Tonight’s supper, after two days of great indulgence, was the last of our Copper River Sockeye filet on Farmers’ Market greens dressed with a lime-herb Champagne vinaigrette. The filet, cut in half for the two of us, was pan-grilled to medium rare in Tahitian Lime olive oil, seasoned on the flesh side with onion powder, key-lime pepper, and tarragon; and on the skin side with key-lime pepper and coarse sea salt. I chose a 2005 Domaine Pavelot Savigny-le-Beaune ‘Les Narbatons’, since it was more likely to have good acicidy than my usual choice with salmon, Volnay. The Savigny was a good choice for the salad;; Cork saturated about a quarter of its length; dark ruby in color; bright nose and flavors of rich, spicy red fruit; mid-palate of a good balance of bracing acidity and bright fruit; with a long fruity finish. The salad and wine were quite enjoyable on a windy late Spring evening with rain falling all around us, but not here.
Then for dessert we had, while watching practice and qualifying for the Turkish F1 GP (via TiVo), chocolates and, to participate in the Dusi ranch tasting this weekend, a 2002 Ridge Paso Robles Zinfandel (from old vines Dusi Ranch fruit) - lighter in color, nose. and flavors than the 2002 Dusi Ranch we had a while ago; it still had the classic Dusi earthy berry fruit; barely adequate acidity; and a medium long berry finish. It worked adequately with the chocolates - TJ’s Belgian Chocolate bars, milk chocolate for Carollee and 72% Cocoa Dark Chocolate for me, as well as hazelnut chocolate and French Vanilla Piroulines. The Dusi Zin was better with the Piroulines than with the pure chocolate bars.