While I was at home in Richmond
this past weekend, I enjoyed a nice dinner with my family where we decided to
have a wine showdown. The competition
was between a California Zinfandel and French Bordeaux wine. My father had returned from Paris, France two
days previous to our family dinner, and brought home some bottles of wine for
my family to enjoy. Coincidently, one part of this wine and food pairing went
perfect with our lecture on Thursday focusing on French wines, so I felt very
knowledgeable around the dinner table and didn’t hold back to offer my wisdom
when I could.
Learning in lecture, that France is
still the “Disney World” of wines, I was very excited to try the wine my Dad
brought back. It was a Boudreaux wine
from Chateau La Rose Beausejour. The Grand Vin De Bourdeux is from the Cotes De
Castillon region. It was bottled in 2007
“mis en boutelle au chateau”, which translates to bottled at the chateau.
I opened
the bottle and poured a little in the glass to observe the color, smell, and
taste. I brought the glass up to eye level and saw a medium ruby color. I swirled
the glass in an attempt to observe the legs and noticed a fair amount of
reminiscence on the glass. Upon initial smell, I got hints of cigars, subtle of
earthy tones, and a crisp bark. The aromatics enticed me to try the wine and
see what it tasted like on the pallet.
Upon tasting it, it went down smoothly and tasted similar to the
aromatics. It was definitely a medium to
full-bodied Boudreaux that presented bold flavors on the palate. I tasted spices with a hint of earthiness in
this wine. Although I have tasted spicy
wines before, this spice was not overwhelming and was very smooth in my
mouth.
After
sampling the Grand Vin De Bourdeux, I was sure that no one could compare. However, I was very impressed with the
Summerland 2006 Zinfandel. The grape
used to make this wine is originally from Croatia and is widely planted
throughout California.
The
Summerland Zinfandel is a dark purple color with evident tannins upon
swirling. When I took a sniffy sniff I
smelled berries, spice, and a lot of pepper.
I was expecting the wine to be very spicy when I tasted it after the
definite spice aroma, but I was very surprised when I tasted it. I tasted a relatively sweet flavor, almost a
mix of berries and vanilla flavoring. I
swirled it in my mouth, and appreciated the smoothness upon swallowing.
After about ten minutes, I tasted
the wine again and started tasting more hints of spice and pepper. I thought this wine was very balanced and
offered a good variety of flavors. For
about $20, I thought this wine offered excellent value and a variety of flavors
that make it compatible with an array of foods.
My family
chose to Asian lettuce wraps to pair with the Boudreaux and Zinfandel wine. The spiciness of the Asian lettuce wraps
paired with I think it paired very well and was compatible with the pallet.
The
competition was pretty tight between the two wines, but I think I favored the Grand
Vin De Boudreaux a little more than the Summerland Zinfandel. I thought the Summerland almost offered too
many flavors that made it confusing where are the Bordeaux was bold and all
encompassing of earthy tones.
