Wine/Cheese 1

Wine and Cheese 1

Wines

1. Duplin, Scuppernong from Carolina.
2. Attimo Winery, Bull Frog Symphony 2013, Red table Wine
3. Castle Rock Winery, 2012 Pinot Noir

Cheeses

1. Yancey's Fancy New York's artisan Cheese. Finger Lakes Champagne, aged cheddar cheese
2. Mont Chevre Fresh Goat Cheese with lemon
3. Dofino, Gouda Cheese with Lime

The gouda here was a little over powered with the lime flavor, but it was still very good. I tried this most with the bull frog and quickly switched over to the pinot. I didn't like the bull frog all that much, it was too strong on the attack and did not have a nice transition between front to rear palate. The gouda's sharp yet buttery flavor worked nicely with the pinot, not so much with the bull frog. The scuppernong was too overpowering with the sweetness. I didn't like it at all with the scuppernong. 

This cheese had a lot of flavor and was very smooth. Strong lemon flavor paired well with the scuppernong for me and not so much with the reds. I enjoyed the long finish of the cheese and thought it paired well with the sweet finish of the scuppernong. Not too overpowering on this one. I tried this near the end of our get together and the red wines were mostly empty by the time I had a chance to try this one. I enjoyed it most on bread as opposed to crackers.

This cheese went most well with the red wine, the Pinot Noir. I thought the cheddar worked well with the wine because the acidicy of the wine mellowed out and the flavors blended together very well. It had a slight smoky flavor and the smoothness of the pinot made this difficult to stop eating. I found that Pinot Noir and bread are delicious together, almost too much!

Wine Dinner 2

Wine Dinner 2

Appetizer

We started out the second dinner with some delicious garlic bread pieces paired with a rose.  This rose was a 2014 Pinetti Notte from Italy. The crisp and fruity taste of the wine paired well with the heavy and strong garlic flavors in the bread. The crispness in the wine and smooth butteryness of the biscuits were a surprising compliment. As well was the extended finish. From a sudden crisp attack on the front palate to a smooth buttery mid palate followed by a long yet appetizing finish this was a nice combination. Unfortunately we were so excited about finally eating dinner that the biscuits were all gone before we took a photo of only them.

Entree

Up next we had the main course of spaghetti with a side of fried zucchini. The entree was definitely filling and a nice follow up to the garlic bread appetizer. Paired with this we chose to drink some red wine. This time we went with a 2014 El Cortijillo Tempranillo from Castilla, Spain. The larger body in this was instantly noticeable. The simple taste of it was also a nice pleasantry as I don't yet enjoy the complex wines as much. Hands down the beef and pasta paired well with this. It was more of a clean drink that has some raspberry or cherry in it. This wine was sweeter at first and finished a little dry and hot, not too bad especially with the extra sauce I had on the pasta. The 13.5% alcohol was a little more than I'd like but it didn't bring this wine down too much.

Dessert

Dessert was a delicious chocolate pie with whipped cream in the crust. Lots of chocolate in a milk chocolate smooth fashion. The pie was ok, nothing super stellar, but enjoyable. The wine was a 2014 Rubus wine selections proprietary reserve red wine from Australia.. This wine was mostly rubired with some durif and shiraz in it. It had a good body to it with lots of black curant flavor. I didn't like it that much to begin with and didn't finish my glass with the pie. The finish was smooth, and that helped a lot, but the oakiness in it did not go over well with me. I gave it a shot and thought of maybe finding a glass of water to finish off dinner.

Conclusion

Overall dinner was a great success. We cooked for a while, talked a lot about the wine and how it paired with dinner and had a great time while doing it! I don't think we would have gotten everyone together in the first place without this course. Looking forward to the next wine dinner. Can't wait to see what we'll come up with or what wine's we'll get to try next time!