For this year's Valentines Day, my friends and roommates and I decided to cook a three course dinner with wine pairings for each course. It turned out to be one of the nicest dinners I've had; all of the food and all of the wine was most excellent. Some of the pairings went better than others, but that was to be expected. Let's get down to the details.
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| Kroger cheese palate with grapes |
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| Appetizer wine |
The first course was a wine and cheese pairing. As college students, we decided to go with the Kroger cheese plate. This plate had four different types of cheese: Monterrey jack, American, Cheddar, and a fourth one I was not quite sure of. The wine of choice was a 2012 Woodbridge Riesling. This was an inexpensive white wine, I believe it was around $10 for the 1.5 L bottle. The wine had a fruity nose. I tasted citrus fruit initially. There was nice transition to the finish of the wine, as well; it was intellectually pleasing. However, it was much sweeter than expected. The wine did not pair well with the mild cheese. My personal favorite was the pairing with the Monterrey Jack. The spiciness of the cheese subdued the sweetness in the wine.
For the main course, we had a pork tenderloin seasoned with a thyme-rosemary rub, sauteed asparagus, and three cheese scalloped potatoes. The dinner alone was magnificent. The asparagus was seasoned with some salt and pepper, and came out very crisp. To pair with dinner, I bought a 2012 Woodbridge Pinot Noir. This was recommended to me by the sommelier at Kroger. I told him we were making pork tenderloin with an herb rub. We also decanted this wine for about an hour before drinking. Classy right? So for the wine: the nose smelled of dark cherries and blackberry pie. The wine tasted very woody, especially dark wood. I'm still thinking about how much wood there was was. It's some of the most wood I've had in awhile. The wine had a slight dry finish to it as well. The pairing of this wine with the pork was amazing; it was like peas and carrots. The woodiness matched exquisitely with the spice run on the pork. The food brought the tannins out in the wine, as well. I would love to eat this meal over and over.
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| The dinner wine |
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| Decanted Pinot Noir |
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| Main course with decanted wine, and the golden stag |
Lastly, we had a dessert course. We were in for a treat, too! We had two separate wines to try. The first one was a Port. This fortified wine was strong. It's the type of stuff that puts hair on your chest. It smelled of rubbing alcohol and hospitals. I tasted a lot of berries and grapes, though. It paired quite well with the chocolate sprinkle balls. This balls are a dessert from Brazil called
Brigadeiro. They are pretty much chocolate covered in sprinkles. With the wine, I tasted chocolate covered fruit.
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| Port wine with chocolate balls and strawberries |
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| Dessert Moscato wine |
The other desserts were key lime pie and strawberries with a creme cheese filling. For this food, an Italian Moscato was chosen. As with all the other Moscato wines I've tried, this one was very sweet, though not as sweet at the Barefoot Moscato. It tasted of the traditional Welch's grape juice grape flavor we all love so dearly. Furthermore, it had a sophisticated taste of warm apple pie and yellow honeysuckle (not the white). The sugars in the strawberries enhanced the sweet tastes of the wine. It was a great course to have after the herb themed dinner.
All in all, I loved this wine dinner. All of the food turned out amazing, and the wines we tasted were heavenly. It's amazing how bold and vivid the wine makes the food. Some of the wines were meant to be consumed with food. And when you get a good pairing, like the pork and Pinot Noir, man oh man. It's like flavor blasted gushers- one bite, and the juices explode everywhere in a mystical mayhem of flavor! I cannot wait for my next dinner.
