As a last hoorah before we finished this class, my friends and I decided to visit the wine lab for a nice wine and meal pairing. We especially wanted to try this since we had heard about how wine lab does wine flights so we could get three wines to pair with our appetizers, food, and dessert.
I bought the new world flight which was a Thelema Mountain Sauvignon Blanc blend, Ken Wright Pinot Noir, and Catena Vista Flores Malbec. I planned on pairing this as the sauvignon blanc with the different foods on the charcuterie boards, the pinot noir with the reuben sandwich since the server highly recommended this and lastly, the malbec with the dark chocolate flourless cake.
Appetizer: Thelema Mnt. Sauvignon Blanc Blend '22 + Charcuterie boards
Our first course, we got two charcuterie boards. The first was the Fan Favorite charcuterie board which consisted of cheddar, speck, honey truffle, prosciutto, and accoutrements. The second was the Adventurous Board which consisted of chorizo, duck breast, woodbine, and accoutrements. I mainly tried this pairing with the smoked duck breast because I read online that sauvignon blanc was supposed to pair well with smoked meats. My initial thoughts on the sauvignon blanc was that it smelled like what I thought gooseberries was. The reason I say I think is because its a smell that I recognize from past blancs that my friends have said is what gooseberry smells like. It was a very acidic taste but still went down really smoothly. When I tried pairing this with the duck I can't say I was a fan. From what I read online it was supposed to bring out the fruity flavor of the wine but instead it just tasted more acidic to me. I tried pairing it with the cheddar cheese and I liked this way more. I then lastly tried with the honey truffle but this somehow brought out the acidic component even more than the duck had so I promptly stopped.
Main Dish: Kena Wright Pinot Noir '20 + Reuben Sandwich & Sweet Potato Curry Soup
For my second course I got a reuben sandwich and sweet potato soup since I absolutely love reubens. For my initial thoughts on this wine, it smelled almost exactly like the six grapes porto red wine I had drank in the past which was one of my favorite wines so far. This wine did not disappoint, it was very fruity with a little bit more of a tannic component than I would have liked. It was a very plummy or dark cherry fruit taste if I were to try and place it. I didn't really notice a difference with the wine when pairing it with the sandwich to be honest. I semi-thought that it maybe became fruitier but I think this was mainly placebic. I will say though that when it was paired with the sweet potato curry soup it did actually taste fruitier in my opinion. The tannic component was definitely mellow while pairing it with both.
This was by far my least favorite pairing. It may have just been the wine as the base but even the wine I wasn't a fan of. It was too tannic for my liking and overpowered any taste I would've gotten from it. I looked online because I was curious and it said it should've been fruitier but I didn't notice this at all. The wine alone smelled like how I picture a rotten fruit would smell. It was a fruity smell but just smelled like it was gone bad for some reason. The cake was good but when I tried pairing them it just ruined the taste of the chocolate cake. I think if it was a different wine I probably would've liked a pairing more but this one just threw me off.
Overall, this was a pretty fun experience to drink with my friends as a last hoorah before we finished the class. We also got to see professor Boyer but he left before we could say hi.
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