wine dinner 1 - potluck with friends

Some of my friends who are in this class and I decided to collaborate and have a small potluck dinner together for our wine dinner assignment (and also hang out and de-stress after an incredibly busy week!) My friend Matt did an amazing job of making the room feel fancy and really set the ambiance for the night! His dinner-wear, while not intricate was aesthetically pleasing and was a great hit with all of us! 

Before and during our first course, we started off with a bottle of Villa Jolanda - Prosecco (Prosecco, Veneto, Italy), a lightly sparkling white wine. This was the first time I really used a wine wheel to help me identify the notes in wine and I think it did help. After swirling, I found this wine to be pleasent smelling, had a dominant grassy note, and had an incredibly mild floral note. After tasting it (before food) I noticed that it was on the drier side, but still had some sweetness at the tip of my tongue. Since it was sparkling, I found it harder to observe much, but I could definitely taste the vegetal notes from the wine. It had a light body and was well balanced. 

Villa Jolanda - Prosecco

Villa Jolanda - Prosecco

We paired this with some roasted vegetables that Calvin brought for our appetizer. While the vegetables were amazing on their own, the acid from the lemon, the sweet caramelized onions and sweet potatoes were absolutely magnificent with the wine, and both the food and drink complimented each other really well. The wine tasted slightly drier, and a little more bitter, but it brought out some of the more complex notes of citrus (and possibly green apple?) in the wine. 

Our fancy dinner setup and Roasted Veggies

The main course was butter chicken that I made (and accidentally made incredibly spicy, rather than mild) with some jasmine rice by Santi, paired with Fabre en Provence (Pierrefeu, France) - an incredible Rose. On its own the rose smelt fruity, and floral with apple notes. When tasting it, I noticed that it was citrus-y, and made the sides of my mouth pucker up a bit. It was drier than the first one, and had a great sour-sweet balance that I enjoyed. The apple and pear notes really shone through in this one. 

Fabre en Provence

Fabre en Provence

With the butter chicken, the intention was to pair the chicken breast with a lighter wine, but it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted. Since the butter chicken was spicier than intended, the alcohol enhanced the heat of the curry and made it even hotter, and as a huge fan of spicy food, I absolutely loved this consequence (but I know that the rest of the dinner table was cursing me under their breaths). Apart from the enhanced capsaicin, the wine was mellowed up by the chicken since the curry was creamier and had a heavier body than the wine. Most of the flavors of the wine was completely drowned up by the chicken, although it did make the meal a little sweeter which went really well with the spice. While I am a huge spice head, and liked it, in hindsight, I would pair this with a heavier bodied rose, or even a lighter red so as to enjoy more than spice.

My spicy butter chicken

 

Our final pairing was a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting baked by Tushar, and a sweeter red wine that I found through a wine tasting at Vintage Cellar: Peter Mertes Platinum Dornfelder Sweet Red (Rheinhessen, Germany). The wine had notes of red berry and even smelt a little sweet compared to the earlier bottles we cracked open. It was a little tannic, incredibly sweet, heavier bodied, and I could taste a distinct cherry-strawberry note.  

Peter Mertes Platinum Dornfelder Sweet Red

Peter Mertes Platinum Dornfelder Sweet Red

I was a little hesitant about this pairing initially since I don't usually pair sweet things together, but this went incredibly with the red velvet cake. It brought out some of the dryness and complexity in the wine, and made the citrus notes stronger. It complimented the sweetness of the cake perfectly without being an explosion of sugar in my mouth, and was a great conclusion to our dinner!

Our red velvet cake

With that being said, two hits and one miss isn't too bad for a group of new wine drinkers, and I'm pretty proud of ourselves for having such a great dinner! I'm glad I've had this introduction to wine and food pairings, and I can genuinely say that this has changed my mindset around cooking. I have the urge to run to my local food lion and pick up some ingredients for a meal that pairs well with some Shiraz I have, and I don't typically like cooking. I cannot wait until our next wine dinner, and I hope to make this a regular event with our friend group!

All of us enjoying a fun evening out with friends!

Cheers!