Wine Dinner: Easter with Friends

For Easter, a group of us unable to go home to our families came together to celebrate with a wine dinner. We held the dinner potluck style; each of us brought a variety of foods and a few white and red wines.  A few other friends not in Geography of Wine also came to participate in the dinner.  We spent the evening talking, grilling, and playing Frisbee. 

The Food:

• Bread
• Gouda Cheese
• Chicken Almond Salad
•  Pasta Salad
• Goulash
• Potato Salad
• Deviled Eggs
• Spicy Sausage
• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Brownies

To compliment the array of food we had four wines to choose from; three reds and a white.  Initially we started off by tasting each wine before eating dinner, then moved on to eat and alternate wines with food.

The Wines

•   Georges Dubeuf, Red Beaujolais Nouveau, Thorins, Frances 2012
• Smells of bananas, strawberries and red berries.  On the tongue this wine is tart and fruity, but mildly sweet.  Its effect is thirst clenching, but it isn't too dry or bitter.  Nice pair to chicken salad.

• Two Vines Riesling, Washington, 2010 

• Interesting Riesling because it had an earthy, grassy component to its fresh apple, citrus, and pear flavors.  On the tongue this Riesling tasted like apple juice; sweet, fruity and mouth watering with a bitter edge.  Because it was the sweetest wine of the night, we chilled it and served it with dessert.  It was nice and sweet on its own, but a horrible companion to chocolate based sweets.

• Robert Mondavi Merlot, Acampo, California 2011

• When tasting this Merlot it smelled of grape juice, cranberries, and raspberries.  On its own it was dry, with mild sweetness.  It was not too acidic, but had a finish that was a liitle too much for my liking.  On its own this wine wasn't unique; it was plain with a distinct Merlot aroma.  As I ate dinner, I tried this wine with Gouda cheese and spicy sausage.  With the cheese, the wine became noticeable more fruity, but lost some of its sweetness.  When mixed with the spicy sausage, the food had a softening effect on the wine making it more enjoyable.

• Beringer Pinot Noir, California 2011

• On this nose this Pinot Noir smelled exactly like Whelches grape juice with a blackberry-pomegranate kick.  It tasted sweet with a bold punch of tannins.  For me it was a little hot, with a long bitter finish.  I got the impression it needed time to soften, either through aging or decanting.  However, this wine was the favorite of the night.  I tried Beringer with goulash and enjoyed the combination; the pair seemed to pull out the flavors of the goulash, heightening the tomato flavors in particular.

In all, it was a great evening with a lot of food.  I am starting to grasp the concept of wine and food pairings, and enjoy the effect wine has on food.   Next time I would like to try a non-potluck style dinner that is planned down to the appetizer.