Another slow night at the coal face gave me a chance to sip a little whilst polishing glasses. Last night there was about half a bottle of Alan McCorkindale Cuvee Rose 2002 looking for a glass. It's a lovely delicate pink in the glass and the nose is clean with a fresh fruitiness. All the mouthwatering acidity of strawberries on the palate, without the candyfloss element that destroys the refreshing-ness of rose, and a nice firm kind of creaminess coming from the autolysis. Lovely. I'd give some more technical description if I had any but I don't know much about this local bubbles and this was the first time I had come across it.
After work. The Elephant Hill Viognier 2007. Less than half a bottle so I hogged it and made Rich drink beer. Another delicate wine. I've had this before after we got given a bottle to try when we visited the building site that's going to become their winery. I have a feeling that this wine has won an award recently and it's certainly a nice example of the varietal, although it lacks the pungent, florid vinosity of Condrieu or Yalumba's Virgilius. Strangely it puts me in mind of the Cable Bay Gewurtraminer with an almost chalky muscat note. Like pink smoker lollies. But other Viognier traits are in there too. Soft white flowers and apricot on the nose and the palate is starting to develop that lovely oily texture to support the full flavour of white stonefriut. Enjoyable.
Just realised that I'd posted without really delving in to the realm of food matching which is the bread and butter of my trade (literally). We'd opened the Elephant Hill to match the second course in an evening degustation. The dish was scallops with spiced eggplant puree and saffron sauce. In some ways I dislike pairing wine and food when you start with the food as the liquid in the bottle is finite whereas the food can (should) be tweaked and adjusted. I also dislike pairing wine and food when I've not tasted the food but I'm not sure these American guests were that worried about sublime combinations. On an intellectual level then....
Viognier may not be a classic match with scallops but I find the perceived sweetness of the two balances nicely. Mostly I was hoping to mimic the creamy texture of the spiced eggplant puree with a creamy textured wine without reaching for the ubiquitous Chardonnay and avoiding the inherent acidity of that grape. There's an underlying spiciness in most Viognier (subtle but there in the Elephant Hill) which should keep up with the spices in the puree and the almond kernel savouriness on the palate of the wine is in line with saffron as a flavour in the dish. Not bad.
Oh and the Americans really liked the wine. Again, not sure they were that worried about the two together but it does speak volumes about the likeability of Elephant Hill Viognier. Delicate, creamy and yummy.
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