Hi Guys!
I went home to Coppell, Texas for Labor Day weekend to see my sweet mom. She is just as intrigued as I am with my Geography of Wine class, so she decided she would take me out to dinner for this assignment, and while she says she's "doing it for the good of the class", she really just wanted to get in on the fun! The task she was assigned to help me complete was pairing three wines with three food dishes. My mom had recently gone to Umbra Winery in Grapevine, Texas with a couple of her girl friends to celebrate a birthday, and she was determined that this was the place to go for my next assignment.
So, Sunday night, me and my mother went to Umbra Winery in Grapevine to pair some delicious wine with some yummy food dishes.
I am the oldest child, so when I was finally legal to drink, it was like Christmas morning for my mom! I have never seen that woman so excited. We always have the best time trying new places and grabbing a couple drinks. Our favorite past time is listening to live music, having a couple drinks, and solving the worlds problems (lol)! My mother favors beer, while I favor wine, so we love to mix it up and always try new things. She is also the friendliest person I know, so it was so surprise when she became best friends with our waiter and told him all about the wine class "we" were taking!
For the first wine and food pairing, we decided to start off with making our own pair. I let my mom pick the wine while I picked the food dish. My mom picked her favorite wine, Red Fusion. Red Fusion is a Cabernet, Syrah, Merlot blend from the Umbra Winery in Little Elm, Texas. It is 13.1% alcohol and was packaged in a 750 ml bottle. We got this wine by the glass, but the bottle was for purchase for $31. Our waiter, Jeff, detailed this wine as an explosion of mixed dark fruit and oak, with whiffs of red currant and cherry. My personal palette tasted lightly of cherry as well as a layer of earth similar to strong oak. I felt as though that the acidity was low and the tannin was medium.
I paired this wine with my favorite appetizer on the menu, roasted tomato and pesto bruschetta. Both of these items were delicious individually, however did not complement each other well. When I paired the wine with the bruschetta, the wine finished very dry and a little tangy. The two very strong tastes overpowered each other. After this tasting, I asked Jeff what he would pair with the bruschetta and he said "never a red, always a white". After tasting this pairing, I would never argue with that statement.
After learning our lesson after the first pairing, we decided to get some advice for our second pairing. Let me tell you, my life was changed after having a proper pairing. I see the light, I will never go back. The second pairing consisted of a wonderful glass of Syrah and the meatballs marinara. The name on the menu for this wine was simply "Syrah", and in this wine case, the grapes were harvested in Washington and transported to the Umbra Winery in Little Elm, Texas. Syrah consisted of 13.3% alcohol and was packaged in a 750 ml bottle. Jeff described this wine having a blackberry and pepper taste, and smelling of oak spice with berries. My personal palette smelt strong spice and strong tastes of blackberry with subtle oak.
Pairing the Syrah with the meatballs marinara was incredible. These two paired perfectly together, the acidity of the wine matched perfectly with the meatballs in my opinion. Finishing the wine with a bite of the meatball brought out wonderful fruity tastes, especially of blackberry and contradicted the slight pepper taste outstandingly. I honestly could not get enough of it!
For the final pairing, we had a bit of a sweet tooth. We paired a glass of Prosecco with the Vanilla Bean Brûlée Cheesecake. While me and my mother paired this ourselves, Jeff approved. Again, an incredible pairing. The dryness and sparkling taste of the Prosecco brought out the Madagascar Vanilla in the cheesecake. It was delightful. The prosecco finished perfectly sweet after the Cheesecake, no flavor overwhelming the other. I could've eaten this pairing a second time Sunday night, it was the perfect note to end on.
I had way too much fun completing this assignment. I have never cognizantly paired wine with food dishes before, so this experience was eye opening. I was not exaggerating earlier when I said it was life changing. My favorite pairing of the night was the Syrah and meatballs marinara. I am already making plans to go back again and share this wonderful experience with others. I do have to say, I think this is mothers (and mine) favorite class!
-Mik
