TN - Pinot Noir and shrimp tacos
 

My wife, incredible chef that she is, put together some shrimp tacos
this evening. It had shrimp (of course), portabello mushrooms, peppers,
tomatoes, and a marinade of lime juice, olive oil, Old Aay, garlic,
cliantro, and some other stuff - who knows - I'm not the chef, just the
happy gourmet. This of course presented me the problem of which of the
available wines to accompany. I had thought of a Savignon Blanc, but
the dish asked for more. I had a Laurel Ridge reserve Pinot Noir (2002)
I had picked up on a recent trip to Willamette Valley I'd picked it up
at the vineyard, so was quite happy with it at the time, but it had not
shown all that well against a salmon a few days prior. I had found it
dark and a bit harsh (a surprise for a p.n.) and it overpowered the
salmon. But against this dish I thought it would find its match.

What a surprise... the dark flavors of the spices in the shrimp tacos
were perfect for the wine, and it shone in all its glory. Not only was
it not harsh, it was quite smooth and showed quite a bit of complexity -
just what had induced me to pick it at the winery. Interestingly, the
portabellos had a sweetness which would have also been perfect with a
s.b.; had I been in the mood I might have opened both up and done a
comparison, but I was enjoying the pinot too much.

93.88275 for the combo on the modified Parker scale.

Jose
--
Nothing takes longer than a shortcut.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

TN - Pinot Noir and shrimp tacos
 

In article >, teacherjh@aol.
nojunk.com says...
>
>My wife, incredible chef that she is, put together some shrimp tacos
>this evening. It had shrimp (of course), portabello mushrooms, peppers,
>tomatoes, and a marinade of lime juice, olive oil, Old Aay, garlic,
>cliantro, and some other stuff - who knows - I'm not the chef, just the
>happy gourmet. This of course presented me the problem of which of the
>available wines to accompany. I had thought of a Savignon Blanc, but
>the dish asked for more. I had a Laurel Ridge reserve Pinot Noir (2002)
>I had picked up on a recent trip to Willamette Valley I'd picked it up
>at the vineyard, so was quite happy with it at the time, but it had not
>shown all that well against a salmon a few days prior. I had found it
>dark and a bit harsh (a surprise for a p.n.) and it overpowered the
>salmon. But against this dish I thought it would find its match.
>
>What a surprise... the dark flavors of the spices in the shrimp tacos
>were perfect for the wine, and it shone in all its glory. Not only was
>it not harsh, it was quite smooth and showed quite a bit of complexity -
>just what had induced me to pick it at the winery. Interestingly, the
>portabellos had a sweetness which would have also been perfect with a
>s.b.; had I been in the mood I might have opened both up and done a
>comparison, but I was enjoying the pinot too much.
>
>93.88275 for the combo on the modified Parker scale.
>
>Jose

Not familiar with the Laurel Ridge PN. Have to look for some. It obviously had
enough acid to handle the tomatoes (though there might not have been THAT
many). My wife did a tomato/wine tasting last May and SBs were the hands-down
-winners (tasted raw, plain), with some Chiantis knocking on the door.

Anyway, your report made me hungry. Maybe we still have a few Gulf shrimp,
fresh frozen off the boats in S Lousiana, prior to Katrina. I'll see about
whipping up something close. BTW what is "olive oil, Old Aay, garlic... " Old
Aay?

Love the MRP, JR Scale! What a hoot!!! As with DaleW's TNs, a description of
the wine, or how it goes/went with the dish(s) is that which is most
important.

Hunt


--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth

TN - Pinot Noir and shrimp tacos
 

> Old
> Aay?

"Old Bay", it's a spice (or rather, a commercial combination of spices).
Maybe that PN was a bit more powerful than I gave it credit for!

Jose
--
Nothing takes longer than a shortcut.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

TN - Pinot Noir and shrimp tacos
 

In article >, teacherjh@aol.
nojunk.com says...
>
>> Old
>> Aay?
>
>"Old Bay", it's a spice (or rather, a commercial combination of spices).
> Maybe that PN was a bit more powerful than I gave it credit for!
>
>Jose
>--
>Nothing takes longer than a shortcut.
>for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

I've got 'ya. I had poured over several culinary books and never made that
connection.

Thanks,
Hunt

--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth