Dinner: Target Wine and Dine

Me and a few of my friends taking Geography of Wine decided that we'd have a fun Friday night wine dinner. We had all heard about the $5 Target wines and decided that it would be a fun evening if the six of us tried a few of them for our first wine dinner. We decided to pair  our Target wine, which is named California Roots, with the best food that Target had to offer as well as some food from Kroger.

Our first wine pairing was a Pinto Grigio and an "Endless Summer" salad

The first  wine up in our Target dining experience was California Roots Pinto Grigio. We paired the Pinto Grigio with and an "Endless Summer" salad which was romaine, parmesan, croutons, Italian seasoning, and a "summer vinaigrette." Before tasting the wine with the salad I tried it on it's own. The wine had a strong citrus smell, I could easily make out the smell of lemon, I could also detect hints of minerality, as well as pear. When I tasted the wine I was surprised that it was not very acidic or dry, something that I have picked up on in other Pinto Grigio's. This Pinto Grigio was sweet and had a medium body.

The salad and Pinto Grigio were a good pairing 

The Pinto Grigio paired well with the "Endless Summer" salad. It is usually hard to pair a vinaigrette with a wine and I was pleasantly surprised with this paring. I think that the salad tasted better with the Pinto Grigio because it cut through the acidity of the dressing which just highlighted the flavor of dressing and brought the herbs and flavors in the Italian seasoning that was in the salad.

The "Endless Summer" salad made the Pinto Grigio more flavorful and I could detect the lemon in the wine more easily when the two were paired together. It also made the wine smoother and gave the wine a longer lasting flavor.

The ingredients for out pasta and the California Roots Red Blend

Our second pairing was the California Roots Red Blend, unfortunately this wine did not list the varietals that were in this blend. The Red Blend had an oaky cherry scent. When I tasted the wine on it's own I could easily taste oak, cinnamon, vanilla bean, cherry, and subtle hints of chocolate.

The finished product of our spaghetti 

We paired the Red Blend with our main dish of spaghetti with tomato sauce and grilled vegetables (the grilled vegetables included zucchini, carrots, and green peppers) with a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese. This pairing was okay, it did not greatly enhance the flavors of the dishes but it did not make them taste bad. The wine did not overpower the food, but it did not emphasize the flavors in the dish either. On the other hand the food muted the flavors in the Red Blend. I could still strongly taste the cherry ,however, the pasta also brought out a peppery flavor in the wine. This was my least favorite pairing because the food and the wine did not really do anything to enhance or compliment the other.

Our final course of chocolate cake and Cabernet Sauvignon 

Our final course was California Roots Cabernet Sauvignon with chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. The Cabernet Sauvignon had a strong smell of cherries, berries (I could detect raspberry), and oak. On it's own I could taste the tannins in this Cabernet Sauvignon. It wav very dry and viscous Cabernet Sauvignon. It also had a strong berry taste, which taste mostly like raspberries to me.

This was my favorite pairing and I wanted to eat the entire cake by myself

The chocolate cake and Cabernet Sauvignon was an amazing pairing. It was the best pairing of the night. The cake brought out the cherry flavor in the wine and reduced the tannic taste of the Cabernet Sauvignon. The  Cabernet Sauvignon balanced the sweetness of the cake so the cake was not as sweet as it was on its own. The cake and the wine did a great job of balancing each other, neither the wine or the cake overpowered the other. It was such a great pairing that I ate two pieces of cake and almost had a third.

We had so much fun and can't wait until our next wine dinner

We had so much fun creating the menu for our dinner and at our dinner that we cannot wait until the next one. We might start making these a regular event because we enjoyed pairing wine with good food and having a fun night with friends.

Counting down the days until our next dinner