Dinner Blog 1

1st Wine Pairing: Cabernet Sauvignon and Mushroom Risotto

Bri and I with our (mostly eaten)
dinner and wine!

Wine: Robert Mondavi Private Selection Cabernet Sauvignon

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon

Region: California

Country: United States

Year: 2021

Price: $13.99

Food: Mushroom Risotto

This is me while trying this pairing. 
The risotto was gone soon after
this picture was taken.

The first pairing we had was mushroom risotto with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Before tasting anything, I smelled the wine to see what scents I picked up. This particular wine smelled very fruity, specifically, cherries and raspberries. I also smelled a hint of sugar in this wine. My sense of smell was pretty on-point, as the bottle describes the wine to be Bourbon Whiskey barrel aged with deep flavors of black cherry and blackberry. The Bourbon Whiskey barrel delivers hints of vanilla, brown sugar, and toasted oak to the blend. As far as taste, this wine was tannic and tasted strong alcohol-wise. Again, this makes sense since it was barrel-aged in Bourbon Whiskey. This wine was good and I could taste the fruity accents, however, I didn't like how tannic it was. Paired with this wine was a mushroom risotto (we just bought a package from the store to make it easier). All we had to do was boil the risotto for about 15 minutes and stir it often. Once it was done cooking, I added some butter and a little bit of parmesan to mine which was recommended on the package. I think this pairing complemented each other very well. Wine Folly mentions that mushrooms are a great pairing for medium-bodied red wines (page 73). The creamy risotto made the wine less tannic. The wine brought out the mushroom flavor and saltiness in the risotto and the risotto brought out the smoky/bourbon flavor in the wine. I don't think they overpowered each other, however, since the risotto brought out the bourbon flavor for me, the wine tasted stronger in terms of its alcohol content. Also, since the risotto was pretty heavy, I think it made the wine feel lighter even though it had a fuller body. As I stated already, I really enjoyed this pairing, they balanced each other out perfectly. I would rate this wine a 7.5/10, I liked the wine but it was too tannic for me and had a strong alcohol taste that I didn't love. For the pairing, I would rate it a 10/10, I loved the way they complimented each other and balanced out the flavors. This was my favorite pairing of the night and I am definitely going to have this pairing again.

This was our meal with the 3 different
wines we tasted.

2nd Wine Pairing: Pinot Noir and Salmon

Wine: Apothic Pinot Noir

Variety: Pinot Noir

Region: California

Country: United States

Year: 2022

Price: $10.99

Food: Truffle Butter Salmon

The second pairing we did was truffle butter salmon with a bottle of Pinot Noir. This particular wine had a light body which is an average paring for salmon (page 70). After trying these together, I understand why they're not the best pairing. The wine smelled sour but also had hints of cherry and strawberry. This wine was sweeter than the Cabernet Sauvignon we had just before this. I definitely enjoyed drinking this wine more since it had a lighter body and wasn't as tannic. My initial reaction to this wine was similar to what was written on the bottle. It states that this Pinot Noir features hints of dark cherry, vanilla, and raspberry. The salmon was prepared with truffle butter that was store-bought and seasoned with salt and pepper. I cooked the salmon on the stove skin-side down first to get it crispy, then I flipped it over and put the truffle butter in the pan. I basted the salmon filet with the butter until it was finished cooking. I had higher hopes for the salmon since it was cooked in truffle butter, however, I definitely didn't season it enough because it lacked flavor. Because of this, the wine overpowered the salmon and made it taste even more bland than it was by itself. Although this wasn't a good pairing, the salmon didn't change the flavor of the wine in my opinion. If anything, the sweet fruity flavors stood out over the truffle butter salmon. Also, the salmon made the wine feel drier since the wine was tannic and the salmon wasn't. I think if I seasoned the salmon better then this pairing would've complimented each other a lot better, so I'll keep that in mind for next time. Overall, I would rate this wine an 8/10, I enjoyed the light body and sweet flavors, but I'm still not a big fan of tannic wines. I would rate the paring a 4/10, the salmon just wasn't good which caused the wine to overpower it. 

Here is the salmon
right after it was done
cooking.

In this picture, I'm basting 
the salmon in the 
truffle butter.

3rd Wine Pairing: Jalapeño Poppers and Riesling:

Here are the jalapeño poppers
before they went in the oven
and the risotto as it was 
cooking on the stove.

Wine: Bee You Riesling

Variety: Riesling

Region: California

Country: United States

Year: 2022

Price: $9.49

Food: Jalapeño Poppers

This is what the 
poppers looked like
in the oven.

Lastly, we paired jalapeño poppers with a bottle of Riesling. Upon tasting, I smelled honey, lemon, and hints of pineapple. This was close to the description on the back of the bottle as it states that there are flavors of peach and wild honey. This wine was good, it was balanced well in terms of sweetness and how tart it was. I made jalapeño poppers to pair with this wine and my family has been using this recipe for many years now. You start by cooking the ground pork and then you drain it. After, you mix the pork with cream cheese and parmesan. Meanwhile, you prep the jalapeños by cutting off the stem, cutting them in half, and then taking out some of the seeds. I stuffed the peppers and then put them in the oven to cook for 20 minutes. Normally my family eats them with ranch, but I decided not to do that since we were pairing it with wine. I didn’t want the flavors from the ranch to impact this pairing. Since I didn’t remove all the seeds, the poppers were still spicy. However, the sweet wine made the spices of the peppers milder. The Wine Folly textbook suggests that you pair Riesling with spicy cuisines and pork dishes (page 173), which is exactly why I chose this pairing. The flavors from both the wine and the jalapeño poppers balanced each other out perfectly. For this reason, I think this was a great pairing. The sweetness from the wine and the spices from the jalapeños complimented each other. I also enjoyed that the wine was more acidic than the poppers because this also lowered the spice level. I would rate this wine an 8/10, it was probably my favorite wine of the night. Sadly, we forgot to chill it before serving so we drank it at room temp. I think chilling it would’ve added another dimension we were missing in this pairing. I would rate the pairing itself a 9/10, I loved the way they complimented each other, but I still think the risotto and Cabernet Sauvignon were the best.