For dinner we enjoyed a three course Italian meal with three California wines. Our meal consisted of salad, pasta, and dessert. Our first course, the salad, was made from romaine lettuce, sweet Italian dressing, and freshly grated parmesan. Our pasta dish was fettuccine Alfredo, with home-made noodles and shrimp. Finally, for dessert, we enjoyed an Oreo "mudpie."
To pair with our meal we selected three California style wines: a white, a rose, and a red.
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The white wine was a 2017 Crane Lake Chardonnay from Napa Valley, California.
Price: $6.95
Bottle's Review: Light and fruity, uncomplicated for everyday sipping. Layers of apple and citrus with a nice easy balance.
This wine was light and well rounded. I could recognize the traditional butteriness of the Chardonnay. Aromas consisted of light fruits like apples and pears with a hint of lemon. Light straw in color, this wine had a medium-body and medium finish. The buttery mouthfeel lingered, but the citrus flavors allowed my impression of it as a lighter wine remain.
As a group, we imagined this wine would pair best with the salad with Italian dressing.
The rose wine was a 2017 Canyon Road White Zinfandel from Modesto, California.
Price: $7.95
Bottle's Review: Canyon Road White Zinfandel is smooth and crisp, with hints of strawberry, cherry, and watermelon.
This wine was very fruity but still had some acid notes which balanced it out well. The aromas I recognized were apples, strawberries, and lemon. When tasting the wine, flavors of apples, strawberries, and lemon came forward, but also watermelon and raspberries. This wine was light in body, but had a medium finish.
As a group, we thought this wine would pair best with the Oreo dessert or the Alfredo dish. I thought it would pair with the lighter salad. I really wasn't quite sure how well any of our wines would taste with the sweet dessert.
The red wine was a 2017 Crane Lake Pinot Noir from Napa Valley, California.
Price: $6.95
Bottle's Review: Ruby-colored wine has the aromas that include raspberry and violet. Flavors of cherry and plum lead to a soft velvety finish. This graceful wine is multifaceted. It can be enjoyed by itself, but is excellent with appetizers and main courses.
This wine was much bigger than the other two. This bold red was not too heavy but had a long finish. The acidity of this wine allowed it to not be too heavy. It gave off jammy and plum aromas that were amplified when tasted. I also picked up on flavors of raspberry, black cherry, and cranberry.
As a group, we thought this wine would match best with the fettuccine Alfredo.
First Course: We started our dinner with a romaine mix salad, topped with sweet Italian dressing and grated parmesan cheese.
Salad with White: The crispness of the chardonnay paired well with the crisp lettuce of the salad. The nuttiness and sharpness of the Parmesan cheese was able to balance with the butteriness of the wine. However, I thought the sweetness of the dressing could have done a better job at complimenting the fruit flavors of the wine. The dressing was very complex and I feel it overpowered and contrasted with the wine which was too heavy and buttery for this dish.
Salad with Rose: I found the Rose to be the best pairing for the salad. Both the wine and the dish were light and crisp. The sweetness of the Rose paired very well with the sweetness of the dressing. Nothing was overpowering in this pairing. The flavors were very well rounded; sweet, but still with light acidity.
Salad with Red: This pairing was not great. Unlike in the Rose, the Red drowned out the flavors of the salad. I did not think it was horrible. The sweetness of the Italian dressing helped cut the acidity of the red, however, this pairing was not one I would recommend as it almost made the wine taste even more bitter.
Second Course: The main course consisted of the home-made fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp. The creaminess of the Alfredo with the light seafood protein was something I was really looking forward to.
Pasta with White: I felt that this pairing was a little to bland and dry. The butteriness of the wine did not compliment the creaminess of the sauce as much as I had hoped it would. However, it was not a horrendous pairing. The lemon flavor and light shrimp were able to balance the wine well. Yet, as a whole, the pairing was a little off.
Pasta with Rose: This pairing worked better than the White did. The fresh acidity of the wine was able to balance the heavier cream sauce of the past dish quite well. The fresh bite of the lemon matched the freshness of the Rose. Overall, this wine was able to hold up to this dish.
Pasta with Red: I found the Red to be the best pairing for the fettuccine Alfredo. The red was bold but smooth. It was able to balance out the thick sauce of the pasta dish very well. It was strong enough to meet the pasta dish's heavy flavors, but was also complimented by the freshness of the seafood and lemon.
Third Course: The final course was an Oreo mud pie made from whipped cream, chocolate pudding, and crumbled Oreo. This dessert is light in texture but very rich.
Dessert with White: This pairing really was not great, perhaps my least favorite of the night. The sweet cream of the dessert caused the wine to come off as extremely bitter. There were no complementary factors to this pairing.
Dessert with Rose: The fresh acidity of the Rose complemented the heaviness of the dessert. However, the dessert is still light in an airy, pudding texture-sense, which was quite confusing for my pallet. The wine remained fruity and crisp, while the pudding became a little less sweet. It was interesting to say the least.
Dessert with Red: Like the White, this Red brought bitterness to the table when paired with the dessert. The Red is so bold and tannic, that after tasting the dessert, the wine became extremely bitter. I did not enjoy this pairing either, unfortunately. I would prefer to enjoy my multiple helpings of this dessert by itself.
