The Blind Crew at Sundried Tomatoe Cafe
Sundried Tomatoe Cafe, San Juan Capistrano
Tasted Saturday, October 3, 2009 by WetRock with 867 views
Introduction
After a bumpy start the first go around the Blind Crew was roused a second go at the Sundried Tomatoe Cafe. The idea here is we have a group of about a dozen friends get together for a several course meal where with each course a member of the group brings 3-4 wines bagged up to pair with the food and we make asses of ourselves guessing at them. Frank Murray and Steve Nordhoff did the leg work here and set us up with a very good meal covering 4 courses plus dessert. It was a great time as always and plenty of us felt silly guessing at the wines.
All wines bagged with each course with the reveals coming around the time the food was served for each flight. The exception being the Sauternes with the dessert. The night's contestants were me, Sean Kennedy, Chris Silkowski and Leslie Fisher in that order for wine flight responsibilities. I don't know if I had one WOTN but several stand outs for me were the 03 Selbach, the 06 Copain, the 07 Melville, the 05 Switchback and the Suduiraut. Liked plenty of the other wines as well and there were plenty of surprises.
Thanks everyone. Great time as always!
Flight 1 - 1st Course (4 Notes)
Pan Seared Jumbo Scallops with Orange Saffron sauce
Blackened Chicken Spring Rolls with Honey Cilantro sauce
This flight was my responsibility and for me the two dishes called for very different wines so I chose to go with two and two for types. I immediately thought Germany for the spring rolls with honey and cilantro which turned out to work very well since the sauce had a bit of a kick to it. I settled on Chardonnay for the scallops though both wines performed a bit oddly. Both Selbachs drank well particularly the 03 which is surprisingly balanced and not huge for the vintage. The 02 could use more bottle time in my estimation. Even with a decant the Chablis was tight as a drum and the Arcadian showed an odd mix of big butter and minerality. I liked the spring rolls with a yummy sauce quite a bit and the pairing worked well. I thought the scallops could have been fresher though and the wines didn't exactly line up there.....or anywhere. :)
Flight 2 - 2nd Course (5 Notes)
Rosemary Smoked Salmon with tarragon aioli served with toast points
This flight was Sean's go at it. He lined us up with some Cali Pinots which turned out to be my favorite flight. All of the wines had something interesting to offer and were well made. The salmon was tasty and well cooked though the dish overall and it's presentation were a bit confusing in set up. Sean replaced the corked August West with a bonus WineBid baby that was much more alive than I expected and didn't die while we had it on the table. The Copain and Melville have bright futures ahead of them.
Flight 3 - 3rd Course (4 Notes)
Portobello Mushroom Rissotto Served with Braised Beef with Portobello Mushroom and Goat Cheese Crostini
This was Chris' flight and he elected to go with Pinots again. I have to say taht this was the most challenging flight as none of the wines seemed anything like Pinot to me. We had a hard time identifying them at our end. The Loring really seemed like a Zin to me and to be fair I think that was a barrel sample and not a bottled wine. The meat on the third wine really threw me off as did the banana notes on the second wine. These were pretty far from what I think of as Oregon Pinot. The dish was very good to me with the mushroom risotto seeming very fresh and the beef very tasty.
Flight 4 - 4th Course (4 Notes)
Lamb Chops encrusted with Dijon Mustard and Bread Crumbs drizzled with Port Wine Reduction
Grilled Vegetable Wrap
Gorgonzola Au Gratin Potatoes
On to Leslie's contributions. She elected to try and really trip us up which she was completely successful at. A Zin from New Zealand that came off like a Grenache, a Carlisle Zin that was more like a Syrah and a Quilceda Creek that I think confused because it was so damn tight we had a hard time getting anything out of it. The Switchback really seemed like a Cab to me with being heavy on the things I don't like about so many of them these days and was my easy favorite of the flight. I was getting really full at this point which was a bummer because the gorgonzola potatoes were delicious as was the grilled veggies. The Lamb while on the gamey side was very tender.
Flight 5 - Dessert (1 Note)
Creme Brulee Trio with Vanilla Bean, Berry and Chocolate
Ramon generously brought two 375's of Suduiraut here from a great vintage for an easy win. No brainer great wine. I was stuffed at this point so only really took a couple tastes of each one of these. The chocolate was great with some chips in the bottle.
2004 La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
Decanted about 2 hours prior to consumption. Very tight showing lots of minerals on the nose and palate but little else. Bone dry and a bit smokey. Served blind and guessed as a Sancerre which was telling. No flaws detected. Will check in tonight and see if it opened any.
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2006 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
Decanted about 2 hours prior to consumption. Rich buttery nose. Butter on the palate with some lemon but there was a strong mineral core that stands out later in the palate. An odd mix of bigger typical Cali and a more lean mineral wine.
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2002 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese *
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Cherry lime nose with some petrol that fades in the glass. Lightly sugared and well balanced showing a red apple flavors. A good Spatlese that could use more time in bottle.
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2003 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Initially the nose is lemon Pledge but later on a crystal mineral quality peaks out. Clean, pretty and surprisingly light for such a young Auslese from such a hot vintage. I think the wine making really shines here. Maybe not a real long term Auslese but great for earlier drinking. Very good.
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