I was so excited to get to try one of the dinners established for this class around the New River Valley with their exquisite food and wine pairings that go together perfectly, but alas I am on a budget and I was invited to a wine dinner with a few friends in the class at our lovely Foxridge apartments. Quite the classy establishment. Fun adventures await nonetheless, so read on!
Our dinner consisted of a three course meal on March 20th with three separate wines to go together with them. Let us begin!
Course 1
Fruit Salad consisting of strawberries, grapes, bananas, mandarin oranges, pineapple chunks, and vanilla pudding mix.
Name: Duck Commander 'Wood Duck'
Variety: Chardonnay
Region: Napa Valley, California
Country: United States
Year: 2012
Price: $8.99
Shop/wine critic/winery review: "Our Chardonnay offers rich tropical fruit aromas with hints of lemon and crisp apple laced around the complex nose. The palate is vibrant and full of pear, melon, and apple pie with a silky, creamy finish." Duck Commander Wines
My Review: My friend loves Duck Dynasty. She owns all the seasons on DVD, so of course this wine struck her attention right away. It was hope that this would be a good one! The aroma right away came across as heavy oak, tree, a bit of apricot and plum. But holy smokes, for real...the OAK MONSTER was here. I usually like the oak taste as a preference, although that may bother some people, but even the smell of oak was obvious. Upon tasting this wine, I got sharp acidity, a light mouth feel, some apple but mostly a burnt wood flavor. You can tell these barrels had been toasted a bit. Interesting to me, but my first thought was the infamous oak monster that Gary V mentions on Wine Library TV all the time. So I had to make the arms and growl a bit. And of course the first response was to get a picture of me doing so. Embarrassing as the picture is, I find it necessary. This was straight up oak, guys! Great fruit flavors though. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit!
The Oak Monster really showed itself in this one!
My review with the fruit salad: It made the wine itself taste a little sweeter and I thought that was good, but it actually took away any of the fruit flavor it had before and left just oak behind. I'm sad we chose something to pair it with that would actually decrease the fruit flavors and enhance the oak, but that is what happened. I'd say no to this pairing, but yes to the wine in general. Maybe try it with vanilla cake next time? Yum!
Course 2
Cheesy broccoli and rice casserole with Italian breadcrumbs and (oops) too much pepper
Name: Principe Siciliano
Variety: White blend with 60% Cataratto, 20% Inzolia, and 20% Grillo
Region: Sicily
Country: Italy
Year: Non-Vintage
Price: $3.95
Shop/wine critic/winery review: "This opens with aromas of tropical fruit and apricot. The rich palate is loaded with golden apple and yellow peach flavors that are accented by notes of citrus and pear."
My Review: The first thought that popped into my mind when I smelled this wine was wet sheep. I don't even know what wet sheep smells like so I rethought about what I was smelling. I just knew it drew me back a little bit and I didn't expect the Old World "Stenchy" type of wine stuff. After thinking for a second I narrowed it down more to mushrooms, a little but of rubbing alcohol, and other vegetal aspects. It kind of made me want to gag. It was a bit vegetal and sour when I drank it with a bit of lime on the aftertaste. It was very complex and interesting. I don't think I like it very much by itself. I would probably pass this one.
My Review with the Casserole: OH MY GOSH. My mind was just blown. I've never had an experience with a food actually enhancing a wine. Most of the time it just tasted separate to me, which is super frustrating to be honest. This is probably because I was trying them with new world table wines which really don't change much with food and aren't really meant to go with food. Let me tell you folks, this wine was meant for food. I seriously thought I didn't like this wine and then I had it with something as simple as broccoli casserole and it rocked my world (mostly because I noticed a transformation for the first time, not that it made the wine perfect). It went really well together, though! It took some of the sour out of the wine, possibly because of the cheese in the wine. It definitely enhanced the flavor of the broccoli which I thought was cool (like house spices enhance food, but with wine). It was the strangest thing. I finally get what wine snobs are talking about now when they say certain wines need to go with food. This is definitely one of those wines! Excellent.
Course 3
Digornio 3-meat pizza with pepperoni, beef, and sausage
Name: Le Borgate
Variety: Merlot
Region: Lazio
Country: Italy
Year: 2014
Price: $6.95
Shop/wine critic/winery review: "This wine has dark red color with purplish shades. On the nose has an intense fruity, blackberry, and clove smell. The taste is soft, structured, and velvety." Lake Liquor
My Review: Smells light, like a bright summer day, but it honestly doesn't smell much like anything else other than water and alcohol. Tastes dry and hot, but is acidic and smooth. I'm not sure I have words for this wine. It tastes cheap. Not much to the flavor. Like a grape skin fell in the dirt? That's the only thing I could come up with, and all of us at the table agreed. Not much to this wine. Probably one of those cheap wines people buy to get drunk off of. Shame on them, I'm looking for quality, here! What do I expect, though? These are really inexpensive wines (and were free for me, I brought the fruit salad!). It's like Jesus was turning water into wine but just stopped halfway. Like, why is this still mostly water? Makes me sad.
My Review with Pizza: Nope. Nothing changed. But how can you enhance a wine that is just water and alcohol anyways? This wine was made halfway and was thrown together, so there just wasn't much to change. Sad Heather again. At least I enjoyed some pizza, so that's a plus.
