Wine and Cheese blog #1

My friends and I paired three wines with three kinds of cheese to complete a wine and cheese pairing blog. From left to right, we paired a Cala De Poeti Sangiovese with Vermont goat cheese, a Roche Mazet Cabernet Sauvignon with aged english cheddar, and a Roche Mazet Sauvignon Blanc with Parmigiano Reggiano. We used town house pita crackers and sour cream and onion ritz toasted chips as the crackers with the cheeses. Furthermore, we used a grater, wine cutter, and butterfly wine opener as tools for our wine and cheese tastings. 

The first pairing was the Cala De Poeti Sangiovese with Vermont goat cheese. The Sangiovese was very bold for a table wine. There were hints of fruity notes such as cherry and raspberry. With subtle hints of oak and vanilla that I assume came from the aging process. The wine was not as tannic as I expected it to be, being slightly more on the softer side. There was a jammy nature to it that also brought hints of grapy jelly and plum. We paired this wine with a soft goat cheese from Vermont. The cheese did a great job of pairing with the soft nature of the Sangiovese. There was no outright acidity for the cheese to cut through. The goat cheese had a smooth finish that helped blend the wine into having a smooth finish as well and really brought out the depth of the Sangiovese. 

The second pairing was a Roche Mazet Cabernet Sauvignon with aged English cheddar. The Cab was very dry and had immediate hints of oaky vanilla off the first smell and taste. It has a smooth long finish that allowed me to take in its aftertaste of deep current jammy blackberry. I would say the Cab was much more acidic than it was soft. It was smooth and had noticeable tannins. Moreoever, the aged cheddar brought out the depth and body of the tannins within the wine. This melted through the initial acidity of the Cab and allowed me to take full advantage of the smooth finish of the wine. 

The third pairing was a Roche Mazet Sauvignon Blanc with Parmigiano Reggiano. The Blanc had immediate notes of acidity. We made a slight mistake in that we had the blanc last out of the three, this when the white should have been the first of the three due to saving our palate. The blanc was very dry to begin with. The parm immediately took away the acidity when it was paired. Fighting through the acidity allowed for the notes of apple and pear to bleed through. There was also citrus and lemon that was immediately on the nose. 

 

Drink this now lesson #2

Step 1: We chilled our paperback chardonnay. Opened the cork on our Tercius Vinho Tinto Tejo. Lined up a shot glass, a whiskey glass, and a stemless wine glass. 

        

Step 2: Poured out the white wine into the glasses.

Step 3: Sniffing the white chardonnay.  

Shot glass white sniff: no flavor just smelled metallic and very short body. Slight floral notes on the nose but there was just no depth in what I was smelling. 

Whiskey glass white sniff: more flavor available but still very shallow and wasn't focused. I could smell more of the fruity/floral notes but again it was just shallow. I felt like I wasn't able to get everything from the sniff. It felt like a shotgun approach that wasn't focused. 

Wine glass white sniff: very focused at my nose and I could smell detailed fruity notes. Could smell all the acidity and fruity notes. Didn't feel like I was leaving any notes in the glass. 

Step 4: Tasting the white wine

shot glass white taste: very quick taste that was straight onto the nose. Not deep at all and barely had any notes of anything. Felt like I was just drinking water and alcohol.

whiskey glass white taste: much smoother and could taste actual hints of fruitiness. There was a much more pronounced smell from the whiskey glass and taste than the shot. More of a shotgunned approach again. 

wine glass white taste: much smoother taste than the following whiskey glass, floral notes with hints of butter. Much more pronounced flavor through sniffing since the wine glass is fluted. 

Step 5: setting up the red wine

 Shot glass red sniff: pretty shallow notes slightly fruity but nothing on the nose

Whiskey glass red sniff: there were hints of tannins and body in the sniff that were lacking from the whiskey glass

Wine glass red sniff: much smoother and much more body, the wine was more focused through the olfactory 

shot glass red taste: the shot had a smoother aftertaste than I was expecting, it has a very slow draw down the throat 

whiskey glass red taste: shorter body taste that doesn't have much taste 

wine glass red taste: a deep body that had legs after swirling. very tannic taste that has acidic notes on the nose 

Step 6: After heating up one glass through our hands and sniffing the red wine. The non-heated version was very shallow and did not have the depth of the notes that the heated-up red wine did. The heated-upT version had a much jammier front than the non-heated version. There were hints of oak and vanilla that were much harder to pick up on the non-expressed version of the red. 

Wine Dinner blog #1

My friends and I started our wine dinner at the Wine Lab by looking over the flight list to see what would pair well with the dinner we had already chosen. We spoke with our server Julia to get any recommendations she had based on our food and how much we roughly wanted to spend. We finally chose the "Region of Focus - Bordeaux" flight. This was $16, and included the following wines: Les Hayts de Lagarde Blanc '20, Chevalier du Grand Robert '18, and Ch. Graves de Rabion '18. The wines were from Entre Deux Mers, Haut Medoc, and Saint Emilion respectively

Below is a picture of the wine flights placed out in order, from right to left, by our server Julia. 

The first wine I had was the Les Hauts de Lagarde Blanc 2020. We started with white wine, as white is always consumed before red to not ruin your flavor profile. The white wine was paired with baked brie. The brie had hints of honey and sweetness that melted away the acidity of the white wine. The wine was bold in flavor and more on the dry side, with more acidity on the nose. However, because we paired the white with a brie it allowed the cheese to really melt away any initial acidity and brought the fruity notes forward. The wine had notes of apple juice immediately, followed by notes of citrus and minerality in the aftertaste. There was a small taste of hay and straw. My friends said they had buttery hints; however, I did not pick up on these. 

After we finished our appetizer of baked brie, our main dishes came out and I moved on to my second wine. the second wine. The second wine was a Chevalier du Grand Robert 2018. This wine was paired with the turkey melt sandwich I had with a side of sour cream and onion potato chips. This pairing was excellent as the body of the red wine was brought out by the depth of the smoked turkey. The red was very bold in flavor and had a noticeable body. I swirled this red and cupped my hand on the glass to warm it up. After swirling the legs of the red were visible, hinting further to the body of this red. Furthermore, this red was very dry. I was not expecting this but it allowed for the flavor of the sandwich to further show through. 

Overall the appetizer, main, and side dish paired well with the wines in the flight. In hindsight, I do wish I had chosen a more meaty dish such as a Ruben that would have brought out the depth and body of the two reds further. The baked brie and the white paired exceptionally well. The last dish I had was a warmed cookie and I paired it with the Ch. Graves de Rabion 2018. 

This last wine had a very strong rich tannic structure that was mouth-drying. This red was much drier than the previous one. The rabion had hints of black cherry and fruity flavors such as cherry. There was an aftertaste of chocolate and allspice. This darker and sweeter aftertaste paired excellently with the chocolate chip cookie. The cookie allowed me to fight through the initial bite to the wine and really enjoy the sweet aftertaste. 

Overall the dinner was a success. Looking back on it, I do wish I would have chosen a meatier main dish so that I could have brought more flavors out for the Chevalier du Grand Robert. Other than that the appetizer and white, and the dessert and red paired excellently. All told, I had an appetizer, main dish, side dish, and dessert: baked brie, Chipotle turkey sandwich, sour cream and onion chips, and a baked cookie. I had three wines as part of a flight: Les Hayts de Lagarde Blanc '20, Chevalier du Grand Robert '18, and Ch. Graves de Rabion '18. 

Maule Valley Tripantu 2020 Chardonnay from Chile (Wine Tasting Blog Report)

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3. The name of the wine is a Maule Valley Tripantu 2020 Chardonnay from Chile. It cost us around $3.50 due to a deal my friends and I got on a case of wine from an online distributor. 

4. "I received this as part is a mail wine collection. I usually like California Chardonnay and this reminds me a lot of that. The color is a little lighter than I would expect for a reserve but all the flavor notes are there. There are caramel, apple, leather, tropical fruit and citrus. It works well with some spicy food but also tasty on its own." - Ryan Lisee on Vivino

5. This wine was very acidic and had little tannins, making it very light bodied (pg 18). The wine had lots of fruit notes such as pear, apple, and some hints of buttery/oak (pg 14). This was my first time having a Chardonnay and I was shocked by the acidity of it.  

6. Overall, I did not like this wine at all. It tasted like hay and had a horrible after taste. We did not have this wine with a meal. I would not recommend this wine to anyone. I want to try a California Chardonnay, or some place that is known for their Chardonnays. Most likely got a bottle that didn't match my palate. 

Vespertine - 2019 California Zinfandel (Wine Tasting Blog Report)

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3. The name of the wine is Vespertine and it is a 2019 Zinfandel from California. It cost us around $3.50. My friend and I got a deal from an online wine shop that was running a sale. We then split the cost of the case in two, which is how we arrived to the price above. 

4.  "Opaque aged purple/red in color. Super yummy. Black currant, black cherry, allspice and maybe a little tobacco. Great with chili and would be a hit at a dinner party! Loving this wine." - Alex Setmajer on Vivino

5. I enjoyed this wine, quite possibly the best one I have had yet. The wine was very sweet and thus had a fuller body than I was expecting (pg 18 wine folly). I got hints of oak barrel in the wine, which could have been used as an aging process to increase the body of the wine (pg 19). The main hint that I got from the wine was chocolate (pg 14). This could have been because we were eating brownies around the same time; however, the wine paired well with them. 

6. We had brownies with this wine and served it room temperature. I really enjoyed this wine and quite frankly think its the best i've had yet. It was much sweeter than I expected, and paired very well with our dessert. I would certainly recommend this wine over all the others I have had thus far. 

Hawkes Bay Pinot Gris - New Zealand (Wine Tasting Blog Report)

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3. The name of the wine is a Hawkes Bay, Oyster Bay Pinot Gris. It is from New Zealand and is a 2021 vintage. It cost around $15. 

4. "I like this! Good quality, but with lots of tropical passion fruit notes and guava, yellow apricot. Simple, yellow fruit wine. Oyster Bay is a reliable source of entry level wine from NZ." - Lachie Corbett on Vivino. 

5. After tasting this wine, I would say that its on the dry side with much more acidity to balance the wine out. There is very little sweetness in this wine. (pg 9, wine folly). Moreover, the wine has notes of green apple, pear, and some citrus which I am picking up from the acidity (pg. 14). I'm not sure where I'm picking up this next hue from, but there are hints of bamboo. 

6. I did not have this wine with a food pairing. We drank the wine cold, trying to avoid warming it up with our hands. The wine had a biting acidity off the smell and immediate hints of green apple. Oddly, this Pinot Gris reminded me of coins, particularly dimes/quarters/nickels. Something with a nickel-copper mix. The wine felt very light-bodied once it coated the inside of the mouth.