Dinner -- Homemade Beef Burgundy

On Tuesday, our wine group finally decided to tackle a wine dinner. And it was great. The other students that contributed were Ena Tovillo, Nikka Pelayo, and Gillian Gavino. We decided to divide and conquer each component of the meal. 

Ena handled the appetizer, which was brie topped with honey and crackers. I was in charge of the wine pairing for the dish and chose to pair is with Chardonnay, per google's recommendation. I the pairing worked well. The oak and lemony flavors of the wine paired well with strong buttery flavor of the cheese.

Gill, who probably has the broad cuisine experience, tackled the main entree, Boeuf bourguignon. It is a savory french dish cooked with sirloin, bacon, mushroom, onion, red wine sauce paired with egg noodles. The dish was cooked and paired with a 2012 Pinot Noir. On its own the wine had a lot of fruity flavors. Strawberry and black cherry stood out the most. On the nose, it was waxy, almost like new crayons.The wine and dish were PERFECT together. The wine already had very smooth tannins. Together, bites and sips were seamless. It also make the smokiness of the bacon in particular stand out.

For our final course, Nikka provide the wine and the classic chocolate cake. It was a good choice as the Pinot Noir's label explicitly mentioned pairing with chocolate cake so it was a good transition into the next wine. The wine was a red blend called Rosa Obscura from the 2015 vintage. This wine was also smooth. It had similar fruit flavors as the pinot noir, such as cherry and strawberry. It paired nicely with the cake and was very smooth.

We had a good time at the wine dinner, and probably drank more than any of us anticipated going in. It was amazing to me to see over the course a meal of wines change with food. It sort of gave Boyer a bit more validation in the lecture video. This is something I definitely want to do again, but also want compare our pairings to that of a restaurant sommelier's.

Tasting -- Fume Blanc Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Dry Creek Vineyard Fume Blanc
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Sonoma County
Country: USA
Year: 2014
Price: $12.99


Critic review: "Stainless-steel fermented and given no time in oak, this wine is a nod to the producer's longstanding devotion to the Loire Valley and its aim to make a crisp, balanced, non-fussy white. It succeeds here in concocting a mix of lemon peel, apple and herb—a light pretty wine that's lovably quaffable." -- Virginie Boone
(http://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/dry-creek-vineyard-2014-fume-blanc-sonoma-county)

My review: The wine had a strong citrus scent. I mostly smelled apple and pear undertones. Those same smells were apart of the flavor. A lot of apple and earthiness was present. I had this wine with a balsamic salmon, caprese pasta salad, and chocolate cake. I found that the wine was best with salmon and not so good with the pasta salad. I believe the fatty fish helped to balance and acid of the white wine and balsamic vinegar. Whereas in the pasta, the acids seemed to make the wine more dry.

Tasting--Beringer Founders' Estate Merlot

Name: Beringer Founders' Estate 
Variety: Merlot
Region: California
Country: US
Year: 2015
Price: $6.95/$21.95

Critic review: "Cedar forest, wild black plum and blackberry on the nose. Some herbal notes mid-palate with a long finish. Decant 2 hours. Full-bodied and balanced." -- Natalie Maclean

My review: This wine was paired with a house special pizza. I could sniff out hints of dark fruits primarily cherries and plum. The wine was also pretty dry. The flavor before eating the pizza was fruity, like the cherries, but there was also some spice that I noticed in the back of my throat. The pizza seemed to make the wine smoother, and brought down the dryness a bit.

Some other interesting things I  noticed at dinner was the server was not a sommelier. In the picture below you can see she filled by glass completely (shown is after I took a few sips). I may have gotten different notes had I been able to sniff & swirl properly.