What to serve with Petit Verdot?

Question

I'm hosting a comparative tasting of three varietal Petit Verdot wines: Banrock Station 2002, Pirramimma 2003, and Sandhill Small Lots Program 2003.

I want to serve a small tapas sized dish to each guest to help bring out the best of these wines. Any ideas?

Thanks, Pontac. The food would come out after each person has had a chance to try all three wines on their own.

Answer 1

I'd stick with meat-based dishes, for sure . Just off the top of my head, I'd suggest maybe three tapas dishes to go with the three wines. Let's see.

-Thinly sliced rare (the rarer the better) beef on a crispbread with a blackpepper sauce.
-Roasted quail, served with a cranberry chutney and rosemary.
-Mini-venison bugers with a smokey mesquite sauce.

All three with have the body to stand up to young Petit Verdots, and enough different flavours to really bring out the leather and violet notes in the wine, albeit in three very different ways.

Of coure, the other option is to go for something very very simple - just some cubes of beef or lamb, maybe done as a fondue (boiling oil in which the guests can dip the cubes of meat into and then eat it).

It really depends if you want them wines to be evaluated clearly and easily, or if it's more of a social function where the wine tasting is an added benefit.

I'd eat it. =)

Answer 2

Some meat dishes, various sausages maybe.

I think of Petit Verdot as having a taste profile between Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, there's a spiciness and richness to it.

However I think the best way to do a comparative tasting is with the wines on their own -- not with different dishes as that skews the results.

Answer 3

this may sound typical, but any red meat will do! i recommend a gorgeous herb-crusted rack of lamb or leg of lamb.