Wine Dinner 2

For this wine dinner, I made a five-course meal with my roommates and some friends and paired wine with three of the courses. The three courses I paired wine with were the main course of creamy shrimp and sausage pasta, an appetizer of pigs in a blanket, and a dessert dish of chocolate. We also made roasted carrots as well as roasted zucchini and squash to serve as side dishes for the pasta. The three wines we drank were an Akiyoshi 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon, a Barefoot Pink Moscato, and a col deL'utia 2020 Prosecco. Later in this blog, I will explain the various pairings we were going for and how they worked out for us. All pictures will be included at the end.

In chronological order, I will begin discussing each of the three pairings beginning with the Cabernet Sauvignon and pigs in a blanket. The main motivation behind this pairing was Cabernet Sauvignon's stellar ability to pair well with meat. While we were breaking the rule of starting with less flavorful wines, I believe that wasn't much of an issue since all three wines were fairly strong and there was so much food to cleanse the palate. I found this pairing to be pretty good. I felt like the flavor of the mini hot dogs was accentuated by the Cabernet Sauvignon and vice versa. The wine was surprisingly smooth and not overly tannic which helped the subtle flavors of the food not be washed out. A less smooth Cabernet Sauvignon might have been too much for the pigs in a blanket, but this wine paired very nicely. In regards to the wine, it was hands down the best Cabernet Sauvignon I have ever had. In the past, I have considered Cabernet Sauvignon to be my least favorite wine as it is very loud and tannic and does not go down very smoothly. This wine however was very smooth and allowed me to experience the Cabernet Sauvignon flavor in a more accessible manner. I was able to pick up on some plum notes as well as some earthy flavors that I was not quite able to place. This wine is from Clarksburg, United States, and is a 2018 vintage. It costs about 13 dollars for a single bottle. From nakedwines.com this wine was reviewed as follows: "David’s 91-point award-winning Cabernet is a rich California classic, jam-packed with powerfully stunning dark fruit flavors of juicy plums, ripe cherries and toasty, soul-warming spices from decadent barrel-aging in French and American oak." The Wine Folly textbook points out notes of black cherry, black currant, cedar, baking spices, and graphite commonly occurring in Cabernet Sauvignon on page 300. Overall I really enjoyed both the food and wine in this course and feel that the pairing was a success.

The next course I will discuss is the Barefoot Pink Moscato paired with the creamy shrimp and sausage pasta. From some quick research, I found that Moscatos go well with creamy pasta dishes. This worked out very well as our main course was very creamy. The intense sweetness of the wine really brought out the flavor of the cream sauce and old bay seasoning incorporated in the dish. The lighter body of the wine also helped offset the richness of the food. I thought this pairing also worked out pretty well. Before taking this class Pink Moscato was my go-to wine due to its sweetness and smoothness. This was the first time in a while I had drunk it, however, and I was surprised with how sweet it tasted. I feel like taking this class and trying different kinds of wine has changed my palate for the better and this objectively not great wine doesn't taste as good to me anymore. However, I did still enjoy it due to its smoothness, the sweetness was just a little much. The food pairing saved the wine for me as the flavors and mouth feel offset each other and really improved both elements. I wasn't able to pick up any real notes or flavors other than sugar. This wine is from California and is a non-vintage wine. It costs about 7 dollars for a single bottle. From drizly.com this wine was reviewed as follows: "This deliciously sweet wine has flavors and aromas of Moscato with additional sweet layers of juicy red fruit. Subtle notes of cherry, raspberry, and pomegranate complement its vibrant finish. Pink Moscato is versatile and pairs well with spicy appetizers, Chinese take-out, or fresh strawberries and whipped cream." The Wine Folly textbook points out notes of orange blossom, Meyer lemon, and mandarin orange commonly occurring in Muscat Blanc (the closest I could find to Pink Moscato) on page 591. Overall I really enjoyed both the food and wine in this course and feel that the pairing was a success.

The final pairing I will discuss is the Prosecco with a rich chocolate cake. Two main elements were considered when creating this pairing. First, the richness of the cake was chosen to pair with the high acidity of the Prosecco. Another factor was a desire to drink the Prosecco as a dessert wine paired with a dessert course. This pairing did not come together as well as I was hoping. The acidity of the wine and richness of the food was not as pronounced as I had hoped and made the pairing fall a little flat. Fortunately, each element was very good on its own and the pairing didn't infringe upon that. The cake was very sweet, but not overly rich. The Prosecco itself was very tasty, but not very acidic. I would enjoy drinking the Prosecco again, but would probably consider drinking it by itself after dinner which works out as I am not a big dessert guy myself. I was able to pick up on some citrus and pear-like notes in the wine. This wine is from Veneto, Italy, and is a 2020 vintage wine. It costs about 16 dollars for a single bottle. From nakedwines.com this wine was reviewed as follows: "Vibrant and fresh, with a scintillating layer of bright bubbles, this refined Prosecco is light and luxurious Italian sparkling at its most refreshing. " The Wine Folly textbook points out notes of green apple, honeydew, pear, lager, and cream on page 692. Overall this pairin
g did not work out too well, but both elements were still enjoyable.

Overall I found this entire meal enjoyable and educational. The food was great as me and my friends put a lot of time and effort into making a good meal. It was also very interesting to pair each course with a wine that would best go with the flavors and textures of the meal. I enjoyed the wines we drank much more than my previous wine dinner. The general consensus of the group was that these were three of the best wines we tried during this course. I was very happy with the meal and even found that one of the pairings falling a little flat actually added to the educational experience. Below are pictures of the dinner as well as the wine bottles.