Fine Wine for a special celebration

With life currently full of postponements and changes we have finally been able to be joined by a few friends to celebrate Hubby's birthday - he's 60 plus 40 but certainly not 100! 

To celebrate Hubby chose four super wines from Majestic, we paired them with our starters and had a great time enjoying and discovering wine from around the world. 

First our two whites, one from France the other from New Zealand. We paired the Bourgogne Blanc with salmon pate and the St. Clair Sauvignon Blanc with mini chicken kebabs and tomatoes. 

Our Bourgogne Chardonnay is made by Domaine Jomain from 40 year old vines. Their vineyard lies near to Puligny-Montrachet known for it's expensive chardonnay. A little cheaper in price but still full of Burgundy Chardonnay characteristics. A clean inviting very pale yellow in the glass with honey and lemon aromas. It was a buttery cream edged wine with honey notes without being sweet. We all loved it's great depth and it was superb with our salmon starter. 

I often find New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc too full flavoured and hard hitting for me, our friends are the same and as such we usually drink French wine. However we all agreed the Pioneer Block from Marlborough was stunning. It's grown in a selective patch, or block, and is only made if the vintage is good. Such a pale clear colour, with a slight hint of green it gave a superb nose full of gooseberries and passionfruit. It was so delicate in the mouth, yet full of flavour. Plenty of the said gooseberries, a green leafiness, apples and stone fruit led to a crisp lengthy finish. We all enjoyed this Sauvignon Blanc from the New World, it paired best with the vine tomatoes. 

Our two red wines were also from opposite wine regions; Australia and Italy. I'm a big fan of Yalumba wine so being a special occasion we chose The Cigar from Coonawarra. This Cabernet Sauvignon wine, paired with Ardennes pate, split the table, some people could smell the rich dark fruits and spice notes whilst others found is quite light in aroma. We also differed on taste findings, I loved it's plum, sour cherry and blackcurrant flavour and thought it's finish smooth and long lasting. I did also pick up tobacco and woody notes, Hubby thought cedarwood whereas others found it light in fruit and slightly tannic, it just shows how our tastebuds are so different: thank goodness there is such variety in wine! We did all agree it paired very well with the pate. 

Our final red was Ciabot Berton 2017 Barolo. Hubby likes Barolo wine and this was a must try as it's label predominantly displays 1961, the year Hubby was born. This wine is from a small winery and is aged for two years in oak. It was noticeably lighter in co.our than our first red and was the first of our wines to have floral notes in its aroma. Full flavoured this Barolo had plenty of earthy spicy notes, red fruits and hints of rose. For me although light and quite elegant it was a little too tannic for me. It was quite a surprise that the usual non red drinkers preferred the Yalumba although I guess it was the fruitier of the two wines. Hubby's favourite was the aptly labelled Barolo, especially when accompanied with duck slices on ciabatta.

 

It doesn't really matter what the date is celebrations can and should happen anytime, they are so important - we had a super night enjoying some very fine wines.

A while ago I bought a bottle of Juracon from Lidl but as this is a sweeter wine we've not had the opportunity to try it. It's made in one of most southern regions of France, close to the Spanish border and being such a yellow colour gives a feel of sunny days. We enjoyed this with our profiterole dessert and cheese board. Although a sweeter wine it wasn't as sweet as a dessert wine, there were plenty of peach and apricot flavours with a hint of herby mint. It was super with the profiteroles and equally good with the Cheshire cheese, according pained by walnuts and drizzled with honey, lovely. 

During the past week we've also enjoyed a lovely Blanquette de Limoux from Majestic, perfect with our fish and chip supper. Tuesday was Burns Night and although neither of us have any Scottish blood we did cook a haggis. It was a lovely meal finished very nicely by a wee dram of Benraich with shortbread fingers.

A final note to just bring two superb reds to your attention: Laithwaites' Boscwood Petit Verdot Shiraz and Lidl's Fitou. The first from Australia, not normally known for Petit Verdot was superb, full of dark fruit, spice and liquorice. The Fitou, a cheaper wine, was also full of fruit with spicy notes but not quite the same depth and finish. Both wines were however very enjoyable and on our 'buy again' list 

This week brings Chinese New Year, the year of the tiger. We'll be enjoying a homemade Chinese meal with a bottle of wine I've already earmarked, but it's not one that would usually be chosen for food from the Far East ... reviews next week!