The picture to the left shows all the food we had at the dinner as well as the first class of wine, the Pinot Grigio. The food we had is as follows: assorted cheeses, a greek salad, spinach and artichoke dip, spaghetti and meatballs, cheese ravioli and cheese bread. The Pinot Grigio was a Torre di Luna from 2011 in Italy. This wine was 13% alcohol content. It has a light, sweet smell to it. The taste was a likght fruit taste that wasn't too strong in any flavors. I thought it was a little more tart than other sweet wines, but it was great! I liked trying this wine with the cheeses and salad because these were both lighter meals, and didn't really effect the taste of the wine.
The picture to the right is me and a friend trying the Pinot Noir. The Pinot Noir is a Coastal Vines wine from 2010, in the Sonoma California region. This wine had a 12.5% alcohol content. This wine had a plum smell to it, but once I tasted it I could taste cherry. There was a definite spice to the wine that was much more enhanced when paired with the spaghetti. It was fairly smooth and tasted pretty good. I don't think I'd want to drink this paired with spaghetti though.
For dessert we had cake to eat with our two dessert wines. The picture to the left shows the cake and Moscato. The Moscato d'Asti is a Famiglia Pasqua from 2011 in the Piedmont region of Italy. It contains only 5.5% alcohol content. I thought this wine had a very sweet smell to it and a very sweet taste. It was almost as if I were drinking sparkling grape juice. It was very easy to drink. The sweetness of the wine as well as it being a sparkling drink made it good for eating dessert.
The wine to the right is the second dessert wine that we had to try. This wine is a Brachetto d'Acqui. This wine is a Banfi "Rosa Regale" from 2010 in Italy. This wine had a very obvious strawberry smell to it. It was a very carbonated wine. It had a very sweet and strawberry taste. For the same reason as the Moscato, I could see why this made a good dessert wine.
The Sauvignon Blanc was a Sierra Cruz from 2011 in the Maule Valley region of Chile. This wine had a citrus smell and taste to it. I thought it had a little more acidity to it than the Pinot Grigio. I had this wine paired with the bread and dip. I thought it was a good pairing and I enjoyed the wine.
The Chardonnay was a Hope Estates from 2009 in the Hunter Valley region of Australia. It has 13% alcohol content. The wine had a melon taste and smell to it, and did not have a super strong fruity taste. This wine had a little more of a tart taste to it. I had this wine with the spaghetti. I noticed that this wine's taste stayed with you longer even when pairing it with food. I thought this wine was good.
The Merlot was a Kenwood from 2010, from California. It had a fruit smell to it that was mainly cherry. It was a dry wine with a spice to it and a cherry taste as well. This wine was okay.
The Cabernet Sauvignon is a Gen 5 wine from 2009 in the Lodi California region. It contains 13.9% alcohol content. It had a very fruity smell to the wine but not so much a fruity taste. It was pretty dry with a definite spice to the wine. I think it was my least favorite of the night.
The Syrah is a Oxford Landing wine from 2011 that is from Australia. It had a pretty sweet and fruity smell to it. The main fruit I tasted in the wine were cherry and raspberry. It was a little dry. I thought this red wine was pretty good. I thought this wine wasn't as spicy was the Syrah that we tried at the Vintage Cellar.
I think my favorite wine of the night was the dessert Moscato wine. One thing I realized after this meal was that I like red wines more once they are paired with food. The dry taste helps when it is paired with food, and then I'm more likely to like those wines. This was a good experience for me to have.
