Winner Dinner - Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot

 

Time for the wine dinner of the century! My friend and I decided to make three main courses in order to get the best wine and food pairings possible. The meals we choose were pasta with alfredo sauce, breaded chicken with Italian breading, and a rich steak. The wines we decided to with these foods were Pinot Noir for the pasta, Merlot with the breaded chicken, and Cabernet with the steak. 

Name: Linderman's
Variety: Pinot Noir
Country: Australia
Region: South Eastern
Vintage: 202
Price: $4.99

The first pairing I tried was the pasta with creamy alfredo sauce with the Pinot Noir. The pasta by itself gave a very rich flavor and a lot of cream that coated the inside of the mouth. It did not have much flavor behind this but was extremely rich by itself. The Pinot Noir by itself expressed high levels of acidy and medium amounts of tannins. It also had some red fruit aspects with a lighter body feeling in the mouth. The combination of the two was pretty interesting, however. The high levels of acidy of the wine canceled out with the creamy, richness of the pasta and left my mouth with nothing. If the pasta had some other aspects in it I am sure that those hidden flavors would be expressed. But since it was just simple pasta all I had was just the pasta by itself once the two aspects were canceled out. It was nice but I probably would not try again unless I was in a restaurant. 

Name: COLORBLOCK
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country: Italy
Region: Valle Central
Vintage: 2020
Price: $5.00

The next pairing that I tried was the steak with the Cabernet, the OG of pairings. The steak by itself was really nice and decently rich, since it was a cheaper cut there was not good fat on the steak, but still was a fan. The Cabernet by itself had some nice earthy flavors with some decently high tannins present in the wine. When combined it really was amazing, the tannins that were in the wine really invited the flavors of steak and worked well together. The richness of the wine, once drank, was built upon the richness of the steak which combined for a new level of richness never experienced before. If I had a better cut of steak with more fat that would have been rendered it would have been insanely good. However, I did really enjoy this pairing and definitely will try again. 

Name: Bay Bridge Merlot
Variety: Merlot
Country: America
Region: California
Vintage: Merlot
Price: $3.99

The final paring that I did was the breaded chicken with Italian seasoning with the Merlot. The breaded chicken had a really nice coat of Italian breading which has a nice salty side to the normally bland chicken, and it was cooked in some olive oil so it was really juicy as well. The Merlot had some medium tannins and acidy present in the wine, with some darker cherry flavors. It also had a nice body finish that left the mouth feeling great. When the two were combined together the saltness of the chicken was really paired with the cherry of the wine. The mixing of the flavors was a surprise for sure, but it worked well for my taste buds. The tannins also made the food taste better because it was like my mouth was "asking for the food". I would do this pairing again. 

This was a truly cool experience for us, one because we normally do not cook big meals for ourselves so it was a nice change of pace, and two because we got to experiment with something new food and drink options. I know for me I normally just like to enjoy the food by itself, so I normally only get water, but now that I am familiar with these pairings that can heighten my experience with the food I can get these when going out. I am excited for the next time my friend and I are going to do this wine dinner and I am already thinking of some food and wine pairings. 

Tasting - Cabernet Sauvignon

 

Name: Shannon Ridge
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country: United States
Region: Lake County, CA
Vintage: 2019
Price: $15

Wine Review: Strong tannins, vanilla dessert, and sweet cranberry and pepper. Good on the nose. Dark, rich color, smooth on the pallet, and medium acid. Taste some blackberry, some peppery spice, woody, oak finish. Wine review on Vivino written by an unknown writer. 

Wine Folly: The textbook states that Cabernet Sauvignon is the most popular grape variety and consists of a wine that is high in tannins and rich in flavor. It also states since this wine is from CA, this region normally gives this grape the characteristics of blackberry, mint, tobacco, or pencil lead (pg 159). 

My Review: The first smell test gives me extremely earthy aromas. Like in the textbook, I get strong hints of tobacco and almost like dirt, similar I guess. I can also get this lighter chocolate almost smell buried under all of the earth smells. I think I can also get a little bit of the pepper that the wine review was talking about. The first taste test really gives me that full-body feel, it almost feels like velvet as it hits the inside of my mouth and tongue. I get more of the chocolate element in the taste as well. The tannins in this wine are mild and leave my mouth with only a slightly dry feeling to it. I did not pair this wine with any food but if I were to I would eat it with a nice steak to really complement the rich flavors. 

Tasting - Moscato d'Asti

 

Name: Stella Mia
Variety: Moscato d'Asti
Country: Italy
Region: Asti
Vintage: 2019
Price: $10

Wine Review: Silvery straw color. Aromas and flavors of citron, honey, and apricot with a satiny, crispy, fizzy, moderately sweet light body and a seamless, breezy finish that exhibits accents of honey-drizzled apples and sliced pear with no oak flavor. A juicy, light-hearted Moscato that drinks effortlessly. Wine review from Tastings written by an unknown writer. 

Wine Folly: The textbook describes Moscatos as crisp and refreshing drinks, that normally air on the side of being sweet (pg 151). This wine states on the front that it is in the category of semi-sweet, and gives off aromas of honey or apricot. 

My Review: It is important to note that this wine, is a sparkling white wine. I did not notice this when selecting it so it came to be a surprise when it almost exploded in my face upon opening it. The smell test gives me a very light honey smell to it with a nicely defined fruity smell in it. I believe to my nose it is a smell similar to an apple. The taste test gives really brings out that apple taste and the carbonation leaves a really interesting feel in the cheeks of my mouth. The carbonation makes this wine almost taste more like an alcoholic cider rather than a white wine. The sweetness is really balanced out well by the carbonation present and gives a nice full body. I did not eat any food with this but I would guess it would pair well with a nice lunch food like chicken in order to get that mix of bbq and sweet. 

Tasting - Rough Day

 

Name: Rough Day
Variety: Pinot Noir
Country: United States
Region: Maryland
Vintage: 2018
Price: $14.00

Wine Review: This Bulgarian Pinot Noir has aromas of red cherry, raspberry, and dried Mediterranean herbs. It is soft and juicy in the mouth, with flavors of ripe cherry, rose petal, and cranberry. The finish is soft and persistent. This post was made on Wine Enthusiast by Jeff Jenssen. 

Wine Folly: Pinot noir is the world's favorite light-bodied red wine. Normally has higher acidy with low tannins present in the drink (pg 156). It also mentions that this wine pairs well with foods like duck, pork, chicken, etc. This bottle should probably show hints of red cherries and not show much sweetness at all. 

My Review: The first smell test that I do gives me very strong hints of cherries and some plumy smells. The smell is not very overwhelming with past wines, however. It gives more of a pleasant smell rather than an in-your-face smell. I also, for some reason, get some kind of hint of the chocolate present in the wine. The taste test gives me some nice soft body feeling in my mouth and is very pleasant. The taste is also soft as well, with the easy tastings of the red cherries I was talking about earlier. I can tell that this wine is also well balanced because I cannot feel acidy of the sweetness present in this wine. It is all-around a very good wine. I did not have any foods with this wine, but I honestly think it would be good with dinner-time foods like a chicken with pasta. Would drink again. 

Tasting - Cream Sherry

 

Name: Cream Sherry
Variety: Cream Sherry 
Country: United States
Region: New York
Vintage: NV (non-vintage)
Price: $ 12.99

Wine Review: Taylor Desserts Cream Sherry is a very dark, robust, and complex wine. Taylor Desserts was founded in 1880 with a seven-acre vineyard overlooking Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. With a special selection of high-quality, sweet, and smooth dessert wines, Taylor is great for cooking or simply enjoying as an after-dinner treat. This cream sherry is sweet with aromas of nuts, toffee, and caramel, which add to the complexity of this fine dessert wine's character. This wine pairs well with desserts, roasted chicken, and glazed ham. By the Influencer. 

Wine Folly: Sherrys are normally made in Spain and can have very different styles. They normally have very high sweetness and use that to balance out the higher alcohol content compared to other wines. The cream sherry that I have here is going to be in the range of 115-140 g/L RS on the sweetness scale (pg 421). 

My Review: Off of first smells I can instantly get strong smells of high sugar content. It is pretty overwhelming how sweet this small glass of wine smells. I can get small hints of some kind of nutty smell, but the sugar is honestly 95% of what I am smelling. The wine has a nice full body and I can tell is extremely well balanced, even though the sugar is a good part of the smell the taste is not that sweet but nice. Then as the aftertaste hits me I feel the warmth of the higher alcohol percentage. I can also get hints of honey or maybe a honey-like substance present in the wine. I had no food with this wine but I could tell it would pair well as a dessert wine. Would drink again!

Tasting - Moscato

 

Name: Barefoot Moscato
Variety: Moscato
Country: United States
Region: California 
Vintage: NV (non-vintage)
Price: $5.99

Now that I had a decent amount of reds under my belt, I felt as if it was time to return to the white wines that I had not had a great time with as of yet. I decided to go with this Barefoot Moscato because it was a good price and I did not want to go overboard with a wine that I did not have high expectations for. I also choose it because it had "Deliciously Sweet" written on it which pretty much sold it for me. 

The smell test gave me some strong tart flavors and I could also feel like I was getting a little bit of the acidy from the wine, even though I had not tried it yet. However, the more times I repeated the smell test it felt as if I was looking at that tart smell and was getting more of the acidy smell. I was very surprised when I went to take my first taste of this wine. It had a very pleasant sweet taste that was very well balanced. It was crispy and refreshing (pg 151), and almost had this very cooling aftertaste effect to it. The tartness of the wine is only present on the aftertaste which makes for a nice flavor. I did not have any food with this wine, but I feel like this wine would compliment a dessert of any kind because of how sweet it is. I can imagine this being paired with a cake or pie of any kind. 

The wine review that I choose is called Honest Wine Reviews by Jon Rogers. He stated that "The wine presented a mostly clear and clean appearance with mild color typical of a Moscato" and that "The sweetness did not overpower the enjoyable tastes of lemon". This review pretty much agreed with my general tasting of the wine. However, they were able to distinguish more flavor than I was able to. I really enjoyed this wine and will put it on the list of whites that I have enjoyed so far. 

Tasting - Woodbridge

 

Name: Woodbridge
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country: United States
Region: California 
Vintage: NV (non-vintage)
Price: $11.00

I wanted to stick with my theme of choosing red/darker wines before trying to go to the lighter wines in order to refine my palette and came across this one. It seemed to have elements on the label that I liked, so I went with it. I also wanted to perform my own review before reading anyone else's in order to leave any influence out of it. 

The smell test gave me hints of plumy and fruity smells. Those we definitely the most strong but I also got hints of a not overwhelming earthy smell. This would make sense as it is a barrel-aged wine, so that is probably where I am getting the aroma from (pg 159). My first impression of the taste was that it tasted very good, it seemed extremely well balanced and had a nice full body. It gave my mouth an almost buttery texture and flavor (pg 160). I did not have any food with this wine and I think it would be better off that way because the wine itself has such a flavor composition that it does not need anything else to compliment it, just enjoying the wine itself is enough. 

The wine review that I am choosing comes from the Denver Post by Dave Mcintyre. He states that this Cabernet Sauvignon is fresh, fruity, and well-balanced, and that can could be expected to be one of the more expensive wine brands. However, this wine comes in at an extremely good value. I honestly agree with his review and was surprised at how good this wine tasted and was not overwhelming in any regard. I am very satisfied with this wine and will probably purchase it again in the near future.