Rebekah's Wine and Dinner Pairing

 

 

My friends and I are all taking Geography of wine this semester so we decided to each make a dish and pair it with a wine we thought would be great together.

Our first course was a cilantro lime salad. The most dominant flavors were the cilantro lime dressing as it added a very nice tang to the salad and the green onions that were added. It gave a very distinct oniony and fresh taste. We paired the salad with the Broadbent Vihno Verde. We picked a wine that was more acidic and tangy to match the limey flavor of the salad. Smelling this wine there were aromas of fresh cut grass, acidic/limey, herbaceous with a hint of oak. The taste had very strong acidic/ lemon/lime flavors with a hint of a champagne taste at the end. This Vihno Verde was way more acidic and citrus flavored than the other brand that I’ve tried and love. However, this particular wine paired so well with the salad as the wines acidic flavor was toned down and became a lot more smooth/ easier to drink. The salads limey dressing flavor became sharper, which made the salad taste even better. 

Our second course was my favorite pairing. We had fish tacos with avocado, coleslaw, and a limey-spicy sauce. This was so delicious as the fattiness from the avocado paired so well with the buttery/melty taste of the fish. The sauce added more lime and spice flavors and the crunchiness of the slaw on top made it even better. We decided to pair our tacos with a more acidic chardonnay. Sniffing and smelling brought out aromas of freshness, almost like a laundry detergent smell (which was really odd to me), slight oak and lime smells. The taste thankfully didn’t taste like laundry detergent, as it was on the sweeter side with some acidic and citrus flavors. It was also very buttery and smooth. This pairing was amazing. The bitterness of the wine went so well with the fattiness of the fish and avocado. Also, the acidic taste of the wine meshed so well with the lime in the sauce. 

Our last course was a homemade Oreo cheesecake. This tasted so light and very creamy as it was really fluffy and not very stiff like a cheesecake you would buy at the store would be. It was very sweet and the Oreos on the top added a nice crunch texture. We decided to pair this with the Ruffino Prosecco. The smell of this wine had a very strong grape smell, but still had a light aroma. It was again, very fresh smelling (not like laundry detergent this time though) and had a very sweet, honey/butterscotch hint at the end. The taste of this wine was very sweet, but not too sweet where it is intolerable. It had a nice green apple taste too, and was very bubbly but somehow still very smooth. This pairing was really good as the bubbles went really well with the sweetness of the cheesecake. The wine also somehow balanced the sweetness of the cheesecake since its less sweet. Also, the Oreo crust was extremely buttery which really matched well with the sweetness of the wine.

Our last course was a homemade Oreo cheesecake. This tasted so light and very creamy as it was really fluffy and not very stiff like a cheesecake you would buy at the store would be. It was very sweet and the Oreos on the top added a nice crunch texture. We decided to pair this with the Ruffino Prosecco. The smell of this wine had a very strong grape smell, but still had a light aroma. It was again, very fresh smelling (not like laundry detergent this time though) and had a very sweet, honey/butterscotch hint at the end. The taste of this wine was very sweet, but not too sweet where it is intolerable. It had a nice green apple taste too, and was very bubbly but somehow still very smooth. This pairing was really good as the bubbles went really well with the sweetness of the cheesecake. The wine also somehow balanced the sweetness of the cheesecake since its less sweet. Also, the Oreo crust was extremely buttery which really matched well with the sweetness of the wine.

I really enjoyed this experience with my friends. We all felt like all the pairings were really good, and even talked about how without this class, we wouldn’t have been able to pair our food and wine as good as we did. I definitely want to do this again with my friends, but not take as many notes as it kind of took away from the experience of just relaxing and eating some good food and drinking some good wine. 

 

 

Rebekah's Wine and Cheese Tasting #2

 

 

The first wine I tried was the Chardonnay which I really enjoyed. When swirling and sniffing, I noticed a strong scent of apple and oak, as well as grapefruit, honey, and a hint of fresh grass. It was really light and semi-sweet with a hint of dryness, making the perfect scent. The taste was definitely more fruity than oaky, but you could still get the hint of oak with each sip. The strongest flavor was apple with side notes of honey and lime. The first cheese I tried this chardonnay with was the Murrays Raclette cheese. This cheese was super creamy and more on the neutral tasting side, but still a very good cheese. I really enjoyed this pairing as the creaminess went well with the smoothness of the chardonnay. There weren’t any flavors that I wanted toned down, and this cheese did a good job of enhancing all the flavors of the wine. The second cheese I tried with the Chardonnay was the Sartori Bellavitano Garlic Herb cheese. This was by far my favorite and best tasting cheese that I tried, but with the wine it wasn’t as good. The seasoning and taste from the cheese overpowered the wines flavor, which is why it’s not my first pairing choice. The last cheese I tried with the wine was the brie cheese. This was my least favorite pairing which really surprised me. To me the taste of brie is very smooth and creamy, which is why I thought it would taste really nice with the wine, but it didn’t. I think it might have been because it was heated and needed crackers to eat with, which threw me off. The main flavor that I got from the brie was just oily and it messed with the flavors in the wine to where I just wanted to drink it by itself.

The second wine I tried was the Chateau Morrisette Red Mountain Laurel. This was by far my least favorite wine I have ever tried. While smelling this wine I noticed a concord grape smell which smelled very good. It also smelled light and sweet with a hint of berry. The taste of this wine reminded me of the medicine I had drink as a kid; a very artificial grape flavor and super sweet, which is why I didn’t like it. It also had hints of flowery notes and was semi-acidic at the end. Trying this wine with the other cheeses was very hard because the flavor was so gross to me. The creaminess of the Murrays Raclette cheese made the wine easier to go down, but the taste was still strong as the flavors of the cheese weren’t very powerful. The Sartori Bellavitano Garlic Herb cheese was my favorite cheese with this wine, as it has such strong flavors, it helped mask the flavors I didn’t love. The brie cheese again wasn’t my favorite with this new wine since it didn’t really help add or hide any flavors of the wine. The wine almost soaked through the cheese taste, which wasn’t my favorite.

The third wine I tired was the Block Nine Pinot Noir. Since trying 2 other pinots, and liking them a lot, I really wanted to try another brand to see if I could taste a difference or have similar opinions. This wine reminded me of the Fat Cat pinot in the fact that it is really light and not a heavy, dry red, which made me really enjoy it. The smell was deeper than the other two wines I tried in this wine and cheese tasting, but not too deep where it was gross. Oak was the most prevalent smell, but there was also blackberry, a hint of honey, and a grass like smell to it as well. The taste was very smooth, almost buttery, but not as oaky as I would have thought from smelling it. There were also hints of tannic and honey at the end. My favorite cheese with this pairing was the Murrays Raclette cheese. The creaminess of this cheese really matched well with the smooth and buttery notes of this wine and even enhanced these characteristics of the wine. I also really liked the Sartori Bellavitano Garlic Herb cheese with this pinot because of its strong flavors. I particularly liked the sharpness of the cheese with the oaky flavor of the wine. Again, my least favorite pairing was the brie. I really want to try this cheese again, but unheated, to see if it makes a difference since it just gave a weird flavor to this wine.

I can conclude that some of my favorite wines now are chardonnay and pinot noirs, which really amazes me since reds used to scare me. I think my favorite wine and cheese pairing was the Chardonnay and Murrays Raclette cheese. I am definitely going to buy this combination again. My least favorite was the Chateau Morrisette Red Mountain Laurel with the brie, but I want to try brie again when it’s not heated. This wine and cheese tasting was extremely fun as I got to experience it with my family and close family friends while camping this past weekend. There’s no better way to relax than with camping, drinking wine and eating cheese!

 

 

Tasting- Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Winking Owl

Grape: Sauvignon Blanc

Country of Origin: United States

Region of Origin: California

Price: $2.99

Reviews:

Vivino.com:

When looking at vinvino.com the user reviews this wine as a medium body with higher acidity and very dry. They described the wine as having tree fruit notes such as green apple, pear, peach with citrus and light tropical hints. Pat wrote “Very light and pale in color; citrus and powdered sugar smell, as well as, taste; opens up to light sweet honey-lemon; medium body; acidic. Like it with Smokey, spicy sausage and Brie with honey. Great for the price.” Out of the 1153 reviews, this wine was rated a 4 out of 5 stars and is in the top 8% of all the wines in the world.

https://www.vivino.com/US-VA/en/winking-owl-moscato/w/3735617

 

Wine Folly:

The Sauvignon Blanc section of this books notes that this wine is loved for its herbal flavors and racy acidity. Since it grows almost everywhere, it offers a wide range of flavors. The origin of this grape comes from the Lorie Valley of France. The primary flavors gooseberry, honeydew, grapefruit, white peach and passion fruit. It has a medium to light body, a medium dryness, little tannins and high acidity. It is offered as sparkling wine, light bodied-white wine and dessert wine. The textbook recommends herb sauced, light meats like chicken, and fish, Asian/Vietnamese flavored foods, and feta or chèvre cheeses.

My Review:

When sniffing and swirling this wine, I picked up strong scents of light fruits like green apple, pear, lemon and a hint of honey or honeysuckle. It also had a hint of a burning sensation in the nose at the end, like high alcohol or acidity. When I tasted this wine, the flavors were light and almost kind of watery, but still pretty good. I could definitely taste apple or pear flavors. To me these seemed to be the most dominant flavors. I also could taste a hint of honey at the end, which was really soothing and satisfying to drink. Overall, I enjoyed this wine, especially the price, and would give it an 8 out of 10. To me, this is a very tasty beginner wine for those who are just starting to drink and are on a budget. 

 

 

Rebekah's Wine and Cheese Blog

 

The first wine I tried was the Fat Cat Pinot Noir. This wine has a medium color and a garnet color intensity. After swirling and sniffing, I noticed it had scents of black current, cloves, grass and small hints of vanilla and walnut. It smelled very rich and deep, which is extremely different than the white wines I have been tasting. I was a little nervous to try this wine since reds are a little scary to me, but surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. The main flavor I could taste was raspberry and blueberry with a slight hint of tannins and more of an alcohol taste than what I usually taste in whites. It had a very light to medium body, which is probably why I really enjoyed this wine. I would say it is the perfect starter red wine. The first cheese I paired this with was Manchego cheese. I honestly thought this was a perfect pairing as it took away some of the tannic component and made the wine a little smoother going down. The second cheese I tried with this wine was the Smokey pepper fontina which was my least favorite combination. This cheese had a spicy, but nice, kick to it at the end as the spicy flavor was coated on the sides. This pairing was still pretty good since the actual cheese was soft, melty and a little spicy, which neutralized the more intense flavors of the wine just a little bit. The last cheese I paired with this wine was honey goat gouda. This was second favorite pairing because the creaminess and honey notes in the cheese melted with the wine so well.

  

The second wine I tried was a different Pinot Noir. This wine was slightly darker and more intense than the Fat Cat Pinot. While sniffing this wine, I noticed a heavier tannic smell than the Fat Cat. It also had a deeper fruity smell with strong oak scents and a hint of cherry. The taste was also a lot deeper than the Fat Cat Pinot. Cherry was the most dominant flavor I could taste along with an oaky, woody finish at the end. This wine was still pretty good, but I would rate it a 6/10 since it was a little dark for what I’m used to. Paired with the Manchego cheese, the wines bitterness and tannic components faded slightly, but not as much as the other pinot wine as it was more tannic and bitter to start with. The Smokey pepper fontina was my least favorite pairing for this one. It just didn’t mesh very well together and almost brought out more of the bitterness to me. The honey gouda cheese was my favorite pairing since it was so creamy and light, it almost counterbalanced the dark flavors of the red wine.

 

Lastly, I tried the Beaujolais wine. This was by far the one I was most excited about trying as it only has gammay grapes in it. The smell gave off limey and alcoholic scents, maybe even tequila. It was a light scent, with dark purple color, and had hints of some kind of jam, maybe blueberry or raspberry. There were also hints of oak and vanilla scents at the end. When tasting, I could definitely taste an oaky, cherry, and alcohol flavor. It was very dry and tannic, and the end tasted weird, almost like the smell of sweat. The Manchego cheese was really yummy with this wine as it took away the last flavor I could taste in the wine (the sweat taste), which was my least favorite flavor. It also smoothed out the other tastes, which made it a lot easier to drink as this was the most bitter tasting wine. The Smokey pepper fontina also did a good job of covering up the sweat taste at the end but didn’t really do much else. Finally, the last cheese I tried with this wine was the honey gouda cheese. I really enjoyed the creaminess and sweetness of this cheese with this wine because it took away a lot of the tannic, acidic, and alcoholic tastes, which made this pairing my favorite.

Overall, my favorite combinations of wine and cheese have to go to the fat cat pinot noir and Manchego cheese. I will definitely go back and get more of both because it was so good. The honey gouda with the other pinot and Beaujolais were also really good but didn’t work as well as a match. 

Tasting- Riesling

 

 

Name: Riesling

Grape: white grape variety

Country: Germany

Region: Rhine Region

Year: 2020

Price: $6.99

 

Vivino Review: When looking at Vivino.com the user reviews describe the wine as having tree fruit notes like pear, apple, citrus notes like lemon and lime and earthy notes like honey. David mentioned, “On the palate: semi sweet and medium plus acidity. Medium body. Green apple, pear, candied lime, and grapefruit. Maybe a touch of honey. Short clean finish. Could be a nice inexpensive gateway Riesling for newcomers. Nice value.” Out of 153 ratings, this wine received a 3.7 out of 5 stars and is in the to 11% of wines in the world.

https://www.vivino.com/US/en/joseph-handler-riesling/w/1987650?year=2020

Wine Folly Review: The Riesling section of the Wine Folly textbook states common fruit flavors like nectarine, apricot, honey-crisp apple, and pear. It also notes the usual smells as honeycomb, jasmine, or lime peel. It states that Rieslings are of high acidity and should be served at a fridge temperature. The textbook suggests that because of Riesling's sweetness and acidity, it is best paired with spicy foods that include Indian or Asian spices. For cheese, the textbook recommends pairing with less stinky and more delicate flavored/ soft cow's milk. While Riesling is more known for its sweetness, there are still some dry varieties of this wine that come from Germany, Washington, New York, Australia and more. It is important to note that I tried a sweet Riesling, but would love to find a drier version and see the differences between them.

My review: When sniffing and swirling this wine, I immediately noticed the light and sweetness of this aromas. It had strong scents of honey and apple, which was very pleasing to the nose. I also detected some hints of grape and honey at the end. This made me excited to try it since the smell was very nice and almost smooth. While tasting this wine, I noticed similarities with the smell. I could easily taste the sweetness, partially due to the apple and honey flavor. Overall, this wine was very light and semi-sweet with a very light body. I was very pleased by it and would give it an 8/10. A good beginner wine for those who like sweet drinks.

Tasting- Frico

 

Name: Frico

Grapes: Friulano 

Country: Italy 

Region: Regione Friuli Venezia Guilia, Adriatic Sea

Year: 2020

Price: $8.49

Review from shopwinedirect.com: 

This crisp and refreshing white maintains a start bright appearance. The nose offers intense aromatics of fresh cut white flowers, lemon zest, grapefruit peel and crisp apple. The palate is clean with medium weight and pleasant mouthfeel and lively acidity, pairing great with seafood or a light salad. Brilliant summertime sipper too. 

https://www.shopwinedirect.com/scarpetta-frico-bianco-delle-venezie-igt-2020.html

My review: When sniffing and swirling this wine I noticed a somewhat strong woody flavor with a hint of sweetness. Upon further thought, I attributed the sweetness coming from maybe honey or a fruit, perhaps an apple or pear. When tasting the wine I immediately noticed that woody flavor, just like when I sniffed it. It took me a couple more sips to figure out more flavors, as this part was a bit harder to distinguish for me. I next noticed an fruity or floral taste, with a apple/pear-ish flavor. The aftertaste was also really strong but took me a couple tries to nail down. It was really smooth and tasted almost like bitter honey. I found that this wine had a medium body and I gave it a 7/10 overall score. 

Blog 1: Introduction

Growing up, my parents would always let me try a sip of the various drinks they had. Wine is probably the first alcohol I have ever tried as my mom usually had dry red wine whenever she drank. My dad normally just drank different kinds of beer. I never really enjoyed tasting their drinks, as they were always super bitter, which is probably why my drink preference now is more sweet. Bold rocks, other ciders and various wine coolers were the first beverages that I loved. 

After coming to college, and turning 21, I was able to go to wineries and breweries like eastern divide, rising silo, devils backbone and more. I got to try more options of wine and beer that weren't like the ones my parents always drank. Going to wineries and breweries made trying new wines a lot more exciting and tasty. Although I didn't know any of the proper wine etiquette while tasting it, I still thoroughly enjoyed trying the different types and flavors of wine. My favorite wines to drink now are semi-sweet white wines and sweeter reds.

I hope that this class will help me expand and grow and force me to go out of my comfort zone to try new things. I would love to go to as many tastings as I can with my friends throughout the semester. My wish is that my palate will become more diverse with all types of wine. I know that I don't like very bitter wine or wines that make my mouth dry after drinking them. I also know that I haven't tasted many varieties of wines. Considering how much I have already learned in this course, I'm excited to learn a lot more during the semester.