Valentine's Day Dinner and Wine Tasting
My boyfriend, David, and I are not too into Valentine's Day with all of its hustle and bustle. We decided early on that we would make dinner at home, just like we did last year. David graduated from Virginia Tech in 2014 and took the Winery Tourism course in his senior year; therefore, he was really excited when I suggested the idea of conducting the wine and food tasting for my Geography of Wine course! Being that he is young alum and I am still a student, we tried to make the most of our evening on a budget. All of the wines we chose were wines that were on sale, so we were a little nervous to try some of them.
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| Above: Me sauteing the shrimp in the scampi sauce |
First, we started by preparing our meals. For this tasting and food pairing, we decided to have crab cakes for the appetizer, shrimp scampi for the main course, and chocolate covered strawberries for the dessert. We cheated by purchasing a quick mix for the crab cakes (simply put them in the oven for about 15 minutes). But we made the scampi and chocolate covered strawberries ourselves! We made the sauce, which was composed of one stick of butter, lemon juice from one whole lemon, one large garlic glove, two tablespoons of parsley, and one-third cup of white wine (we used the Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Chardonnay that we tasted with). We then sauteed the shrimp in the sauce, and then served it over penne pasta. The chocolate covered strawberries were prepared using chocolate candy coating that was heated up in the microwave. We then dipped the strawberries in and refrigerated it for a couple hours. It was hard not to eat everything immediately - it all looked so great!
Here you can see all of the final product of the food we prepared, including our little dinner set-up that we created for our Valentine's Day Food and Wine Pairing at home:
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| Crab cakes |
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| Chocolate covered strawberries |
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| Shrimp scampi over penne |
We decided to pair the food with four different wines: two reds, a white and a red blend.
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| The wines used for the tastings/food pairings. |
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| David pouring our first glass of wine! |
Wine 1: Canyon Road Pinot Noir
Name - Canyon Road Pinot Noir
Variety - Pinot Noir
Region - California
Country - United States
Year - 2012
Price - It is normally $12, but it was on sale at the Vintage Cellar for $6.95.
Wine Review - This wine has rich, fruit forward cherry flavors, soft tannins, a medium body and a smooth velvety finish.
Personal Review - For someone who tends to enjoy sweeter reds that aren't as dry, this was an excellent choice and very cheap! It wasn't as sweet as reds that I normally gravitate towards, but the cheery flavors and smoothness made it a favorite.
Food - The crab cakes did not bring out a lot of flavors in the initial taste or the body of the wine, but it soured it up in the after taste. The shrimp scampi brought out sweeter flavors in the initial taste, but it ended up making the pinot noir dry. With the chocolate covered strawberries, the wine was hard to taste because the chocolate over powered the taste. But, the after-taste was phenomenal from the lingering chocolate and red wine combination. David liked this wine the best with the scampi, but I loved it with the dessert.
Wine 2: Fontana Candida Frascati
Name - Fontana Candida Frascati
Variety - Frascati / Other White
Region - Lazio
Country - Italy
Year - 2013
Price - It was on the clearance rack at the Vintage Cellar for $5.95.
Wine Review - In the hills near Rome are areas of volcanic soil over 2,000 yeasr old. Here the grapes for Frascati are grown. Frascati has a delicate bouquet of wildflowers and fruit. Its characteristic taste is fresh and distinctive, with just a hint of almond.
Personal Review - We tasted pear and green apple. The green apple brought out tastes of sourness, but not like a bitter sour, more like a sweet and sour thing that green apple tends to produce.
Food - With the crab cakes, the wine's sourness was mellowed out because it downplayed the green apple flavor. The scampi brought out the green apple flavor and was very sour. The chocolate covered strawberries and the frascati actually paired pretty well together. The contrasting sweet and sour flavors made this the best pairing. In general, however, we would not have this wine again.
Wine 3: Aconga Bonarda-Merlot Blend
Name - Aconga Bonarda-Merlot
Variety - Rare Red Blend: 80% Bonarda, 20% Merlot
Region - Mendoza
Country - Argentina
Year - 2014
Price - On sale at Kroger for $3.99
Wine Review - "This is stalky smelling, with modest fruit and aburnt field aroma. It looks and tastes weak and transparent, with sourness rising up on the palate along with notes of citrus, cranberry and cherry pie." - Michael Schachner, 81 points.
Personal Review - The cherry flavors were very obvious in the smell and the taste. We noted that the legs on the glass made us think that it might be high in sugar and alcohol content. It was definitely spicy in taste, light-bodied, and not very dry. Both of us loved this wine.
Food - With the crab cakes, the wine's flavors were a little drowned out in the initial and body of the taste; however, the after-taste was very sour and tart. The scampi, on the other hand, brought out a lot of spice, most notingly black pepper. The wine's flavors were most pronounced with the scampi. The chocolate covered strawberries with this blend were phenomenal. The two matched each other's sweetness and just went very well together. We decided that the scampi brought out more of the wine's flavors, but the dessert strawberries simply paired well together. I chose the scampi and David chose the strawberries.
Wine 4 - Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Chardonnay
Name - Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Chardonnay
Variety - Chardonnay
Region - California
Country - United States
Year - 2013
Price - $13.69 for a double bottle. We also used this for the white wine that was called for in the shrimp scampi sauce, so we bought a little extra!
Wine Review - The 2013 Woodbridge Chardonnay displays aromas of tropical fruit with a hint of cinnamon and maple, leading to a rich toasty finish. This is a vibrant, medium-bodied Chardonnay.
Personal Review - This wine was good, but nothing special. It is a decent wine for the very cheap price with a little sour and sweet flavors. It has more flavors of pear in the body with a nice apple after-taste (like a macintosh or gala apple, not a sour green apple taste).
Food - With the crab cakes, it was immediately bitter as soon as it it your tongue. The crab cakes gave the wine no chance and you could not taste any other flavors besides bitterness. However, the scampi really brought out the apple flavors in the body of the taste. In the after-taste, it went a little to the sour side, but not to bad. The chocolate strawberries paired with this wine were very interesting: the initial and body taste of the wine was gross and very sour, but then it mellowed out in the after taste. I believe this is because the wine did not do well with the citrus fruit (from the strawberries), but did well with the chocolate!
Overall, we had so much fun having this pairing, and we are planning to do it again! We decided collectively that the Aconga Blend was our favorite and closely followed by the Canyon Road Pinot Noir. We found this interesting because I normally prefer white wines, but I definitely enjoyed the reds in this tasting more! In third came the Woodbridge Chardonnay, which is a cheap and easy to drink wine, but it just did not pair well with the foods on the menu tonight. As for the Frascati, it was by far the worst wine we tried, and we will not be having that again.
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| David enjoying our favorite wine from the evening, the Aconga Blend. |
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