Wine Dinner Blog #1

Wines:

Dishes:

                                                     

                                                      

Appetizer:

For the appetizer, my friend Milo and I had an Israeli Salad. The ingredients of an Israeli salad tend to be raw vegetables, herbs, and types of citrus dressings. In our particular variation of the Israeli salad, we used tomatoes, cucumber, onion, lemon juice, and a mix of different spices such as parsley, salt, pepper, and garlic. Israeli salad tends to be pretty acidic, so for this part of the meal we thought it would be best to pair it with a white wine for contrast. 

Wine Pairing #1:

For our pairing with the salad, we decided to have a Yosemite Road 2021 Chardonnay. This pairing was pretty solid overall but did not seem like the most ideal pairing possible. It contrasted well with the acidity of the meal as it was a low-acid white wine that tends to pair well with salad in general. The reason I think that it wasn't ideal however is because I think that a Sauvignon Blanc would've pair much better due to it being a bit dryer and its overall crisp tartness. The Yosemite Road Chardonnay itself was also not the highest of quality either. It seemed to have too many added sugars, making the wine taste far sweeter than desired. With the appetizer, I was hoping to have the white wine be dryer and consist of less sweetness so that it could bring out the flavor of the salad ingredients a bit more. In summary, the wine got the job done but left more to be desired.

Main Course:

For our main course we had a dish called Shakshuka. Shakshuka is in Israeli dish that consists of poached eggs in a mix of spiced tomatoes and pepper sauce. The sauce that we ended up making was comprised of tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, and many seasonings. Typically, you eat the dish with pita or a more crusty bread but we didn't have any. As a replacement, we ate the Shakshuka with toasted bagels as a means to dip into it. Seeing as Shakshuka is a rich, heavily tomato based dish, we thought it would be best to have a red wine as the dishes' pairing.

Wine Pairing #2:

The pairing selection for the Shakshuka was a Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon. The Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon was my least favorite of wines for the night. I thought that it paired decently with the Shakshuka due to it being a full-bodied red that was pretty smooth. But these characteristics showed me why it would be a good pairing with the Shakshuka but I also thought that the wine itself tasted cheap and low quality. The flavor profile described for the wine was that of rich dark fruit such as black cherry, currant, and plum. I tasted hints of the currant and plum but I mostly tasted only the black cherry. Personally, I have not been a fan of earthy wines on my tasting journey and this wine was far more earthy than I would've liked. It had tastes of oak and spice which I did not think paired well with the dish. 

Dessert:

The dessert we had was a basic chocolate cake. This was a case where Milo and I had heard of multiple types of dessert wines pairing well with chocolate cake and so we wanted to use the dish as a base for which types of wines we could select to pair with it. The cake wasn't anything too fancy, we didn't make it ourselves and we picked it up store bought from Kroger. I asked my dad for any specific wines he would recommend to pair with the cake and he recommended Red Sweet Muscadine wine to pair with it due to its flavors of jam.

Wine Pairing:

Following the recommendation of my dad, I purchased a Duplin Red Sweet Muscadine wine. As my dad said, the wine was very sweet and tasted almost like a strawberry jam. The Sweet Muscadine wine was able to be a phenomenal pairing with the chocolate cake. Due to the low cost of the wine and the low effort of acquiring good cake for the tasting, I figured that this would be the cheapest flavor and least desirable pairing of the night, however, it was my undeniable favorite and it was not close. The pairing was able to work so well because the cake wasn't a dark chocolate, it was a milk chocolate cake making it more creamy and smooth than bitter. This was likely the reason for the exceptional pairing. It reminded me as if I was eating chocolate covered strawberries. The cake itself wasn't overly sweet and made the sweetness of the dessert wine enhance the flavors within itself. The wine had strong notes of ripe grapes, strawberries, and candied fruit. It was a refreshing wine that wasn't very dry and balanced the sugar levels very well. Another reason for it being my favorite of the night was because the wine could've stood alone without any pairing and I still would've enjoyed it.

Experience:

Milo and I had a great time trying all of these wines and getting to eat all of this wonderful food. I have to give credit to Milo for his wonderful job of cooking/prepping the food for our tasting. If it wasn't for his skill, the pairings wouldn't have been nearly as good as they ended up being. My first food and wine tasting was a huge success and I'm super excited to do more of them. As Professor Boyer said, the best part of the experience was getting to share it with one of my best friends. 

Below you'll see milo and I enjoying the wine and getting our dessert ready after a fantastic dinner: