For our second wine dinner, my boyfriend and I decided to try some different wines with fish and cheeses. I also wanted to try a sweet wine that would work with chocolate ice cream, because I know that the wine should be sweeter than the food, which I thought was an interesting concept because chocolate ice cream is the sweetest thing I can think of.
For the first course, we made Asian sheet pan salmon with vegetables. The flavors of all three mixed together in a really nice way, and they were cooked in garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame seeds. This created a delicious sweet yet savory flavor. The wine that I intended for this dish was a grenache blanc. I chose it because of the toasty flavor with a slight sour flavor, similar to the rice vinegar and soy sauce. I also read in the wine folly textbook that it would pair well with "steak-like fish" which I thought would work with the strong flavors of the Asian-inspired sauce. I think it worked really well!
The second course was macaroni and cheese which was made with a variety of cheeses including cheddar, colby, and jack. It also had bread crumbs and italian herb seasoning. I chose chardonnay to pair with this wine because the textbook said it would pair well with "creamy, buttery flavors and soft textures," and there's nothing, to me, that fits that description better than mac and cheese! I liked them together but have found that I don't like chardonnay as much as I used to (I have began to appreciate and enjoy more tannic wines like chianti more than lighter-bodied wines). Therefore, I think they paired well, but wouldn't say that this was my favorite flavor combination of the meal.
For dessert, we had Weight Watchers chocolate fudge popsicles. I mention the brand because I think it is important to note that while they are delicious, they do not have as much sugar or milk fat as "regular" chocolate ice cream. However, I would still definitely describe them as being sweet. For this part of the meal, we tried brachetto d'acqui, which is described in the textbook as being "a perfect match with rich, creamy chocolate truffles" and ice cream. Even if this popsicle wasn't as rich and creamy as those two desserts, it was still perfectly paired. I think in terms of actual pairing, this was the best. The wine folly textbook definitely did not steer us wrong here, it was like they were made for each other!
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Wine 1: Grenache Blanc
Name: Grenache Blanc
Producer: Laurent Miquel
Variety: Grenache Blanc
Country of Origin: France
Region: Languedoc-Roussillon
Vintage: 2019
Price: $13.95
Review of the Wine: I looked everywhere, but could not find a professional review of this wine, and the winery appears to have stopped making it.
My Review: I liked this wine with the salmon, I thought it went really well with it. It had both a savory and tart flavor which went very well with the various flavors of the salmon. I could taste pear in this wine and thought that worked pretty well with the salmon and vegetables, which I wouldn't have assumed would work until I tried it.
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Wine 2: Chardonnay
Name: Chardonnay
Producer: Frontera
Variety: Chardonnay
Country of Origin: Chile
Region: Central Valley
Vintage: n/a
Price: $5.99
Review of the Wine: From Drizly.com, "The color of the wine is light yellow. It is an expressive wine with alluring aromas of pineapple, citrus, and vanilla. This elegant wine is balanced with an attractive acidity and a long, memorable finish. Food Pairing Frontera Chardonnay bears a distinctive varietal character. Excellent with light seafood and fish."
My Review: While I thought it went well with the mac and cheese, I probably wouldn't buy this wine again. Even though a lot of people don't like toast/oaky chardonnay, I actually really do. I think this wine would have been even better if it had that flavor in its profile, especially with the addition of the bread crumbs in the mac and cheese. I thought it was not very creamy or buttery.
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Wine 3: Brachetto d'Acqui
Name: Brachetto d'Acqui (or just Brachetto)
Producer: Rinaldi
Variety: Brachetto
Country of Origin: Italy
Region: Piedmont
Vintage: n/a
Price: $18.95
Review of the Wine: From TotalWine.com, "The bouquet is delicate with scents of ripe red fruit (strawberry, blackberry) and roses. There is a good balance between the sweetness and the freshness, which makes this wine very pleasant. Serving suggestions: strawberries, salad and desserts or as an aperitif."
My Review: This was by far the sweetest wine I have ever had. I knew it was going to be sweet like ice cream, but this wine honestly caught my off-guard with its sweetness. It was like drinking melted strawberry ice cream. Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting it, but it was just so strong in my opinion. I don't think I could drink this wine on its own, in fact I needed the ice cream to balance it because the ice cream wasn't as sweet! It had strawberry flavors mixed with a creamy texture. Even though the wine folly textbook describes it as 4/5 on the sweetness scale and 2/5 on the body scale, in my opinion the sweetness was 5/5 and the body was 4/5. It actually felt heavy and full in my mouth, like the way that milk feels as opposed to water.
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Grenache Blanc with Salmon and Vegetables: This was definitely the best pairing with grenache blanc. I really liked them together, and would probably pair them together again. I thought that they both had medium-strength flavors and therefore together they made a strong, but delicious flavor. The slight tartness in the wine went well with the slightly sour flavors of the vinegar and soy sauce, while also pairing nicely with the more savory flavors of the garlic. I think it also went well with the vegetables. I never really thought of this before this wine, but asparagus is slightly more tart than I once thought, because I thought the wine brought that flavor out.
Grenache Blanc with Mac and Cheese: This was a decent pairing, but not as good as the salmon and vegetables. I wasn't a huge fan of the tart flavors mixing with the cheese and butter, but I thought that it was okay. I hesitate to call this a "pairing" but I would consider having them together again if I wasn't paying as close attention to the flavors.
Grenache Blanc with Chocolate Ice Cream: This was surprisingly good! I liked how the "lighter" fruit flavors mixed with the "darker" chocolate flavors. I know that people say the wine should be sweeter than the food, but honestly the chocolate ice cream made this wine taste sweeter in general, which I thought was nice.
Best pairing with Grenache Blanc: Salmon and Vegetables
Chardonnay with Salmon and Vegetables: This was pretty good! I thought that the bites of salmon that had less of the Asian sauce on them were best with this wine, but in general I liked it. This salmon brought out the slight toasty flavor in the chardonnay, which I liked. I didn't taste that on its own, but I tasted that with the salmon which I thought was good.
Chardonnay with Mac and Cheese: I liked this together because the chardonnay went especially well with the herbs I used in the mac and cheese/ bread crumbs. I'm not sure why but I really fixated on those two flavor profiles together. The rest was good too, the creamy cheese was a nice pairing with this wine, but if I'm being honest, I kind of liked the mac and cheese better when I didn't have the wine in my mouth. Nevertheless, if I'm deciding the best pairing, these two matched the best.
Chardonnay with Chocolate Ice Cream: It was alright. Not good, not bad. It was almost like the aftertaste of the chardonnay ruined this for me. When it was in my mouth, it tasted fine. But the finish was too strong to match with the chocolate ice cream.
Best pairing with Chardonnay: Mac and Cheese
Brachetto with Salmon and Vegetables: This was not good together. It was in a way, too strong for the salmon. And simultaneously it was not strong enough. It was too strong in the sense that it was sweet which was kind of a gross flavor combination with fish and a pseudo-teriyaki sauce. It was not strong enough in the sense that it tasted a bit watery when paired with the fish.
Brachetto with Mac and Cheese: No, no, no! Do not eat these together. I definitely did not enjoy this. In the beginning, it was okay. I was sort of under the impression that they were mixing in the way that people sometimes dip strawberries in melted fondue cheese. But after maybe 3 bites I was thinking "I will never do this again." It brought out all the worst things about each of them. It made the mac and cheese taste like spoiled milk/cream and it made the brachetto taste like cough syrup.
Brachetto with Chocolate Ice Cream: This was delicious. The chocolate ice cream really filled out the semi-watery texture that I experienced with the salmon and brachetto combination. It was sweeter than the ice cream in a good way, and together they formed a flavor profile of chocolate-covered strawberries, which I thought was great.
Best pairing with Brachetto: Chocolate Ice Cream
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