To tell the truth, T is not too fond of Amarone. You may have have noticed its absence from the sidebar, but now it is time to have some.
Tuesday night we have a very good and old friend for a business dinner. Important matters are to be discussed. That calls for some wine. We start off with some Meursault, first a 2008 from Rotem Brakin and since this bottle clearly leaks (or vaporizes) we have to open another one, this time the 2009 version from Joseph Drouhin. They are both lovely, but we think we should have switched sequence as the acidity of the latter is lighter and it comes out more smooth, whereas the former likes to be accompanying food. Which in this case (of course) is a little crostini with chanterelles.
Next is a roasted leg of lamb. Our friend, who was taken into Irma to participate in the shopping, loves lamb (and so do we). We will try something a bit different and K covers the bottom of the pan with beetroots, red onions and lots of garlic. The Leg is prepared with (more) garlic, salt and pepper and lemon zest and juice. Finally some handfuls of all the good herbs from K’s garden and fennel seeds. A glassful of apple juice is added and the pan is put in the oven at 180-200° C for about an hour. Along the way a small glass of white wine is added and the the meat and vegetables is dripped with the liquid. To accompany the lamb and beetroots we serve some hot lima beans with chopped red onion and a little green salad.
With this we have a couple of bottles of Musella 2003 Amarone 8,3/10. And that is a very good idea. The richness of the wine is needed for the beetroots. The combination of beetroots and fennel seeds (and lamb) is very savoury. The food/wine combination is a huge success 9,3/10
