On March 31st, my girlfriend and I went to the Wine Lab in Blacksburg for a three-course wine dinner. Since we know the Wine Lab has a great selection of wine and a good menu, it was an easy choice for a wine dinner out. When we got there, we started by going over the menu trying to figure out what we wanted to eat for each course. After we had that in mind, we started looking over the wine list to see what might pair up with the food items we picked out.
Our first course involved the baked brie and a glass of the Remhoogte Honeybunch Chenin Blanc. The wine on its own had a slightly savory and buttery nose that gave hints of oak. Also present from the nose were notes of tropical fruits and some herbaceous notes, possibly something along the lines of thyme. On the palate, the wine was a nice balance between savory and sweet. The tropical fruit hints from the nose were still present and became a slightly more clear pineapple type note. The wine ended with a slightly dry and savory finish. The thyme notes from the nose were also present in the back of the palate. When I tried this wine before trying some of the brie, the wine brought out the cheese more so than the topping that was with the brie. The wine also had the effect of making the bread we tried the brie with stand out a little more while eating. When I tried the wine after having a bite of the brie, the food amped up the fruit flavors of the wine more than the savory flavors I had found when trying the wine on its own. The wine seemed to also make the aftertaste from the cheese a much creamier flavor and it really extended how long the cheese flavors would hang around in my mouth. Overall, these two items went well together. Drinking the wine after taking a bite of food really emphasized the richness of the cheese and the fruity notes of the wine. I don't think either of these items really overpowered the other, they tended to complement each other nicely and bring out something new in the other.
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| Figure 1: Me with the First Course |
For our second course, we split a charcuterie board consisting of Ibeico Chorizo, Speck, and Finnocchina Salami paired with a Vermont Honey Truffle Goat Cheese, An aged Manchego, and a Woodbine cheese. The board also came with a variety of other small items, but those were the main parts of the board. To go with this second course, I got the Vina Galana Tempranillo. On its own, this wine had very nice jammy notes that featured raspberries and some other types of berries on the nose. There were also hints of cedar, plum, and sage present before a slight spice could be found. On the palate, this wine kept the plummy and jammy notes upfront before shifting to a dry, tannic finish where the cedar and sage notes rounded off the palate. There were too many combinations of meat, cheese, and other toppings to keep track of, but in general, when I would sample this wine before having some of the food, it tended to bring out the flavors of the cheese over everything else. One of the things that I noted was that when I would eat the aged Manchego after taking a sip of the wine, it would bring out some of the funkier aged notes of the cheese. When I started sampling the wine after eating some of the food, one of the things that I quickly noted was that the taste of the wine would mix with the aftertaste from whatever meat I was trying and really accentuated the flavor of the meat. The oiliness of the meat also helped bring down some of the tannins and dryness from the wine and brought out more of the cedar and sage notes. Like the first course, neither of these items really overpowered the other, but they did bring out some nice new flavors or effects from each other.
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| Figure 2: Me with the Second Course |
For the third course, we got a flourless chocolate cake and I paired it with the Bernard Griffin Syrah Port wine. On the nose, this wine was full of sweet raisiny notes, but I was able to pick up on some brandy notes and some very slight traces of ethanol. On the palate, this wine was much less sweet than the nose had me expecting. The wine was still sweet, but just not to the level I was thinking it would be. The raisiny notes were still present on the palate, but there were now flavors of plums and raspberries that I was also able to pick out. The wine finished with some slight tannins. When I tried this wine before having a bite of food, the wine made the cake much more creamy and it took away some of the fruit flavors that came from the cake's toppings. Instead, the wine greatly intensified the chocolate flavors of the cake. When I tried the wine after having a bite of the cake, I found that the wine's flavors and the chocolatey aftertaste of the cake blended really nicely with each other. Unlike drinking the wine before the cake, it lowered the amount of chocolate flavor I was able to pick up on. The fruit from the topping, especially the blueberries, was much more intense tasting after having a sip of the wine. Like the other two courses, this wine paired really nicely with the food and neither really overpowered the other. Drinking the wine after having some of the food brought out some really interesting notes from the wine and eating some of the food after the wine brought out some really nice flavors from the cake. They both complimented each other really well. My Girlfriend and I forgot to get pictures with the third course the night we had the dinner so we went back the following weekend and ordered the exact same things so we could get out photos so that's why the seating and outfit are slightly different.
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| Figure 3: Me with the Third Course |
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