was riding into the next wine on a little bit of a high horse.  I really didn't think any other wine was going to compare, and frankly I'm more of a fruit forward kind of guy right now.  I can definitely appreciate the complex flavors of earthy, mushrooms, and soil that you see more in Old World wines, but as it stacks up now I'm slightly more biased in one direction.  Anyway this other wine from Bordeaux, the Montagne Saint-Emilon Concerto Merlot 2010 was still a great wine, but it definitely showcased the flavors and traits of the Old World.  I really needed to rely on eating a slice of steak to get the full flavor profile of it, otherwise I was just blasted in the face by the mouth-drying tannins.

Good old Arendt family cheers

Moving on, the last course of our evening was the desert and port pairing.  This really wrapped things up nicely.  We shared amazing chocolate lava cakes with a bottle of Ferreira Porto Ruby.  The accompaniment was fantastic.  Chocolate and cherries, there's really no way to go wrong there.  By itself the Porto had notes of rich decadent cherries.  There was a nice mouthfeel as well.  The main flavor profile I picked up was a sort of syrupy tart cherry flavor, think cherry flavored maple syrup. When eaten with the lava cake some subtle flavors were brought out, but the main thing going on was the extra blast of chocolate cake I got.

Ferreira Porto Ruby

Chocolate Lava Cake with orange zest and orange slices on top.  It was amazing

This was quite a rich night, full of flavors and good company.  As always my dad grilled a great steak, and my brother found some way to sneak garlic into the meal.  I can't wait to enjoy another wine filled night like this one.

Fierce! 

Jackie enjoying the first bite of her awesome Chocolate Lava Cake

Dad and Pam, enjoying a cup of coffee.  Too much wine maybe?

Sitting around the kitchen and sampling some of the wines