Seattle, WA
Tasted Tuesday, January 22, 2008 by kris.h with 799 views
Eight of us gathered at Union Restaurant in downtown Seattle for a spectacular evening of food, wine, and good company. Thank you Dave for organizing this and I look forward to seeing you at future events.
This paired rather nicely with the Totten Virginica Oysters. Served with meyer lemon ice and Trampetti olive oil.
The next course was green lentil soup. Included a poached hen egg and bacon. A really nice soup that paired really well with the southern rhones.
Somewhere around this point we were served a seared sea scallop with parsnip and apple puree, and braised red cabbage. This was a tasty course but it should have been served after the oyster and it did not pair well with any of the reds.
Beef strip sirloin with roasted root vegetables, potato puree, and red wine sauce. I can't complain about beef and syrah. A really nice dish though after being spoiled by Flannery's steaks, this one was on the lean side.
Blue del Moncenisio with plum mostarda. The blue cheese worked reasonably well with the reds and was a nice transition to dessert.
Chocolate terrine with cherry gelato, and pecan praline. This dish was really really good. I could have eaten two of these.
For my taste the Rhones edged out the Rhone Rangers. California shows lots of promise though and it will be interesting to see what domestic producers of Rhone styled wines do over the years.
Though some of the scores I've assigned may indicate otherwise, my 3 favorite wines were:
1. 2001 Charvin
2. 1994 Jaboulet La Chapelle
3. 1995 La Nerthe Cuvee des Cadettes
The group favorites were:
1. 1999 Pegau Cuvee Reservee
2. 2001 Charvin
3. 2004 Cayuse Bionic Frog
2002 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 90 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Deep yellow in color. The nose has honey, dried apricot, and some sherried components to it. Good full oily mouth feel. Lemon custard-like. Must be in that oxidative phase typical of white Chateauneuf-du-Pape. This didn't detract from the wine for me and I rather enjoyed it.
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