We once again spent this dinner with two friends from Rebecca's Italian class. They supplied the aperitivo and desert with the dessert wine, while we supplied the rest. We also invited another friend that is not in the wine class. So we had six wine drinkers at this dinner for seven. As such, the bottles went pretty quickly, and it was not an issue to down all 4. We had a vague Italian theme for the food of this dinner, and with everyone at the table having at least some level of proficiency in the language, we were able to converse briefly in it.
The first course or aperitivo was a selection of meat cheese and olives. Specifically the favorite Italian olives of Mitchell, and some prosciutto and provolone. We paired this is a Gewurztraminer. Specifically a 2021 from Columbia valley in Washington. This was by far my favorite wine of the night! I thought it was wonderfully balanced with some sweetness, but not an overwhelming amount. It was quite little with little to no body. The most prominent flavor was the lychee that our book has mentioned. There is some fruity sweetish citrus in there too. Perhaps some apricot as well. Very pleasant. As for the pairing, it was my favorite with the olives. The acidity if the olives cut the sweetness of the wine. The paring with the meat was also fantastic. The richness complemented the wine very well. I wasn;t the biggest fan of the cheese itself. I thought it was a bit dry. But with the excellent wine this was an incredible first course!
Our second course featured the only red of the night, paired with homemade pasta and a homemade red sauce with vegan impossible meatballs. This was a nice pairing as well. Red sauce and red wine is a tale as old as time, and there is a reason it works so well. The wine was a 2021 Cotes Du Rhone Villages. It was a dry dusty red with plenty of acidity, but not overly tannic or bold. There were elements of blackberries and jam , but not too much detectable on the nose. Dry and earthy acidic aftertaste. The pasta and sauce we made specially for this dinner. It was our first time experimenting with semolina pasta, rather than our usual egg and flour pasta. This made for a more vegetal, heartier pasta base that complemented the strong cutting flavors of the wine. As far as the sauce pairing, it was acid on acid, but it surprisingly worked. They are acidic in different ways, the tomato in a sweeter oiler way that lends to being cut by the wine. The meatballs with the wine was my favorite part of this pairing. They were oily and crusty and just perfect with the juicy fresh acidity of the wine.
Our final course was an imitation tiramisu from kroger with a mango wine from obsession wines. It was a 5% alcohol beverage which I am unsure if disqualifies it from the category of wine. It also did not taste as though it contained any grapes or the tartaric acid therein. First off, I was not a fan of this wine. It was cloyingly sweet and artificial in a way that coated the mouth and tended to linger, reminding you of the mistake that was putting this substance into your mouth. Mango is the only noticeable flavor, and it is STRONG! There was a really artificial chemical taste on the end of the palate. Felt unhealthy as I was drinking it. However, the tiramisu was fantastic! I have had real tiramisu before, and this is not that, but as a sort of creme coffee flavored cake, this was absolutely delightful. Soft and moist, with the sweetness of the cake and creme contrasting the bitterness of the espresso. It was even able to salvage some flavor out of the wine. It changed the flavor from mango to more of a pineapple. The sweet on sweet aspect certainly did not help this wines case, but in any case, the tiramisu was delightful.
Here are pictures of me with the various wines of the night.
