Wine Dinner at the Palisades

My friend and I went to dinner at the palisades and we had four different mini meals fit on one plate, as well as four different wines to complement the meals. First meal was a soup ( Caldo verde: Chorizo, Potato, kale, broth), the second meal was shrimp and avocado with corn tortilla, lettuce, and tomato. The third meal was a ginger-ante glazed lamb lollipop, and the last food item was chipotle marinated chicken with Chinese five spice rice. 

 Before I tried the wine, I tasted all the food individually and all the wines individually as well. The soup was very flavorful and chewy at the end. The shrimp avocado was beautifully seasoned and the avocado matched very well with the taste. The lamb lollipop was sweet and soft which I liked. The chicken was dry and tasteless. In addition, the chicken was very chewy.

Each food was paired with a different wine. The soup was paired with a Vinho verde Rose (Portugal, 2017). This is a rose with the grapes Touriga Nacional and two other grapes native to the region, padeiro and espareido. This wine was dry. It had a green apple taste to it. It was also very high in acidity and had a strong citrus taste to it. When paired with the soup, the wine over powered the taste of the soup which was weird because the soup had a lot of flavor. I would like to say wine and soup shouldn't be a thing because it was a very awkward mix in my mouth. I didn't like it.

The second wine was by Martin Ray Vineyards (sonoma, 2017) from California. This wine was called rose of pinot noir. This was a light bodied wine with hints of white peach. It had a sharp and strong welcoming taste, a floral smell, very citrusy taste, very dry, and high in acidity. When paired with the shrimp, it brought out the shrimp taste more and brought out flavors I didn't taste before.  It brought out a sweet taste in the shrimp that I really liked.

The third wine is called Mathilda (Victoria Grennache Tournon Rose, 2017) from Australia. This was a rose that smelled like berries. It had a little bit of a strong bitter taste that lingered around for a while. In addition, this wine had a strong alcohol taste which I didn't like. When paired with the lamb, it washed out the sweet ginger taste and brought out the meaty taste even more. The wine came out with a raspberry like taste, and the bitterness came out more with the meat.

Finally, the last wine was Leyda, valle de Leyda pinot noir rose (Chile, 2017). This was a crisp and dry pinot noir. It was smooth, semi-sweet, light red berry smell and taste. When paired with the dry chicken, a citric and sour after tone of the wine came out more. Since the wine also brought out more of the spices in the chicken which was cool. However, the chicken was still dry and chewy. They paired well together cause each chew was a new taste.

Wine Tasting- Fratelli

Name: Fratelli- Blaze
Price: $15
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon/Pinot Noir
Region: N/A
Country: Ukraine
Year: N/A
Winery Review:Sweet blackberry and blueberry notes are deeply concentrated on the nose and palate of this Ukranian semisweet red sparkler. Softly petillant, it's unabashedly fun and fruity, and an enjoyable choice for casual entertaining.
Personal Review: I loved this wine. It was sweet and smooth. It smelled like strawberries and tasted like it too. It was very fruity and tasted very sweet like honey. It is definitely a dessert wine and would be amazing with many deserts. Would definitely recommend it. $15 is a reasonable price for this amazing wine.

Wine Tasting- Eikeboom

Name: Franzia- Eikeboom
Price: $17
Variety: Pinotage
Region: Western Cape
Country: South Africa
Year: 2015
Winery Review:
Pleasant notes of baked plum and black-cherry compote present an enticing bouquet to this wine. The palate is sharper and leaner in feel, with tart and slightly bitter fruit-skin flavors that finish clean but quick. Drink now.Personal Review: smooth medium bodied wine. It was really well balanced and went down easily when drank. It wasn't very fruity but you could taste a little bit of dark berries. I didn't drink this with food.

Wine Tasting- Jekel

Name: Jekel
Price: $30
Variety: Monterey Pinot Noir
Region: California
Country: USA
Year: 2015
Winery Review:A classically crafted Pinot Noir from Monterey County, Jekel’s 2015 vintage wraps cherry, cinnamon and vanilla bean flavors into a dry, easy-drinking wine with light-to-medium body and a tart finish.
Personal Review: This wine had an earthy, smokey, and woody taste. I could also taste a bit of cherry. In addition, it had a medium acidic body. It was a good wine but overpriced. I didn't have it with food.

Wine Tasting- Ch des Arnauds: Les Caprices d'Anais

Name: Ch des Arnauds- Les Caprices d'Anais
Price: $13
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot
Region: Bordeaux
Country: France
Year: 2017
Winery Review: Medium pink salmon. Reticent nose of minerals, flowers, and a hint of red berries. Savory, serious, and spicy in the mouth with minerals and red currants showing. A 50/50 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from 30+ year old vines. This is a serious, food wine with a good backbone.
Personal Review:  A light pink colored rose, that tasted dry yet red fruit flavored. It had a floral aroma that I appreciated and good acidity. I would recommend this to dry wine lovers. I didn't have this with food but if I did, it would be something with white meet. Maybe seafood or chicken.

Wine Tasting - Cantina Villafranca

Name: Cantina Villafranca
Price: $10
Variety:  white blend with (Villafranca Frascati is made from 45% Malvasia di Candia, 15% Trebbiano Toscano, 25% Malvasia del Lazio, 15% Grechetto (Greco)). 
Region: Lazio
Country: Italy
Year: 2016
Winery Review: The clear juice is fermented for about 20 days at a temperature of 18 ° C. A proper maturation the wine is bottled under sterile conditions after microfiltration in our modern installations at the winery.Intense yellow color with greenish reflections. Characteristic persistent fresh and fruity aromas.Excellent as an aperitif and paired with fish, seafood or white meat.
Serve at a temperature of 8° -10° C.Personal Review: This was a dry wine with a lime like taste. The lime-like taste is probably why the winery suggests that this should be eaten with seafood. The wine was light bodied and crisp. The smell was a bit strong. For me, it smelled like nail polish. Overall, it was an okay wine. In my opinion, it was too expensive for its quality. I didn't have this with food.

Wine Tasting: Senorio De Barriobero - Rioja

Name: Senorio De Barriobero
Variety: temprallino
Region: La Rioja
Country: Spain
Year: 2009
Price: $11

Winery review: 

A selection of grapes from Barriobero's family best vineyards. Artisan tradition combined with a closed nurturing of the wine ageing for 24 months in Bordeaux and American barrels and a minimum of one year in bottle, makes it possible to enjoy this carefully balanced wine, with a dutiful spectrum of colours and abundant layer.

Nose with hints of forest and hues of prune, nuts and slate.

In the mouth is silky, but with body, pleasant to drink but with the strength of a complex wine.

The bouquet has vanilla and coconut nuances.

My review: This wine was very dry and acidic. It had a lot of red berry like aromas. It wasn't as smooth as I would've liked it to be and the taste was stuck in my mouth for a long time. It was dark and strong and the price was reasonable with what the wine offered taste wise. This wine would have probably tasted better if it was aerated for a while. However, it was a good and strong wine tasting experience.