Wine Dinner 3rd Period

 Dinner Blog

A few weeks ago, my friends and I got together again for another wine dinner at my place. This time, we decided to go a more Italian direction by pairing two white wines with caesar sald and garlic bread and a red with spaghetti and meatballs. This was another great experience as I made homemade meatballs and tomato sauce for me and my guests to enjoy. As usual, seeing how the wines paired with their respective foods added another element to a very fun and enjoyable night. My favorite pairing for this dinner was the Riesling paired with the caesar salad. I thought the pairing was very light and refreshing and set a very nice tone for the rest of the dinner and our nights. 

Pairing #1: Caesar Salad Paired with a Riesling

Name: Relax

Variety: Riesling

Country: Germany

Vintage Year: Couldn't find

Price: $12.99

We paired the Riesling with a caesar salad as the appetizer of our meal. Riesling is one of my favorite wines to drink and this one didn't disappoint. The light and crisp apple taste with the light acidity of the wine cut through the richness of the caesar dressing very well. I also tasted some floral notes in the wine which added a unique flavor combination when paired together. Sometimes drinking Riesling by itself can get a little too sweet, but the caesar salad helped balance the palate out very well.

Pairing #2: Garlic Bread Paired With Chardonnay

Name: Bonterra

Variety: Chardonnay

Country: California, USA

Vintage Year: 2021

Price: $15

For our second pairing, we went with a nice Chardonnay to go along with a side dish of garlic bread. I was getting some notes of apple from the Chardonnay as well, along with maybe some vanilla which I thought was interesting. The body of the wine was light and refreshing as well. The garlic bread was made with a homemade garlic butter spread and baked in the oven until nice and golden brown. There were however, some burnt edges and although burnt pieces normally don't taste very good on their own, I thought the Chardonnay helped mellow out some of the bitterness and I actually ended up enjoying it very much. The wine itself also helped to cut through the heaviness of the garlic bread and allowed me to enjoy more than enough slices of it by the time our meal was over.

Pairing #3: Spaghetti and Meatballs Paired With Cabernet Sauvignon

Name: Juggernaut

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon

Country: California, USA

Vintage Year: 2020

Price: $16

For our main course, we paired a Cabernet Sauvignon with spaghetti and meatballs. We thought this pairing would work really well as the acidity of the tomato sauce would be cut by the wine. This Cabernet had a pretty heavy body with lots of bold flavors. I tasted intese notes of blackberry and found this wine to be extremely dry. The tomato sauce and meatballs were homemade, but since there was no sugar to help mellow out the acidity of the tomatoes, the sauce ended up being a little bit too acidic for my taste with the wine not being able to balance out the flavors. I thought it was bold and intense flavors from both the food and the wine which I was not the biggest fan of. This ended up being my least favorite pairing for those reasons, but would not mind trying to make tomato sauce again, hopefully a little less acidic next time, and pairing with a different red and seeing how those flavors work together.