Wine and Dinner Blog #2

To celebrate the end of our last spring break, my boyfriend and I decided to do another wine and dinner tasting.

We saw a rosemary lamb shank on sale at the grocery store, so we figured this would make for a great meal. We paired it with roasted potatoes and veggies (bok choy and onion). Following the directions on the package, we used some of the read wine when making the lamb.

Above are the three wines that we tried with dinner.

Wine 1: Peter Mertes Spatlese White Wine

Variety: Riesling

Region: Pfalz

Country: Germany

Year: 2021

Price: $9.99

My review: This wine had an oaky smell, with a slight hint of "Sprite" as well. It was very sweet and had a flavor like grape juice. It felt very lightly carbonated, so I suspect that might be a flaw in the wine since it is a table wine.

Wine 2: Oak Leaf Pinot Grigio

Variety: White Blend (grape breakdown not listed)

Region: California

Country: USA

Year: not listed

Price: $3.49

My review: This Pinot Grigio smelled very strongly of citrus and had a hint of "cleaner smell" as well. It had a slight apple flavor and was mildly acidic. Overall, it was very light-bodied both in color and appearance. 

   Wine 3: St. Chateau Michelle Cabernet Sauvingnon

Variety: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Syrah, 8% Other Red Varietals

Region: Washington State

Country: USA

Year: 2020

Price: $13.99

My review: This wine smelled very buttery upon opening, which reminded me of the Apothic brand wines that I've tried. It also had a mild smell of vanilla. The flavors I would describe this wine with are blackberry and plums. It had a bit of a spicy flavor as well, which was interesting and something I hadn't had before.

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Carefully assessing each food, we again tasted all the wines with our dinner to determine how they paired:

Roasted Potatoes

Wine 1: The earthiness of the potatoes paired very well with the wine, and toned down its sweetness.

Wine 2: This wine paired alright with the potatoes, but brought out somehwat of an odd flavor. The earthiness was not a good pairing with the appley flavor of the wine.

Wine 3: The potatoes were a fairly good pairing with this wine, I felt like it made it smooth but also lightly acidic.

                                                               Rosemary Lamb Shank

Wine 1: Since this wine is so sweet, it didn't seem to be impacted much by the lamb flavor. It wasn't a bad pairing, but not something I would purposely do again.

Wine 2: The lamb made the wine taste very acidic and it was not a good pairing. I suspect this might be because of the red wine sauce used with cooking the lamb.

Wine 3: The red wine paired fairly well with the lamb, and it really brought out the spice in the wine. however, the spice flavor was a bit overpowering.

                                                                    Veggie Medley

Wine 1:  The veggie medley went very well with this wine. Since the red wine is also included in the sauce on the veggies, this made it somewhat rich. The sweetness of the wine was a good contrast to this.

Wine 2: Similarly to the potatoes, this wine tasted very acidic with the veggies, and it was not a great pair.

Wine 3: The red wine was slightly acidic when paired with the veggies, you could really feel the spice flavor of the wine, but that was really all.

Overall, we had a great time preparing dinner and trying different wines. I believe I gained a little more knowledge on how to pair wine with different dishes, and what combinations I like/don't like.