Wine Dinner #2

For our second Wine Dinner my friends and I decided to have a carb heavy meal, this was not the initial plan but as we curated the menu we realized it consisted of a lot of our favorite carbs.

My favorite paring breadsticks and Riesling

The first course in our dinner was bread sticks, that were coated in creamy garlic butter. Since these breadsticks had a creamy butter on them we decided to pair it with a white wine. We chose Hedgeline Vineyards  2016 Riesling from Washington state. The tasting notes of this Riesling said it"brings lovely aromas of ripe apricots and peaches to the nose, woven tighter by abundant fresh fruit flavor."

The Riesling had a subtle scent and I could detect hints of pear and orange. Tasted on it's own the Riesling was sweet from fruit. The flavors I could taste in the wine were pear and Granny Smith Apple. The wine was very smooth and had a heavy mouthfeel.

When paired with the breadstick the Riesling muted the garlic taste of the breadstick ,however, it enhanced the buttery fattiness of the breadstick. The acidity of the wine complemented the breadstick and made the flavor of the butter more rich. I did not think the Riesling overpowered the food and I do not think the breadstick overpowered the Riesling. They complemented each other really well. The butter on the breadstick helped to make the Riesling more tart and lessened the wine's sweetness. It was my favorite paring of the night.

Chicken parmesan,roasted potatoes, and Merlot

For our second course we had Chicken Parmesan and roasted potatoes with green pepper and onions. We paired the second course with Dr. Henry John Lindeman's 2016 Merlot from South Eastern Australia.  The wine had a strong cherry scent with hints of chocolate. On it's own the wine tasted of oak and dark chocolate and I could barely detect tannins in it.

When paired with the chicken and potatoes more of the oak flavor was brought out of the Merlot as well as hints of tobacco. I did not enjoy this paring.  The wine did not compliment the flavors of the dish it did not cut through the heaviness of the tomato sauce on the chicken and just made it taste worse.  The Merlot muted the flavors and saltiness in the chicken and the potatoes. It did nothing to the fattiness of the dish and instead the food brought out a stronger taste of cherry in the wine. The wine greatly overpowered the food in this case and when paired I could only make out the cherry oaky flavor of the wine and could barley detect the taste of the chicken and potatoes.  The food made the wine taste more bitter and it was just an underwhelming pairing.

It was so good we forgot to take a picture of the bottle before we finished it! 

Though it may not look good in the pictures this  the strawberry cheesecake and Rosa Regale Sparkling Red was an excellent paring

For our final pairing we had Sara Lee's Strawberry Cheesecake paired with Rosa Regale Sparkling Red. Rosa Regale Sparkling Red was the 2016 vintage and is from Montalcino, Italy. The wine notes describe it as  "a soft and deliciously luscious Red Sparkling Wine with charming hints of rose petals and raspberries."

The Sparkling Red scent remind me of bubblegum and rose petals. On it's own the wine was extremely sweet and tasted like bubblegum and raspberry. It was delicious and sweet with a hint of carbonation and was a perfect aperitif.

When paired with the strawberry cheesecake the flavors of raspberry and bubblegum in the wine were muted as well as the carbonation in the wine. However, the strawberry cheesecake perfectly complemented the wine and the wine perfectly complemented the cheesecake. They did not overpower one another. The acidity of the wine cut through the creaminess and richness of the dense cheesecake. The wine made the cake less sweet but also enhanced and brought out the flavor of the strawberries on top of the cake. Though the wine was sweet it was still a bit dry and the cheesecake cut through the dryness of the wine. Though both the cake and wine were sweet they were not too sweet for each other and the sweetness balanced each other. This was a good pairing and perfect for anyone that loves to indulge in sweets.

Overall my favorite pairing was the Riesling and the breadstick the wine and the butter complemented and enhanced one another. However, the meal as a whole was delicious and I cannot wait to continue to pair more wines with my favorite dishes.

We had such a fun night!