Wine Dinner #1

Welcome to my blog for the first wine and dinner pairing that I have done so far this semester! This week is Spring Break, so I invited my entire family over to participate in the wine and dinner pairing experience! Pictured is my grandparents, parents, aunt, uncle, and cousins! There were 6 of us drinking the wine and my younger cousins enjoyed different soda pairings with the meal! I enjoyed showing my family the Wine Folly book that has been my guide through this class, and discussing different topics surrounding wine. The main theme of this dinner was Italian. 

Pairing #1: Appetizer - Mini Charcuterie Board and Andre Spumante California Sparkling Wine

This pairing is a classic. The typical cheese and cracker board consisted of Garlic and Herb Goat Cheese, 3 Chili Gouda Cheese, Ritz crackers, and salami rolls. This Andre Sparkling Wine is one of my favorites. The white peach and honey notes are very refreshing on the palate and I always enjoy this wine because it is not super bubbly, but just enough. I don't think this sparkling wine is too sweet or too dry, it has nice features of both. It's $7.99 price point is tough to beat for a sparkling wine as well! I thought that the wine and cheese board didn't particularly add or subtract anything from each other, and were fine together. One didn't particularly overpower the other. 

Pairing #2: Dinner - Lasagna with Caesar Salad and Garlic Bread with 2017 Enate Tempranillo

I think I speak for everyone at the table when I say that this was excellent. I really enjoyed the lasagna, salad, and garlic bread with the wine. This $9.99 2017 Enate Somontano Tempranillo paired great with the food. I liked how the wine was not super tannic but was acidic, and complimented the tomato sauce in the lasagna very well. Main tasting notes that we picked up on included cherry, cedar, tomato, and fig. I found this wine to be pretty complex, and I feel like I picked up on something new every time I tried it. 

Pairing #3: Dessert - Cherry and Cheese Filled Danishes with Chocolate Shop Wine

This pairing was just... bad. Actually, the Danishes were great, the wine was awful! I am back at home in MD, and there are no specialty wine stores near me, so I headed to the liquor store which did not have a huge selection of dessert wines. My Mom and I picked this out and were totally fooled by the label claiming "natural chocolate flavors". I should have known this would be no good after looking at the bottle and seeing it has no vintage, no region, no real title, and no grape variety. I overall would not drink this again. It smelled and tasted so fake. The cherry and chocolate notes were very strong and not very pleasant to me. I could only take one sip and could not drink it with the dessert because it was not good at all!

Overall, we had a great time. I enjoyed catching up with my family again, and I hope everyone learned something new during the tasting!