Wine Dinner #2

 For my friends 22nd birthday we went to the black hen for dinner. We had eaten here before and loved the food. Since all of us are in the wine class taught by Professor Boyer, we thought it would be fun to make the birthday dinner also a wine and dinner tasting. 

We brought one of our own bottles as a dessert wine which was a six grapes port wine and then bought two bottles of win there. The ones we bought were a pinot grigio Trattoria Busa Alla Torre Da Lele and a pinot noir Evolution.

Appetizer: Trattoria Busa Alla Torre Da Lele Pinot Grigio and Bacon Covered Oysters

Our first course was bacon covered oysters with a pinot grigio wine. The wine on its own was extremely good, I would say one of my top five wines so far. It was a very clear citrus smell that gave a sense of refreshment for some reason. This tasted almost the same as past pinot grigios I've had except it was significantly smoother. There was no acidic or tannic feeling in my mouth when I swished it around. There was a slight feeling in the back of my throat when drinking it. When I tried this with the oysters I was not a fan. The oysters texture was too slimy and ruined the feeling of the wine in my opinion. We specifically tried this since we googled good pairings for oysters but I was disappointed. I think from what we read online the wine should enhance the oysters but I don't think that happened. The wine also tasted more bitter after pairing them which I didn't like.

Main Dish: Evolution Pinot Noir and Filet Mignon

My second course was a filet mignon with Evolution pinot noir. Since we got different main dishes we tried to find a wine that paired well with everyone's different dishes. Since pinot noir is one of the most versatile food friendly wines we decided to get one. The wine on its own was interesting. It was significantly fruitier than I thought it would've been with a low tannic feeling in my mouth. I prefer white wines normally but this one was pretty good in my opinion. When I paired this with the filet mignon I had a much harder time getting the fruity flavor when drinking the wine. I think the wine was overpowered by the steak and its seasonings. However, the steak seasoning tasted way stronger while pairing it with the wines. I think the flavor of the steak was definitely brought out by the wine but the exact opposite case for the wine. 

Dessert: Six Grapes Reserve Porto and Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake

For our final course, we paired a dessert port wine with a citrus cheesecake. For all of the pairings, this one was my favorite. The six grapes porto had a very light fruity smell. The wine tasted like a thick plum and was very delicious. When pairing this together I think that drinking the wine after eating the cheesecake was significantly better than the other way around. The wine would be significantly more fruitier and the tannic feeling would be next to negligible in my mouth doing it this way. I was already a fan of the wine but when drinking it this it became my favorite wine drinking experience.