When was the last time you had a culinary disaster?
I had some bad luck in the kitchen this past weekend, which culminated in me burning my hand while making gnocchi; unfortunately the gnocchi also burned while I tended to my injury. Luckily we were cooking the gnocchi in batches and were able to salvage enough pasta for dinner.
We made yam gnocchi with lamb ragu, a recipe from the Belgard Kitchen featured on the Food Network. This really is a great recipe despite ‘operator error’ and it paired perfectly with the 2014 Painted Rock Syrah; the gaminess in the lamb married well with the savoury, pepper notes in the wine.
I wrote my tasting notes after the wine had been in the decanter for almost eight hours. The nose has aromas of dark chocolate, bramble and cherries buried under a layer of black pepper. This wine is medium+ in body with medium acidity and tannins. The palate bursts with black pepper and herbaceous notes but it also offers dark chocolate and blackberry with a long finish.
I poured about two glasses back into the bottle after the first night and vacuum pumped it. On the second day the aromas and flavours were unwavering and still as fresh as the day before, leading me to believe that this wine is meant for the long haul.