Well thought out food and wine matching is all well and good, but randomly selecting two bottles of wine when you have decided what you are having for dinner is something I like doing. Granted, you run a risk of neither of them working, but you also stand a chance of finding an unlikely success! Sirloin steak, baked potatoes and some steamed veggies was my dinner last night and the two wines that I tried were 2001 Chateau Cissac and 2005 Peachy Canyon Incredible Red Zinfandel. Would they work, would they not?Both are available for around ten pounds and are both wines that I've tried before and like. The Cissac has lovely rich fruit, some sour cherry and a little basil and black pepper on the nose. There is also some menthol creeping through as well. A concentrated palate, more sour cherry, leathery tannins and a nice herby flavour with a dusting of cocoa. The finish is a little short and dusty, but this is drinking so well. 8/10
The American wine proclaims itself as the "Incredible Red", and it is a full on oak fest. Juicy cherry and lots of strawberries. Slightly confected nose, a bit of marshmallow, and then lots of raspberry and cranberry juice. The palate is all cranberry, a little cherry bubblegum and quite a bit of alcohol. That softens though, and the finish is chocolatey with just a little confected strawberries on the finish. 7/10
The Cissac went pretty well with the meal. It certainly isn't a 'sit down on the sofa and drink it while watching a movie' wine (despite the fact that I polished off the bottle later). It's herby, slightly leathery character matched well with the caramelised steak juices. The Zinfandel however didn't. It was far too fruity, so soft and totally unbalanced with the food, it needed some depth which it was just lacking. It's not a bad wine, but the confected elements were exaggerated by the savoury elements of the meal making it almost sickly. The oak also clashed terribly with the baked potato. I was once at a champagne dinner and the chef decided to make mashed potato with vanilla seeds through it. The combination of the vanilla oak and the potato reminded me of that.
I had two good wines, that I've had before and enjoyed. When I tasted them before dinner my previous opinions were reiterated. However, paired with my dinner one worked very well, one totally tanked!
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