For the main course I did a roasted beef tenderloin with a port and shallot sauce with sides of mashed potatoes with caramelized onions and a side of green beans. To pair with this, I went with a 2000 Chateau Pichon Longueville "Comtesse du Lalande" from Pauillac in Bordeaux France.
The nose was big and easy to find with aromas of forest floor, black pepper, green pepper, cedar, raspberry, vanilla and mushroom. Tasting the wine, raspberry and green pepper flavours are the dominate ones with hint of nutmeg and artichoke in the background. The structure of the wine caught me off guard as it was more acidic than tannic and reminded me more of an Italian red than a French red. The tannin was extremely fine and silky and this wine came across super smooth and very drinkable. It was a good pairing with the meal but I’d have preferred something a little more masculine and big bodied vs. subtle/smooth feminine style this was to go with the food. This wine was however a very nicely crafted wine and I’m very glad we tried it.
Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 92, Mark - 90, Kathy – 92, Amy – 91, Overall – 91.25.
Here is the LCBO information on the wine –
CHÂTEAU PICHON LONGUEVILLE COMTESSE DE LALANDE 2005
VINTAGES 505875750 mL bottle
Price $ 215.00
Made in: Bordeaux, France
By: Veyret Latour
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Wine, Red Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Bordeaux
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry
Tasting Note - In recent years, Pichon Comtesse has developed an elegance all its own, with great style, smoothing out the real intensity of the wine. This 2005 continues in that tradition, a spice, fruity wine, which has restraint as well as hidden power. Score - 95. (Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast, June 2008)
Note this LCBO listing is for the 2005 vintage and not the 2000 reviewed here.
With the 91.25 rating this wine sneaks onto the Zippy Sauce Top Ten Reds and it is a deserving entry. It was very good though to be honest with how stunning the 2005 Cristal was it feels like a bit of letdown. Mind you, if a really good bottle of red isn’t as good as an exceptional bottle of Champagne is my biggest problem with the night, I guess things can’t be too bad. J
Dinner was very good, it has been a while since I have done mashed potatoes with caramelized onions and I had forgotten how good they can be. The meat was cooked to a perfect medium-rare and I could have easily taken away the steak knives and replaced them with butter knives as the beef was that tender.
For dessert I picked up a La Rocca Lindt Swiss Chocolate Flan for dessert which was very good. The wine was a good pairing with it (for those of us who still had some left).
There is a reason I look forward to this meal all year long and I’m already hoping next New Year’s Eve will get here soon. To all my readers – have a happy and safe 2014.
Cheers!
Mark
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