Wine Dinner Blog #2

For the second wine dinner blog I put together a meal with my roommates Peter, pictured on the right and Sam not pictured, I am on the left of the photo. We had a fabulous time drinking and eating together and I think we ended up with some real good food and wine pairings.

Similar to our first wine dinner, for our first course I put together a little charcuterie board to pair with a Sauvignon Blanc. On the board we had two types of goat cheese, an herb goat cheese and a strawberry goat cheese.. Then to drink we had a 2023 Sauvignon Blanc from Matua which is out of Marlborough, New Zealand. The wine alone had real nice light fruity notes, in particular I got a bit of a melon sort of flavor and it had a nice crisp finish which is why I chose to pair it with the rich creamy goat cheese. I found that the herb goat cheese had a saltier, richer taste which seemed to pair better with the sweetness of the wine. The strawberry goat cheese on the other hand was sweeter and I found had more complements with the wine as compared to the contrast between the herb goat cheese and the wine. However, overall I think both pairings were fabulous and the balance between the light and fruity wine and the creamy, savory cheese had me going back for more after every bite.

For our main course we had a nice herb crusted pork tenderloin which I roasted in the oven alongside a lemon, herb and parmesan risotto. To pair with the steak we had a Pinot Noir from Z Alexander Brown, on its own this wine had some fabulous notes vanilla, chocolate and a bit of barrel char. I found it had some similar notes to bourbon which was very intriguing to me. Then paired with the pork I found the velvety chocolate and barrel char notes of the wine went well with the deep rich flavors of the pork. However, I found that these two alone could be a lot after awhile and even a little overwhelming, I found that if you combined a little of the risotto with the pork to add a little creaminess to cut the bold flavors of the meat and the wine it helped balance everything together. I wasn't expecting all three to pair so well together but I was pleasantly surprised. 

The risotto itself was meant to be paired with a Pinot Grigio from Biltmore Estate. I really enjoyed this wine on its own with its light, crisp taste and notes of apple and some citrus, the only downside to this wine on its own was it was a little acidic. However, when combined with the creamy risotto the acidity was actually welcome, I found the acidity of the wine really helped cut through the rich creaminess of the risotto and I really enjoyed this pairing. Lile with the Pinot Noir I also tried combining the pork and risotto with the Pinot Grigio and I found that the rich flavors from the pork and risotto combined really just overpowered this light white wine. So I really enjoyed having a wine to pair with both the main dish and the side this time as I found some delicious pairings that were completely unintended. I was happily surprised by how well the pork and risotto together paired together with the Pinot Noir and it is definitely something I will try again. 

Overall I had a really great time just hanging out with my friends, cooking, eating, and especially drinking. All 3 dishes and all 3 wines were big hits and I'm excited to do this again soon! I'm also very pleasantly surprised by the accidental pairing we discovered during this meal and I'm excited to see what other unintended or designed pairings I can come up with in the future. 

Wine Dinner Blog #1

For this wine dinner blog I put together a meal with my roommates Peter, pictured on the left and Sam pictured on the right, I am in the center of the photo. We had a fabulous time drinking and eating together and I think we ended up with some real good food and wine pairings. 

For our first course I put together a little charcuterie board to pair with a Chenin Blanc. On the board we had two types of goat cheese, a city goat cheese and a blueberry thyme goat cheese. Then to drink we had Vouvray's La Forcine which was a Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley. The wine alone had real nice light fruity notes and a crisp finish which is why I chose to pair it with the rich creamy goat cheese. I found that the city goat cheese had a saltier taste which seemed to pair better with the sweetness of the wine. The blueberry thyme goat cheese on the other hand was sweeter and I found ended up being a little too sweet alongside the wine. However, overall I think this pairing was fabulous and the balance between the sweet wine and the creamy, savory cheese had me going back for more after every bite.

For our main course we had a nice New York strip which I reverse seared alongside a baked potato. To pair with the steak we had a Cabernet Sauvignon from Reino de Altuzarra, on its own this wine had some fabulous notes of dark cherry and a little bit of leather. Then paired with the steak I found the fatty cut of steak melded well with the high amount of tannins in the wine and really enhanced the flavors in the wine. I found that alone the wine was a little strong and tannic but the steak definitely helped to mellow it out and lead to a nice smooth wine with even greater dark fruit and leather flavors. Overall this pairing was also delightful and I found these two complemented each other very well.

For our last course I made some lemon squares to pair with a Prosecco from D.O.C. I found that the bright lemony flavor of the lemon squares paired super well with the lively and bubbly nature of the prosecco. This pairing was probably my favorite, the acidity of the Prosecco cut through the sweetness of the lemon bars and created this incredibly refreshing pairing. I will definitely be pairing these two together again in the future.

Overall I had a really great time just hanging out with my friends, cooking, eating, and especially drinking. All 3 courses and all 3 wines were big hits and I'm excited to do this again soon!

My Personal Experience With Wine

In this post I will dive into my personal experiences I have had with wine as well as my tastes and a little bit more about myself. To start off, let me introduce myself, my name is Will Robson and I am a senior at Virginia Tech studying Mechanical Engineering. I don't have too many wine drinking experiences or much wine knowledge but I hope that throughout the course of this semester I will expand my knowledge and grow my experiences with wine. I may not have much experience with wine but I do have lots of experience with other alcoholic beverages. I am an avid enjoyer of craft beers, bourbon and all manor of weird, funky cocktails. I hope that my experience with these beverages will have helped prepared my pallet at least a little to begin my journey with wine. I also love to cook and want to be able to implement wine into more of the meals I create. 

Like I said, I do not have too much experience with wine but that is not to say I've never enjoyed a good glass of Cabernet Sauvignon with a nice steak. In the past I've had wine alongside nice dinners with my family or over at friends houses during more formal gatherings but I've never known much about what I was drinking. One experience that stands out in my mind is one time I was over at a good friends house for Shabbat Dinner and we had a fabulous meal alongside some fabulous wine to pair with it. I don't remember specifically what we were drinking but I do remember having a nice red wine with dinner and then the most delicious, sweet dessert wine afterwards. I wish I remember what we were drinking because it was a fabulous way to cap off a delicious meal. 

So all this is to say that I have had some experiences with wine but I have never really known anything about the wine I was drinking. My goal with this course and with this blog is to learn everything I can about wine and to document the process using this blog. I hope that I can learn more about how wine is made and different types of wine but most importantly I want to learn how to pair wine and food well. My experience having Shabbat Dinner with my friend and his family was damn near magical and I would love to have the wine knowledge to put together pairings like that myself. So I guess in conclusion that is my one major goal, to be able to know enough about wine to put together the best food and wine pairings I can.

Tasting - Francis Coppola Cabernet Sauvignon

Tasting - Francis Coppola Cabernet Sauvignon

Name: Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Claret Cabernet Sauvignon
Variety: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: Geyserville, California
Year: 2022
Price: $18

Critic Review: "This wine is vibrant, lively, with aromas of blackberry, olallieberry, citrus, bittersweet chocolate, toasty vanilla, and florals on the nose. The flavor on the palate are boysenberry, blueberry, pink grapefruit zest, chicory, espresso, and a velvety dry finish. Decant and pair with Wagyu Beef." (Tonya Pitts, Wine Enthusiast)

Wine Folly: Page 88 of the Wine Folly book dives into the characteristics of a Cabernet Sauvignon. The book describes it as having rich flavors of black cherry, currant, cedar and baking spice. I definitely got those notes of dark fruit from this wine but not so much cedar and baking spice. The book also noted that you should decant for 60 plus minutes, I decanted for around 30 minutes and will decant for longer next time. The book also says a Cabernet Sauvignon should be paired with rich grilled meats and dishes with high flavor. I'll be sure to grab a bottle next time I grill up a nice steak. 

My Review: Fabulous! On the nose I got notes of blueberries and cherries and noticed this particular bottle had quite long legs while swirling it around. On the palette I got sweet cherries and dark fruit, however, this wine also had a little dryness to it. I found it struck a good balance between those wonderful sweet fruit notes while not being to overly sweet. I had this wine alongside dinner which was homemade meatballs on a bed of bucatini with a homemade red sauce on top. I found the subtle sweetness of this wine helped to balance the spice from the meatballs and the rich acidic flavors of the sauce. Overall, I really enjoyed this bottle and would definitely pick it up again.