The BBQ Wines

Started out on the deck in the searing heat. Jon was pouring a white and playing guess the grape. A high acid wine with a mineral bite, some nuttiness, and sharp white fruit. Kind of chablis like, but not quite. It's a ......... apple wine from Findleton Winery in El Dorado. Quite nice (but not after eating chocolate). Then a 08 See Ya Later Ranch (BC) rose called Nelly, supposedly after the winery dog white. Very dark for a rose, lots of fruit and good balance. A 06 Gugliemo Sangio was opened, but it was still too hot for red for me, so on to the 07 Quails Gate (BC) Riesling - lots of acid in this baby too. Deelightful. Then another rose arrived, this one a Thornehaven (BC) Divino - a bricky colour, perhaps a bit over the hill with oxidized notes, but still decent fruit and complexity.

Then the onslaught of reds with the meal commenced:

05 Cedar Creek (BC) Merlot/Cab - had that slightly vegetal leafy BC cab thing, very nice.

04 Chateau La Roque Pic St. Loup (FR) - a Languedoc mourvedre. This was really enjoyable, a bit of garrigue on the nose, some in the palate as well along with juicy plum/ch fruit and good balance. Really worked with the red meat.

02 Noceto Mistura 180 degree Selection - from Amador, blend of ??. I recall this as being lighter, lots of acid, tasty. But my mental notes are getting fuzzy at this point.

01 Obscurity Zin - older, port'ish nose. Raisiny fruit, might work with chocolate but I did not like with the food.

06 Mettler Cab (Lodi) - big wine, I still think Lodi cab always tastes like zin. Which is not necessarily a problem......

then of course, the dessert with

07 Weinkeller Schick Kerner Icewine - from Pfalz via TJ's - soft nose and beautiful sweet fruit followed by acid bite. Well done.

07 See Ya Later Ranch Ehrenfelser Icewine - holy crap, awesome aromatics followed by intense sweet apricot like fruit and then bang, a citric acid explosion. The WOTN.

The chocolate mousse rocked, and really should have been accompanied by port, and I toyed with the idea of opening one. This morning I was glad I did not.

G