After the success of the last wine dinner night, we decided that Wine Night Round 2 had to happen. We all had so much fun with the last one that we were really excited to get this one under way. With the semester drawing to a close we knew that everyone's schedules would start to get very busy so we decided to do it Easter weekend when pretty much all of us were free. This time, the size of our dinner party DOUBLED, with 11 people attending the dinner (including one of my friend's parents and older brother who were visiting for Easter!). I was excited to see what the parents would have to say about the food and wine pairings, and how our expertise stacked up against their years of wine drinking experience. Since I had made the entree last time, I was able to get out of making it for this dinner, which I was really happy about because making food for 11 people would have been a huge pain.
The menu for the night was decided to be as follows:
Appetizer: Mahi Fish Tacos
Paired with Henry Fessy Crus Du Beaujolais Fleurie 2009
Entree: Hot Sausage with Spaghetti and Tomato Spaghetti Sauce
Paired with Cellar No. 8 Zinfandel 2010
Dessert: Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Sauce
Paired with Beliveau Chambourcin
The day of the dinner, a couple of us decided to also go to Chateau Morrisette and Villa Appalaccia Winery to knock our winery visits out of the way too, and we ended up having a combined 21 tastings so we were feeling pretty good. Of course, this made the dinner that much more enjoyable!
Appetizer
Mahi Fish Tacos Crus Du Beaujolais
So once we were all settled in, we finally got started on our dinner. The basic format that we followed for the dinner was first trying the wine to get a feel for how it tasted and felt, then trying the food to see how it tasted, and then trying the wine again to see if it changed at all with the
Henry Fessy Crus Du Beaujolais Fleurie 2009: This Beaujolais had a very strong nose, you could smell it without even bringing the glass to your nose, as soon as it was poured. It seemed to fill the room. The nose was pretty hot and dry, with tart cherry notes as well. The wine itself was surprisingly light bodied (I would have thought it would have been much stronger from the nose) and again had strong cherry components. Another thing I noticed about this wine was that the legs were incredibly thick and long.
Blackened Mahi Fish Tacos with Spicy Pico de Gallo: The pico de gallo was very nice and fresh, I actually watched it be made and I was waiting to try it all night. The fish was also really good, with delicious blackened seasoning rub and clear mahi taste. The tortillas were kind of dry, which made it a little hard to eat.
Pairing: I found the mahi brought out the fruit components of the wine a lot and noticeably increased the finish, making it stronger and last longer. The wine was also a little more acidic, perhaps from the lime that was in the tacos, and the tartness of the wine was reduced. The spiciness of the pico didn't really pair well with the dryness of the wine, but I think it was still a good pairing. The wine also helped wash down the dry tortillas which I was happy about.
Entree
Hot Sausage with Spaghetti Cellar No. 8 Zinfandel
Cellar No. 8 Zinfandel 2010: This wine brought the funk. The nose was definitely pretty funky with red fruits like cherry or plum on the nose. It was pretty fruit forward. I'd say the taste of this wine was actually pretty spicy which I don't see much in wines and it was also pretty hot. I was kind of scared to see how it would pair with the hot sausage because of the heat and spice in the wine. It was medium bodied with nice tannins throughout, especially at the finish.
Hot Sausage with Spaghetti and Tomato Spaghetti Sauce: The sausage was pretty spicy and peppery which I enjoyed a lot. The sauce was normal tomato basil sauce, and it went very nicely with the sausage. This dish also had some cut peppers with it which was a nice touch and added a green component to the dish.
Pairing: The food made the zinfandel even more dry than it already was. The wine really dried my mouth out and I found myself trying to produce saliva in my mouth because it was so dry. The most surprising thing about this pairing was the fact that the spiciness was actually diminished in both the sausage and the wine when I combined them, which I had not expected at all.
Dessert
Chocolate Cake Beliveau Chambourcin
Beliveau Chambourcin: I was pretty excited to try this since I haven't really had many ports in my time with wine this semester, especially since they never have them for tastings at the cellar. The nose, as expected, was pretty sweet and actually smelled a little bit like expo marker. I also detected some hints of coffee which I've never gotten in a wine before. The weird thing about this wine was that the very first sip I took tasted carbonated, but every other sip I took didn't taste like that at all. A couple other people also had this happen to them. The taste was very sweet and kind of tasted like apple cider or something along those lines. I didn't get any of the coffee in the taste. I thought this wine was very interesting and complex.
Chocolate Cake with Fudge Sauce: Oh boy, the moment we had been waiting for all night: dessert. Sadly this wasn't made from scratch but instead with one of those cake mixes, but it was very moist and chocolaty. The fudge sauce was a family recipe however, and that really made this dessert. It was absolutely delicious, I couldn't help myself from getting seconds.
Pairing: The pairing made the combination much, much sweeter. It brought the sugar out in both the wine and the cake. It also took away any hints of apple that had been in the wine and replaced it with more of a raspberry flavor. It also made the wine more bitter, which was weird since it was also sweeter. I'm not sure how that works!
Now for some pictures of all of us having an absolute blast:
Me and Ian Nick, Carlos, and Chris
Amanda and Nick, power couple
Chris with his wonderful family! Nick and Nathan
And thus completed our second wine night. Yet again, we became too full and too drunk, and the fact that there were adults present didn't stop any debauchery. It was actually pretty interesting to hear what Chris's parents had to say about some of the wines and pairings, although I don't think they had ever actually taken a pairing into consideration and would always just drink for fun. I'm glad we were able to do it with family!
