Wine and Cheese Pairing Due 4/14

 To start off this blog I can't say I'm the biggest fan of cheese, but from what I've learned so far in this class is that wine makes everything better. So I decided to try out this wine and cheese pairing. Who knows maybe I'll start trying cheese with wine more often. 

The three wines I chose for this activity were a local wine from a vineyard in NoVa which was a Hillsborough vineyards Petit Verdot 2020. Next was a red blend from Mendoza, Argentina called Clos de los Siete 2020. This red blend was over 50% of Malbec. Lastly, the third wine I selected was a Gardino Cellars Sunset white table wine from Virginia. 

The cheeses I chose to try with these wines were soft-ripened Camembert cheese, creamy honey goat cheese, and Saint Agur Blue Cheese from France. All of which I've never tried before and thought would be good and hopefully pair well with each wine.

Started off with the Petit Verdot alone without the cheese it had a light body, dry, and slightly acidic. With notes of pear, apple, citrus, honey, and strawberry. Overall, a good wine by itself. With the Camembert, it paired well with the creamy slightly sweet cheese. The hints of fig-flavored cheese brought out the fruity flavors of the wine that I didn't expect. The blue cheese was definitely the worst pairing it clashed with the citrus of the wine and overpowered the light fruitiness of the wine. The honey goat cheese surprisingly took second place with the honey from the cheese enhancing the honey notes from the wine. 

Next, was the Malbec blend (red). This wine alone is by far one of my favorites. You can never go wrong with any Malbec!! (not bias or anything :) ). Alone the wine has the primary flavors of plum, blackberry, vanilla, cocoa, and sweet tobacco. It had a full body, dry, medium tannins, and medium-low acidity. The best pairing was with the blue cheese it enhanced the fruitiness of the Malbec and was all-around outstanding. None of the flavors from the cheese clashed with the unique Malbec flavor. The other two cheeses were too sweet. The Camembert's fig flavor overpowered the flavor of tobacco from the wine. The sweetness from the goat cheese together with the notes of plum and blackberry was too much in my opinion. Not the best pairing for a Malbec. 

Lastly, was the Petit Verdot. Alone the wine has the primary flavors of cherry, plum, and light notes of violet, lilac, and sage. With a full body, dry, high tannins, and medium-high acidity. By far the best pairing with this wine was the Blue cheese. Although I would never eat blue cheese alone the pungent flavor of the blue cheese complimented the bold fruity flavors of the wine and enhanced the smoothness and floral aspect. The honey goat cheese was an alright pairing. The honey cut the dryness of the wine a little making it slightly sweeter. Not sure if I didn't like it or if it was my mind just not being used to trying this kind of wine. The Camembert took last place of the three cheeses for this wine. The creaminess of the cheese clashed with the acidic flavors of the wine. 

Overall, had a great time trying to pair each wine and cheese and taking notes of what tasted better. Although I never saw myself saying I'd try Blue cheese again in my life. If it is paired with a Malbec I'd gladly take a stab at that pungent cheese. 

Wine Tasting due 4/14 (second)

 NAME: Dark Horse 

VARIETY: Chardonnay 

REGION: California

COUNTRY: United States

YEAR: 2022

PRICE: $7.99

WINERY REVIEW: According to Winepros, this wine is medium-full body,  semi-dry, and medium-high acidity. With notes of honeysuckle, apples, pears, grapefruit, and lemon. Tastes like peach apricot, banana, and honey. And would also pair well with salmon. 

WINE FOLLY: According to Wine Folly the primary flavors are lemon, yellow apple, butter, vanilla, and pineapple. With a taste profile of being dry, medium-full body, low tannins, medium-high acidity, and 13.5 - 15% ABV. Would pair well with shellfish. 

MY REVIEW: I chilled the chardonnay for a couple hours after buying it, and it was amazing, not too sweet or dry. I could taste the notes of apple, honey, and pineapple. I didn't try the wine with food but from both reviews from wine folly and Winepros I imagine seafood would have paired nicely.  

Wine Tasting due 4/14

 NAME: Salto

VARIETY: Sangiovese 

REGION: Terre Di Chieti IGP

COUNTRY: Italy

YEAR: 2022

PRICE: $15.99

WINERY REVIEW: According to Vivino, this wine is medium-full body, medium-high tannins, dry,  and medium-high acidity. With notes of red fruits such as cherry, raspberry, and strawberry. As well as oaky and plum notes. 

WINE FOLLY: According to Wine Folly the primary flavors of cherry, roasted tomato, sweet balsamic, oregano, and espresso. With a taste profile of being bone-dry, medium-full body, medium-high tannins, medium-high acidity, and 13.5-15% ABV. 

MY REVIEW: I could take the cherry and slight notes of coffee. Overall, a well-rounded wine it was smooth and had a full body. Unfortunately, I couldn't taste the tomato or oregano, but my friend said she could smell a hint of each. Did not try the wine with food, but I imagine it would pair well with some grilled vegetables. 

                                                  

Drink This Now! Lesson 5 - Blog Due 4/14/24

 Drink This Now: Lesson 5

I decided to do the Drink This Now: Lesson 5. The objective of this lesson was to taste dry vs. sweet Riesling when it is at room temperature vs. chilled. When I went to the store to buy both Rieslings I couldn't find the wines on the list, but I talked to an employee and they recommended similar wines to the ones on the list. These were Rhein 2022 Riesling Dry Dr. Hans VonMuller and Dr. Leimbrock 2019 Riesling Spatlese Mosel. 

Both dry and sweet Rieslings

Step 1 was to open the bottles pour a glass of each wine for the room temperature glasses and refrigerate the rest. After about an hour I poured another glass of each wine for the chilled glasses needed. 

All four glasses two dry and two sweet

Step 2 was to try the chilled dry Riesling first and then sweet Riesling. Here are my observations;

            Dry: The color was clear and light with a slight yellow hue. The smell has hints of apples and 

                     pears. In my opinion, I tasted earthy notes like minerals. Along with citrus and apples. Had a                      medium-light body. It was not my favorite. Can't say I am the biggest fan of dry white wine. 

            Sweet: The color was more yellow and not as clear as the dry Riesling. The smell has hints of                                 tropical fruits and honey. I tasted honey, lemon, apricot, and apples. Had a medium-light                             body. I definitely liked the chilled sweet Riesling more than the chilled dry. 

Step 3 was to try the room-temperature dry Riesling and then the chilled dry Riesling. Then do the same with the sweet Riesling. And assess the differences between the chilled and room temperature versions. I ended up doing this three times and had a piece of plain bread when going back for the dry Riesling after trying the sweet Riesling, to cleanse palate from lingering sweet taste.   

               

Step 4 was to try bread or water to cleanse the palate which helped between trying each round of dry and sweet Riesling. 

Step 5 was to analyze each Riesling when chilled and at room temperature. Overall, the room temperature dry was better than the warm one and the chilled sweet was better than the warm one.

            Dry: Room temperature smoother, light-bodied, and notes of apricot. The taste was the same with                      earthy notes. The color stayed the same. Other than that the taste had some similarity with                         hints of apples and pears. 

            Sweet: Chilled tasted slightly less sweet as mentioned in the lesson the process of chilling a wine                            should reduce the perception of sweetness. In this case, it was enough to enhance the                                    Riesling just enough were the wine wouldn't be too sweet compared to the room-                                       temperature Riesling. The room-temperature Riesling had notes of citrus, honeysuckle, and                         honey. Similar to the chilled, but definitely more on the sweeter side.   

Overall, the lesson was great. It really helped me understand how chilling a wine affects its flavors and aroma. I learned so much and can't wait to try out more lessons.

Wine Dinner

    Friday night I drove to NOVA to visit my family and we decided to have a wine dinner. We started off by making an Argentinian appetizer of Choripan, which is a grilled chorizo sandwich. This dish has been a favorite in our family ever since we visited Argentina last summer. We decided to pair this appetizer with an Argentinian Malbec, called Luca. 

Dad, brother and I trying the wine alone

Just drinking the deep violet Malbec alone you could taste and smell the notes of dark fruits such as plum and cherry. It was my family and I's first time trying this wine from Uco Valley, Mendoza Argentina. Usually, we drink the El Enemigo Malbec, but for this dinner, we decided to spice it up a little and try a new one. 

2013 Luca Malbec from Uco Valley-Mendoza Argentina

The Malbec with the Choripan was amazing. The flavor of the chorizo enhanced the taste of the wine. According to the Wine Folly a bitter wine pairs best with fatty food. The chorizo was just fatty enough to enhance the unique cherry flavor of the Malbec. It was an all-around mutually great pairing. The wine enhanced the flavor of the chorizo and the chorizo heightened the notes of sweet tobacco.  

Malbec with choripan together

For our main entree, we ordered ceviche from a local Chilean restaurant. Ceviche is a traditional raw fish dinner marinated in lemon, seasoned with chili pepper, salt, and corn, and garnished with a piece of lettuce and sweet potato. We decided to pair this dish with a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc from Valle de Curico. 

The wine alone had notes of gooseberry, honeydew, grapefruit, and peach. With a medium-light body, no tannins, and a dry taste. This wine is an all-around great wine. By far one of our favorite white wines. The taste of citrus and tropical fruits was very evident in this wine.

2022 Panul Sauvignon Blanc from Valle de Curico Chile

Although the Sauvignon Blanc has high acidity the Wine Folly says the wine should be more acidic than the food. So the lemon marinade was very complimentary to the high acidity of the wine. The overall taste of the pairing was great. The acidity of the wine complimented the fish and lemon enhancing all the flavors. Neither overpowered the other. 

Wine with ceviche together

Finally, to end the night we had Italian cannolis from our local grocery store. We ended up pairing this dessert with a Bartenura Moscato D'asti also from Italy. This was one of the first wines I had ever tried when I was younger with my parents, so it has a special place in my heart. 

The wine alone is amazing, more on the sweet side. Definitely an acquired taste because I am the only one in my family that enjoys this wine. The rest of my family thinks it is TOO sweet. The flavors of pear, apple, and honey are very prominent and make for a great all-around wine. 

2019 Bartenura Moscato from Italy

The wine and cannoli pairing was too much in my opinion. The cannoli was too sweet and the combination of both was a sweetness overload. I never thought I'd ever say a dessert would be too sweet if only my younger self could hear me now. But nonetheless, this cannoli was too much. I believe a fruity dessert would have paired better such as a fruit tart. I believe this new pairing would be great because the sweetness of the wine would be cut by the fruitiness of the dessert. 

Wine with cannolis together

Overall, this activity was amazing I learned so much and can't wait to try new wine dinner pairings after this experience. 

Wine Tasting Due 4/7 (second)

 

NAME: Lambrusco Scuro

VARIETY: Not provided

REGION: Scandiano

COUNTRY: Italy

YEAR: Not Provided

PRICE: $16.99

WINERY REVIEW: According to Alfredo Bertolani's website, this dark Lambrusco sparkling red wine has an "old" taste due to the refermentation within the bottle to create the sparkling wine. This wine has vegetal hints, wild fruit, and light leather, on the palate it is completely dry and tannic. Supposedly by slightly shaking the corked wine, it will enhance the "old-fashioned" tasting experience. 

WINE FOLLY: According to the Wine Folly, Lambrusco wines have primary flavors of strawberry, blackberry, rhubarb, hibiscus, and potting soil. With a taste profile of dry, medium-light body, medium tannins, medium-high acidity, and 10-11.5% ABV. Should be served around 45-55 degrees Fahrenheit. And a great food pairing would be a local match of Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

MY REVIEW: This was my first experience trying red sparkling wine and I can't say it was my favorite. Not sure what I was expecting, but I thought it was too dry and I probably should have shaken it or tried it with food to enhance the fruit flavors. Overall the wine was average and had notes of slight leather and earthy tones. 

Wine Tasting Due 4/7

 

NAME: No Es Pituko Orange

VARIETY: Sauvignon Blanc 

REGION: Curico Valley

COUNTRY: Chile

YEAR: 2023

PRICE: $16.99

WINERY REVIEW: According to Vivino, this wine is dry, acidic, and has a medium body. With the main flavors being citrus, lemon, apple, and tropical. According to this website, this wine would pair well with shellfish and goat's milk cheese.

WINE FOLLY: According to Wine Folly the primary flavors of this natural orange wine are bruised apple, jackfruit, linseed oil, juniper, and honey. With a taste profile of bone-dry, medium-full body, medium tannins, medium-high acidity, and 11.5-13.5% ABV. In terms of food pairing this wine would go well with roasted meats and resinous herbs such as sage and rosemary. 

MY REVIEW: This was my first time trying a natural wine and I thought it was amazing. I highly recommend it, it was both smooth and had a light taste of pineapple. With notes of apples and tropical fruits. In my opinion a perfect combination. Although I didn't try it with food, I imagine it would pair nicely with a Chilean empanada.