Last night Danny and I organized our own wine + food pairing in the apartment. We wanted to get a dry run of what to expect if we were to go to an actual restaurant and pay for something like this. We both had never really focused hard on what certain foods do for certain wines.
Earlier in the day we did our weekly wine tasting at the vintage cellar. We browsed the store and each bought a bottle. Danny picked up the Villa d'Orvieto that we tried a couple weeks back and I went with the Maipe Malbec. I already had the Arrow Creek Cabernet Sauvignon from earlier in the week so we used that as our third wine.
We did some research about pairing certain grapes with certain foods and developed our menu. For the Orvieto, seafood was highly recommended so we picked up two spicy shrimp sushi rolls. I was also intrigued how the ginger, wasabi and soy sauce would effect the taste in the wine. For the Malbec we went with a meat dish, BBQ ribs w/ a side of mashed potatoes. I was intrigued to see how the Cabernet Sauvignon went with a heavy dessert so we went with two slices of Chocolate Peanut Butter pie.
So we began with the Orvieto and Sushi. I'm not the biggest fan of white wine, but man, you are eating seafood nothing is better. These two paired great. The Orvieto is more on the floral side rather than fruity which was a nice combination with the spicy shrimp. It was very refreshing to drink, especially if I grabbed too much wasabi. The wine really helped cleanse the palate before the next bite to extenuate the full body of flavors coming from the sushi.
Next was the Malbec and Ribs. Unfortunately the ribs were a bit dry, so that didn't help with a drier, higher tannic wine. Regardless, the pairing was still successful. The malbec, unlike the orvieto, was more something to sip in between bites to give a different flavor profile to the palate. We were having A LOT of meat and it was a nice balance to throw in some berries every couple of minutes. The malbec was definitely for sipping and not "quenching a thirst."
On to dessert! First of all, these pieces of pie were amazing! Very rich and flavorful, so the Cabernet Sauvignon really helped calm and dry the palate to be ready for the next piece of pie. Once again something you only need a glass of to sip on while eating the pie, not something to drink multiple glasses of. It was a great way to finish off the meal.
My favorite pairing out of them all was definitely the Orvieto and sushi. The food and the wine really complimented each other and it made it hard to move on to the next dish/pairing. I could sit there and eat sushi and drink bottle after bottle of the Orvieto unlike the other two where I could only stand so much at once.
It was a really good experience for my first venture into wine and food pairings. I'll be looking to go out to a restaurant to experience something a little bit more professional now that I can understand the flavor profiles together a little better. I'm glad we did this dry run on our own first so that we can get the fullest experience the first time we go out to a legitimate pairing that will cost us some money. All in all it was a great night of food and wine!
