Hello Easter celebrating Gentile Berserkers,
Fellow TWEC ™ and board member Mike Grammer and I had Easter Sunday dinner over at our (gentile) friends Brad and Marnie Kent’s place last night. You may recognize those names, they were the hosts and venue owners of last summer’s TONGUE 2023 event. They graciously invited us over for Easter dinner along with a few celebratory wines. Here’s what we had and how it went down:
The evening started with a chocolate Easter egg guessing game. Marnie randomly bought 6 different brands and put them randomly in different cups and we had to guess which one was which and choose our favorites. Some were bargain brand, others were expensive. Similar to blind wine tasting, preconceived notions go out the window and some surprises were in store:
The brands in play in the order of the numbered egg cups were as follows. My guess to each is in brackets beside:
- Lindt Mini Eggs (Hershey’s)
- Sobey’s Compliments Candy-Coated Milk Chocolate Eggs (Walmart)
- Loblaw’s President’s Choice Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Eggs (Loblaw’s)
- Hershey’s Eggies (Lindt)
- Walmart Great Value Milk Chocolate Mini Eggs (Cadbury)
- Cadbury Mini Eggs (Sobey’s)
You should all know the Hershey’s, Lindt and Walmart Great Value brands. Cadbury is sold in Canada and Britain. Their license was bought out by Hershey in the US so that doesn’t really count. Sobey’s and Loblaw’s are national Canadian supermarket chains, the equivalent to Topp’s and Wegman’s in the US.
The Hershey’s ended up being the clear winner as everyone’s favorites. The Lindt was equally tasty and were the largest sized egg, but also outrageously expensive for what it offered and didn’t best the Hershey’s Eggies. The supermarket brands came last. The Cadbury was surprisingly on the same level as the supermarket brands. Marnie also made some cookies using the eggs:
Our first red was the Massimo Rivetti 2004 Barbaresco Serraboella. Beautiful dark burgundy purple color belies the fact that on the palate it was a little deflated and tired. Very barnyard earthy type flavors with hints of dried blackberry and cherries. Not good on its own if I’m being honest, but substantially better with food, especially the ham and scalloped potatoes.
Our only white wine was the Hidden Bench 2020 Fumé Blanc Rosomel Vineyard. An oak-barrel aged Sauvignon Blanc. This was saline and creamy, with lots of white peach, white grapefruit and herbal flavors with a high acidity. Could easily pass for a Pouilly-Fumé from the Loire. Nice stuff.
Our next red was the Trapet Rocholandet 2014 Gevrey-Chambertain 1er Cru Bel Air. Very smooth textured wine, this is all dried wild strawberries on the nose and fresh wild strawberries in the mouth.
With this dinner was served. Our double main was an Easter Ham and Roast Chicken with Grilled Pineapple rings.
For our sides, we had String Beans Amadine and Glazed Carrots.
Our final red was the Model Farm 2018 Syrah. This was decanted ahead of time for 3 hours by Mike. Pencil lead on the nose, high acidity and loads of sour cherry flavor. Smooth body with integrated tannins. A classic Cali Syrah.
And last for dessert, I made a Key Lime Pie.
I didn’t sample the Hidden Bench Fume Blanc, but not surprised it showed well, always a winning wine from this high-level Ontario producer.