Wine Dinner #1

Last night, my friend Haley and I joined up to host our friends for a wine and food pairing dinner. We affectionately named our little dinner service 'Chateaux de Beasley', after Haley's dog, Beasley. Haley and I had some fun making snobby signs and menus for our little party.

Me holding a proud Beasley on the opening night of his restaurant

To prepare for our evening, Haley and I visited the Vintage Cellar with a preplanned menu. We wanted to start with a salad, have a pasta dish for the entree, and finish with some pie and ice cream. To accompany, we went in with the thought that we'd have a lighter white wine for the salad, a medium-bodied red for the pasta, and a sweet dessert wine for the pie. We walked out with a French  Domaine De Mus white wine, a red Italian blend called Fossi Rosso, and an Australian dessert wine called The Corker. 

The three wines of the evening

The boys got dressed up for the occasion

The first course of our meal was a Caesar salad paired with a 2017 Domaine De Mus Roussanne-Vermentino table wine. The wine is described as having a "brilliant light color", being "expressive on the nose, aromas dominated with orange blossom and lemon notes", "fresh and complex on the palate, with citrus acid notes, a pleasant length". We served this wine chilled. The wine had a fantastic nose to it, with very floral and slightly earthy notes to it. It was pretty dry, non-tannic, and very light and crisp in body.

While this appetizer wasn't the highlight of the meal, I thought this was a decent pairing. We thought the citrus-y tones of the wine would complement the creamy Caesar dressing, which was good but not outstanding. Our dinner guest, Josh, pointed out that with how peppery the dressing was, it might've been nice to go for a drier wine or a more buttery wine, like maybe some Chardonnay. I thought the light body of the wine was a good fit for the light salad, and it didn't feel like either the dish or the wine overwhelmed each other. Overall, the wine and the dish were well balanced with one another, but I didn't think any new flavors or complexities were brought out from the pairing.

Caesar salad with a French white wine

Next up was our entree. Haley and I kept it pretty simple with some spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread, paired with a red blended wine. The Fossi Rosso was described as being a "decent every day wine" that paired well with pasta and pizza dishes, so we thought it would be a great accompaniment for this dish. The wine was a hit around the table, and I think it was the overall favorite of the 3 wines amongst our guests. It was a Tuscan mix of Sangiovese, Merlot, and Negroamaro. We decanted the wine in a serving glass to add a bit of fanciness and aesthetic to the table, which earned us a compliment or two.

The Fossi Rosso was a straightforward wine. It wasn't too tannic, had fruit-forward flavors, and not a lot of complexity or length to it. I think this made it ideal to pair with our fairly simple entree. Spaghetti and meatballs are a fairly hearty, starchy, dish with slight acidity from the tomato sauce, while the wine was not acidic at all, complementing each other. The body of the wine matched that of the dish, with more robust flavors than the starting salad and wine pairing. I think the fruitiness of the wine was a good contrast to the carb-heavy, starchy aspects of the dish (between the pasta and garlic bread) and it was nice to alternate sips of fruity wine with bites of hearty food.

Spaghetti and Meatballs with a red blend

Chef Beasley partook in the tasting

Finally, we had dessert. Dessert was a mixed berry pie served with butter pecan ice cream. I think in terms of just food, this dish was the biggest hit of the evening. Haley and I have no experience with dessert wines, so we took a bit of a risk grabbing one at random, leading to a mixed consensus. Personally, I liked the wine, but Haley and some of our guests thought the wine had an overpowering ethanol scent (I blame the fact that they're all Chemical Engineers). We all did two taste tests - one smelling the wine, and one with our noses plugged, and folks thought the wine tasted better noses plugged.

Personally, I thought this was a great wine to finish the night with. It was very sweet, very rich, and had that "heat" effect of warming you up. The wine was extremely fruit forward, especially blackberries, which was perfect for matching with the pie. The ice cream was great; I really liked the contrast between the warmth and high alcohol content of the wine with the cool, creamy ice cream. I think this pairing was really successful, and wager this is a wine that needs to be paired with a sweet food as opposed to being drunk on it's own.

Berry pie with dessert wine

After dinner, we enjoyed finishing off the remains of the wine and playing some silly games. Haley and I had a blast hosting this dinner party, and we learned some things about not just wine pairings, but also how to host and serve guests. I feel like it's a useful skill to have, and it was good fun trying it out for the first time in a casual, friendly environment.

Post-dessert toast