Wine and Dinner Pairing #2

For my wine and dinner pairing, I decided to cook one of my favorite meals to make, a salmon dinner. As my side for the salmon, I cooked my favorite frozen vegetables, Green Giant Tuscan Seasoned Broccoli. For my third food, I chose some of my favorite chocolates: Private Selection Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels. The three wines I chose were a Kendall-Jackson 2023 California Chardonnay, Cavit Collection 2023 Pinot Grigio, and a J. Vineyards 2022 Pinot Noir.

 

My first wine was the California Chardonnay. On its own, I thought it tasted rich, buttery, and slightly acidic. The initial flavor was pretty strong, but it softened out after a few sips and I began getting some notes of apple. With the salmon, I thought the oaky flavor of the wine mixed well with the salmon's flavor. The salmon also balanced out the acidity of the wine, making it feel lighter and less tangy. I thought the buttery wine paired really well with the parmesan flavoring in the broccoli, making for a stronger, creamier flavor. This was by far my favorite Chardonnay pairing. Lastly, I tried the Chardonnay with the salted caramel chocolates. I actually enjoyed this pairing quite a bit. I think the heavy oakiness of the wine enhanced the salted caramel flavor in the chocolates, making for a rich overall taste. 

The second wine was the Pinot Grigio. This wine was very light-bodied, I primarily tasted lemon flavors, and it was a bit more acidic. When paired with the salmon, I thought the citrus flavor paired really nicely by cutting through the thick, dry salmon and definitely made it more flavorful. Because the wine is so light-bodied, it made for an overall lighter, more airy sensation in my mouth. This was my favorite Pinot Grigio pairing. I did not like this wine paired with the broccoli. The strong pepper and garlic flavors of the broccoli clashed with the lemon in the wine, making for an unpleasant taste. This wine paired with the chocolate was not a good experience either. The saltiness of the chocolate did not blend well with the acidity, making for a nasty taste.

The final wine was the Pinot Noir. On its own, I thought it tasted (and smelled) like cherries with a slight tannic flavor. It was acidic and certainly very dry. When I paired it with the salmon, I thought its acidity helped cut through the dry, meaty texture of the salmon, allowing for a stronger overall flavor. I thought this was a pretty good pairing. Moving on to the broccoli. The slight fruitiness and strong acidity of the wine really brought out the cheesy, garlic flavors of the broccoli and the broccoli brought out that strong deep cherry tannin flavor of the wine, making for a great combination. This was definitely my favorite Pinot Noir pairing. Lastly, with the salted caramel chocolate, I thought the wine overpowered the chocolate's flavors a little bit at first. However, after a few more sips with the chocolate, I realized that I enjoyed how the cherry flavor of the wine complemented the smooth milk chocolate. However, once the caramel taste set in, it made the wine taste particularly bad.

Overall, this was a great experience and again, I loved getting to try out some new wines. My favorite pairing from this experience was the Pinot Noir and the broccoli, which I did not expect because I usually like white wines more than reds. It was interesting to figure out what wines would pair well (or not well) with a meal that I eat pretty often.

Wine and Cheese Pairing #2

I am so excited to do some wine and cheese pairings for this class because I am SUCH a huge fan of cheese and I'd love to discover some new pairings with wine. Today, I am trying out a 2023 Seaglass Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc, a 2023 Ile de Conas Rosé, and an Oliver Winery Sweet Red wine.

 

The cheeses I picked are Murray's Young Manchego, Kroger brand Swiss cheese, and Private Selection's Parisian Style Brie. These are all cheeses I've had before, with Swiss and Manchego being some of my favorite kinds. I am not a huge fan of Brie, but I have had a few that I liked and I thought it might make for a good pairing with some of these wines, so I decided to try it out.

 

I started out my tastings with the Sauvignon Blanc. Alone, it tasted crisp and acidic, with a hint of a lemon-lime taste, which I had also noticed from smelling the wine. It actually smelled fruitier than it tasted. With the Brie, I thought the richness and mushroom-like flavor of the cheese toned down the acidity of the wine, making for a well-balanced flavor. Brie is never my first choice of cheese, but I actually really enjoyed this pairing, it was my favorite for Sauvignon Blanc. With the Manchego, I thought there was a good contrast from the acidity and slight fruitiness of the wine against the heavy, nutty cheese. The Swiss cheese has a pretty mild flavor, so the wine's high acidity and lemon-lime flavor overpowered it a little.

Next was the Rosé. Alone, I thought it tasted fruity, like strawberries, but had a definite presence of acidity and tanginess. With the Brie, I thought the acidity of the wine cut through the rich creaminess of the brie, making for a good pairing, but it had quite a strong flavor. I enjoyed the combination of the Manchego's nuttiness with the wine's fruitiness and I thought the light body of the wine nicely contrasted with the richness of the cheese. This was my favorite Rosé pairing. Lastly, I thought this wine with the Swiss cheese was not a great pairing. The wine overpowered the cheese and the strawberry flavor did not contrast well with the very mild-flavored cheese.

Last, I tried the Sweet Red. On the first sip, I thought it tasted exactly like Welch's grape juice (I guess that makes sense, since it is made with Concord grapes!). After another sip or two, I noticed that it was actually fairly light-bodied and had a hint of acidity. With the Brie, I thought the fruity, grape jam-like flavor nicely complimented the creaminess of the brie. It toned down the strong nuttiness of the brie, making for a perfectly balanced, not too overpowering flavor, which I enjoyed. This was my favorite Sweet Red pairing. With the Manchego, I again thought the sweet, fruity flavor of the wine contrasted with the nuttiness of the cheese, but the Manchego still overpowered the wine more than I would like. Lastly, the Swiss cheese was my least favorite pairing. The strong grape flavor and acidity of the wine actually overpowered the cheese so that I could barely taste it.

This was such an enjoyable activity to allow myself to experience some wine pairings, form my own opinions on the flavors, and to find out which pairings I like and dislike. I was surprised to have liked so many of the Brie pairings and less of the Swiss pairings, as I thought it would be the opposite, so that was interesting to see. My favorite pairing overall was the Rosé and the Manchego.