Saturday Night – Steak, steak and more steak – Part 2

Click here for Part 1

 

The main course was beef tenderloin topped with lobster, sugar snap peas and Béarnaise sauce with a side of baby potatoes.  I paired this course with a 2005 Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

 

The nose was a pleasing mix of cassis, blackberry, pine tree, cinnamon, eucalyptus, pencil shavings, vanilla and lavender.  The nose was actually very cool as strength of each of those aromas changed as the wine opened up.  Tasting the wine the cassis and blackberry carried through to the flavour with a sprinkling of dark chocolate in the background.  This was one of the most perfectly balanced and smoothest wines I have ever tried; the tannin was silky and smooth, the acidity was high enough to be refreshing but not in your face and the alcohol didn’t overpower the wine.   As a paring for the main course it was amazing and it was just as good on its own.  My only regret I have with this wine is that I only had one bottle of it the on the rack.

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 92, Mark – 92, Kathy – 91, Amy – 91, Overall – 91.5

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
VINTAGES#: 718452
Price : $59.95
Release Date: September 13, 2014
750 mL bottle
Alcohol/Vol14.5%
Made in: California, USA
By:Chateau Montelena
Sugar Content:6 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: D – Dry
Style: Full-bodied & Smooth
Varietal: Cabernet/Merlot

Description- A child of the cool 2011 vintage, this Cab will be lively and fresh with excellent acidity, dominant red fruit flavours and great structure. A nice mix of New World presence and refined, Old World sensibility from one of the legendary producers who made history at the 1976 Paris tasting.
*Please note that this is for the 2011 vintage and not the 2005 reviewed here.

The 91.5 overall rating puts this wine into the Zippy Sauce Top Ten Reds and it very much deserves to be there.  I’m a little shocked at the $60 price point as I would have guessed by the quality of this wine that the price should easily be double that. 

For dessert I made up a batch of Reese’s Fudge and the Chateau Montelena worked nicely with that as well. 

Fun night, though maybe a touch too much food but oh well that is what Saturday nights are about.

Cheers!

Mark