Wine-Drinking Horses and Crab Cakes

I pulled this wine out of the wine-rack last week for two reasons.

First, I can't resist a wine-drinking horse.

Second, the flavor descriptors over at Wine Q were right up my alley, and suggested that this wine would be fruity without being tart. In other words, it was just the kind of wine to have with crab cakes like those perfected by John Potter of Brim to the Dregs. These are our new house crab cake (though they are scrupulously referred to as "John Potter's Crabcakes" by my entire family on two coasts), which I described and then was expected to produce to a hungry mob one warm, sunny day.

This wine was perfect with them. The 2005 RustRidge Sauvignon Blanc ($17.99, Wine Q) is a very good QPR wine. The winery was out to make a Bordeaux-style sauvignon blanc. In the Bordeaux, sauvignon blanc is often blended with semillon to produce a richer, rounder wine. Here, the sauvignon blanc (80%) was blended with chardonnay (20%). It resulted in a wine that has creamy apple, grapefruit, and light pineapple flavors. The chardonnay does indeed impart a roundness to the wine, and mellows its acidity. This is not a tangy, grassy New Zealand style sauvignon blanc. Nevertheless, the wine finishes with a zesty flourish that is mouthwatering and keeps you coming back for more. If you've been drinking a lot of cheaper, quaffable sauvignon blancs--and there's nothing wrong with that!--you'll find that this wine has a great deal more complexity to go along with the higher price tag.

I've got another RustRidge wine from WineQ that is waiting for my return to southern California. If you've not done so already, swing over there and see what they have on offer to put into your Netflix-style wine queue. Their flavor-tags (don't know the exact technical term for them, but that's mine!) make it so easy to find wine that agrees with your palate. And they specialize in bringing you wine from smaller, boutique wineries. What's not to love? (the wine-drinking horses are an extra bonus)