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.

Wine Tasting: Intis - Melot-Malbec

Name: Intis
Variety: 50 %Merlot - 50%Malbec
Region: San Juan
Country: Argentina
Year: 2018
Price: $6

Winery review: A great Argentine Malbec at a fabulous price. Expect sweet blackberry notes, lots of jammy flavours and a touch of black pepper. A finish provides a hit of cinnamon and spice.


My review: This was a tangy tasting wine. It was medium bodied and fruity. It had a strong blackberry aroma and plummy taste. It was a bit dry but it was smooth. It was high in acidity. I had this wine on its own with no food. It was very cheap so the quality was good for the price.

Wine Tasting: Finca Las Moras - Malbec

Name:Finca Las Moras
Variety: Malbec
Region: San Juan
Country: Agentina
Year: 2017
Price: $10

Winery review: Lots of spices, too, and some richness and power that balance the fresh acidity very nicely. A long, velvety finish..."Try pairing this wine with Flank Steak, Prime Rib, Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork, Soft Cheeses, and Herbs and Spices.

My review: Smooth wine with high tannins. It was strong and a bit bitter but it was drinkable. Not a huge fan of Malbec but this wine would have probably tasted better with some kind of red meat. I had this wine alone with no food. It was somewhat fruity so it was okay on its own. The first taste was overwhelming because it was strong but it was smooth as well so I got used to the  taste after I continued drinking.

Wine Tasting: Yamana- sweet white

Name: Yamana
Variety: white blend
Region: La Rioja
Country: Argentina
Year: 2018
Price: $8

Winery review: There was no winery review on this wine. However it was a sweet wine.

My review: This white wine was really sweet and had a very floral smell. I really liked it. I didn't drink it cold and it still tasted great. It was smooth and subtle. There wasn't as much alcohol in it which was alright. I didn't have this wine with food but if I did it would probably be with desert since it was very sweet.

Wine Tasting: Yamana- Sweet Red

Name: Yamana Sweet Red
Variety: red blend
Region: Lujan de Cuyo
Country: Argentina
Year: 2018
Price: $8

Winery review: Floral, rich and velvety red wine blend. Enticing aromas and
flavors of berries balanced with a full mouth feel and natural
sweetness for a smooth, easy-drinking finish.

My review: My favorite type of red wine. It was subtle n sweet. The alcohol didn't overpower the taste of the wine at all. I could smell the berries with every taste and it was very smooth and not bubbly at all. I liked it very much. It is definitely a desert wine and I had it with an oreo creamed chocolate cake.

Wine Dinner #1

This was my first wine dinner ever and I had a great time. This wine and dinner was done with my friend who is also taking the wine class in the picture above. We had three different wines that we have never tasted and three different food courses. The first course which was an appetizer was paired with a dry wine, the course was paired with a semi-sweet wine, and finally, the desert was paired with a sweet sparkling wine. 

Our appetizer was an Italian high roller which was purchased from the West End dining hall on the Virginia Tech campus. This was a weird tangy wrap which was overpowered by the taste of the mustard that they put in it. It wasn't a really great roll in my opinion. This wrap was paired with Trinity Oaks Chardonnay. This was a dry wine on its own so the taste wasn't really overpowered by the strong mustard taste in the wrap. I feel like the wine and the wrap paired well together because they were both bitter/dry. The wine and the wrap balanced each other very well. The wine was light-bodied in my opinion so it had some kind of richness to it that I liked a lot. Chardonnay to me always gets me tipsy so the bread in the appetizer was a great compliment because it helped out with the  balancing of the alcohol content in the wine. 

 Next, the main course. For the main course we went African style. We made spicy broiled chicken, which was made from fresh vegetables and pepper, and we ate this with white jasmine rice and green pepper sauce made from Ghana (country in West Africa). We paired this spicy main course with Chateau des Muraires Seduction. This was a pale pink 2016 rose from cotes de Provence, Provence, France. This was a semi-sweet wine, but it was mostly on the dry side of wine. It was the perfect amount of sweet though that could went well with the spiciness of the chicken. The richness of the wine really brought out the flavor of the chicken and made the chicken even more juicier than it already was. The wine was very acidic on its own which I really liked so when we ate it with the green pepper and the rice, the taste of the pepper wasn't overwhelming. The main course was really balanced nicely with the wine. 

 The desert was my favorite part. We paired the chocolate coated strawberries with a very sweet bubbly wine. Sweet bubbles by Lobetia was a sweet and fruity sparkling wine from La Mancha, Spain and had strong berry tastes so it tasted amazing with the strawberries. The wine was a mix of Chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and Viura.  The strawberries were very sweet and ripe so that made the taste of the wine even stand out more. Once the desert was paired with the wine, the richness of the wine came out more and you could taste the lemony undertone of the wine which made it an even more amazing experience. The bubbles in the wine alone wasn't strong, it was light so it was quite refreshing with the fruits. Overall it was a great ending to the wine dinner.

Wine and Cheese Tasting 1

 My two friends and I decided to last minute have a wine tasting and we had an amazing time. The three types of cheeses we had were monterey jack, colby jack, and pepper jack cheese. In addition to the cheese, we also had ritz crackers and three different types of wine.

First wine was Santa Julia. This wine is a 2018 cabernet sauvignon from Mendoza, Argentina. We tried this wine alone at first because we wanted to pair it with the right cheese. The wine tasted like cherry. It was dry and full bodied and a bit strong as well. We decided to pair this wine with colby jack because we felt as if the strong taste in the wine will not overpower the taste of the cheese. Once we paired the wine with the cheese, the cheese in fact over powered the wine. The strength in the wine weakened and you could taste that the wine was kind of watered down. I would say that the cheese was in fact heavier than the wine and it did kind of mask the wine making the wine not have the strong taste that it did on its own. 

 Monsalaia was the wine I tried next. It is a 2011 red wine mixed with the grapes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese. This wine is from the region Maremma Toscana, Italy. This wine on its on had an earthy vibe to it and tasted like cherries. It was really good because it was different than what I have ever tried before. It was somewhat oaky as well. In order to get a real taste of this with a cheese, I decided to pair it with a cheese that I am most familiar with, hence I chose pepper jack cheese and I didn't regret it. This spicy cheese and the wine really brought out a leathery taste in the wine that I didn't taste before. I would say that the taste of the wine and cheese clashed very well that I was getting a much stronger earthy taste out of the wine. The berry taste was even stronger than before. The wine did however overpower the after taste of the cheese, but I could still taste the spiciness of the cheese. The cheese in my opinion made the wine taste stronger.

This last wine was a 2016 Notissimo Moscato di Noto from Sicily, Italy. This was a red moscato wine. This was not a sweet moscato which was a shock.  This was medium-bodied red wine so I paired it with light cheese as well. Hence, I paired it with monterey jack. This wine overpowered the taste and the cheese didn't really do much to the taste because the wine stayed dry and if anything, the wine made the cheese saltier than it already was. The wine sort of made the cheese taste richer, but the overall taste of the pairing was salty and dry, hence I didn't really enjoy this pairing.

Wine Tasting: Tres Ochos

Name: Tres Ochos
Variety:  85% Old Vine Garnacha (40-50 year old vines) and 15% Tempranillo
Region: Calatayud
Country: Spain
Year: 2016
Price: $12

Winery review: The wine has a brick red color with a bouquet of red raspberries, spice and white pepper. The palate is incredibly concentrated and rich. The modern styles of Garnacha in Spain are continuously being perceived worldwide as wines of extraordinarily good quality. This wine is fruity, juicy and shows a great depth, ripe tannins, length but yet with wonderful elegance and lightness.
My review: Dark red wine that tasted spicy. It was a weird taste as it tasted somewhat like herbs. I wasn't used to the taste so I immediately didn't really like it. I would recommend it to people that like a little spice in their wines. It almost tasted some what dusty-like to me. 

Pairing with food: I tasted this on its own with no food.

Wine Tasting - Vina Galana Sangria

Name: Vina Galana
•Variety: Tempranillo
•Region:La Mancha
* Country: Spain
•Year: non-vintage
•Price: $9
* Winery Review: 100% Tempranillo. Natural fruit flavors and succulent red wine all fused together in one bottle. This doesn’t require a punch bowl and big ladle, you can chill your bottle in a cooler and head out to the beach or a hike and enjoy a cup of the best sangria anywhere you choose to be.

* My Review: This was a great sangria. I expected it to be very sweet but it wasn't. It was the perfect amount of sweetness. I really liked how light and fruity this wine was. I didn't have it with food but if I did, it would be with steak. I really liked it and it tasted very fresh and juicy.

Wine Tasting - Tenuta Rapitala

Name: Tenuta Rapitala
•Variety: Italian Red
•Region:Sicily
* Country: Italy
•Year: 2015
•Price: $14
* Winery Review: 
This Nero d'Avola opens with ripe plum, black-skinned berry and vanilla aromas. The medium-bodied palate shows blackberry jam, espresso and tobacco flavors while close-grained tannins give the finish grip. Drink 2018–2022.* My Review: Very fruity, full bodied wine. I liked it. It smelled like cherries and it was very smooth going down. Very tasty wine but not sweet (just a tad of sweetness). I didn't have it with food but I would pair it with some cheese if I got the chance to. It had soft tannins. The price is a bit high but I feel like it is worth it.

Wine Tasting - Four Sisters: Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Four Sisters
•Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
•Region:Central Victoria
* Country: Australia
•Year: 2013
•Price: $9
* Winery Review: Vibrant passionfruit, gooseberry and lemon citrus flavours shine through on the nose and palate with a fresh, crisp finish. A fantastic match with fresh shellfish, sushi or smoked salmon.
* My Review: This was a fruity wine in my opinion because I could really taste the citrus and other tropical flavors in it. It was a little sweet but I liked it. I would definitely try it again and it was going for a reasonable price with a discount at $4.95. I really liked it. I didn't taste it wit food.

Wine tasting - La Mascaronne

Name: La Mascaronne
•Variety: white blend
•Region:Côtes de Provence
* Country: France
•Year: 2015
•Price: $9
* Winery Review: With rich pear and apricot flavors, this is a blend of old-vine Ugni Blanc and Rolle. Ripe and full bodied, it is pointed up with spice that balances the fresh fruitiness. The wine, tangy and with a warm aftertaste, is ready to drink.* My Review: This was a very smooth white wine. It was a little bit intense and some what bitter but it went down well. It tasted somewhat floral like with apricot or pear. It was a good wine though. I didn't have it with any food. I would definitely cook with it.