While I am, of course, hesitant to declare a winner before I’ve actually tasted all three of this week’s wines, I have to say that the Baco Sauvignon Blanc is going to be hard to beat. From the very first sniff, both J and I knew we were going to like this wine. It’s got a really amazing aroma of grapefruit and apples, both of which are definitely present on the palate. Taking a sip, you feel like your mouth is suddenly full of perfectly ripe fruit – with just enough acidity and minerality to keep it from being too sweet or alcoholic. It’s got a nice long finish that leaves you salivating for more. Absolutely delicious.
We drank our first bottle of Baco Sauvignon Blanc (I say first because we both agreed that we’ll be buying more…) with a really yummy (and easy) dinner of black cod, asparagus and bread, all grilled (recipe below), and it was a truly excellent pairing.* Give it a try.
I’m giving it 4 corks popped.
As a reminder, the Baco Sauvignon Blanc can be purchased at My Wines Direct for $12.99/bottle.
Grilled Black Cod
Ingredients
1 nice, large black cod filet, skin still on
2 cloves garlic, minced
Splash of extra virgin olive oil
Splash of Baco Sauvignon Blanc
Good salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Preparation:
Lay out a large piece of aluminum foil. You want it to be big enough that you can fold it over your fish and seal it up to create a pouch. Place the cod filet on the foil. Splash both sides of the fish with a bit of olive oil and wine. Salt and pepper both sides of the filet and sprinkle the garlic over the meat side (as opposed to the skin side). Fold the foil over the fish and seal all sides tightly.
Place the sealed pouch on the grill at medium heat with the skin side of the fish down. The oil and wine will heat up and create a steaming effect. After about 7-8 minutes, pull the pouch off the grill and check the fish. It should be tender and flaky and is best when on the rare side.
Serve with asparagus (prepare in much the same way as the fish, minus the wine and garlic in the pouch) and grilled bread.
Cheers!!
* I apologize for the lack of a photograph of our dinner. We were both so excited about eating it that we forgot to get the camera out. Oops!
Though J and I had really high hopes for the Baco Chardonnay given how much we liked the Sauvignon Blanc last week, I’m afraid it didn’t quite wow us the way we hoped. Don’t get me wrong. It was pleasant. It just wasn’t particularly interesting or memorable. It’s a light golden straw color with an aroma of fuji apples and meyer lemon. There’s a bit of baked apple on the palate, which was nice, along with a good amount of citrus. There wasn’t much of that unpleasant over-oaked flavor of many a new world chardonnay, which was definitely a plus. The finish, however, was somewhat lackluster, and it definitely lacked the complexity of the Amaral.
