Name: Chateau Ste Michelle Sauvignon Blanc
Variety: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Columbia Valley, Washington
Country: USA
Year: 2013
Price: $11
Winery Review: The mostly stainless steel fermentation makes this a crisp Sauvignon Blanc. The wine offers bright fruit character of melons and herbs. This wine is a favorite with oysters.
Name: Anciano Tempranillo Reserva 'Aged 5 Years'
Variety: 100% Tempranillo
Region: Valdepenas, Castilla La Mancha
Country: Spain
Year: 2008
Price: $12
Shop Review: Fuller-bodied, dry. Ruby red in color topped with tawny edges, followed by a fruit nose and a palate of spices, licorice, minerals, and plenty of rich black fruit. The finish is long and dry with nice tannins. Pair with grilled red meats, mature cheeses, and beef stew.
Name: Narcisi Gewürztraminer
Variety: 100% Gewürztraminer
Region: Gibsonia, Pennsylvania
Country: USA
Year: 2013
Price: $18
Winery Review: Ideal to grow in Pennsylvania, this German grape delivers a wine with distinct spicy, earthy notes. Literally "spicy Trainer: this wine brings a truly unique aroma with decadent richness and exotic fruit qualities. A dry wine, despite smelling like a sweet one, with a "biting" finish.
Time to get the party started!
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| Dante wanted to decant the Tempranillo |
I started off with the Chateau Ste Michelle Sauvignon Blanc and tasted it without any cheese first. On the nose, I smelled mostly lemon with some floral components. On the palate, I tasted lots of lemon and citrus. The midpalate and finish had a bit too much acidity for my taste, but after a while the finish was nice. I tried the Creamy Havarti cheese with this wine and noticed it cut the acidity right away. I thought the cheese also helped to bring out more of the apple and pear components that this wine had to offer. With the Muenster cheese, I noticed overall this cheese was very similar to the Haverti cheese, which I was not expecting. I got a lot of the same components from the wine using the Muenster cheese that I found with the Havarti cheese, but the Muenster cheese did seem to make this wine a little softer overall. Finally, I tried the Cheddar cheese and noticed right away that I did not think it was a good pairing. The cheese was a bit too sharp to go with the wine and the wine and cheese flavors just did not seem to mix well. I definitely think the softer Havarti and Muenster cheeses complimented this wine better.
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| The yummy Gewürztraminer! |
Next up was the Narcisi Gewürztraminer! On the nose, I noticed pear, melon, and floral components. On the palate, I mostly tasted lemon and honeydew. This wine has a somewhat watery consistency for the first part but then the acidity hit at the end. This wine was also interesting because it started off pretty sweet but then became more dry toward the finish. When I tried the Gewürztraminer with the Havarti cheese, I did not taste too much of a difference in the wine. The cheese did seem to work well with it though since both were absolutely delicious, there was just nothing mind-blowing about the pairing. Next up was the Muenster cheese, which I mentioned before was similar to the profile of the Havarti cheese. Because of this, I got the same results when pairing it with the wine. Both were delicious separate and together, but again, nothing was out of this world about the pairing. Finally, I tried the Gewürztraminer with the Cheddar cheese. I noticed that this cheese did seem to do something with the wine. For the most part, it seemed to make the wine a little less floral, which was sad. I thought the sharpness of the cheese and the sweetness would go well together, but not so much with this wine. It seems there was not a clear winner of the night for which cheese went well with the wine, but there has to be something out there! This wine was simply delicious.
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| We had to restock the cheese... |
We finally got around to the Anciano Tempranillo Reserva, which had decanted for just about an hour before we drank it. On the nose, I noticed this was a very intense nose mostly filled with red fruits and cinnamon. On the palate, this wine was very bold and in your face. On the palate, I tasted black cherries, spices, red fruits, and some oakiness. The tannins were noticeable and the wine had a long, dry finish. The first cheese I tried with the Tempranillo was the Havarti. I thought this cheese seemed to help mellow out the intense flavors I was experiencing at the beginning as well as the dryness. Next up with the Muenster, which gave very similar results to the Havarti and was definitely a good pairing for this wine. Finally, I tried the Cheddar cheese. Instead of the cheese influencing this wine, I thought the wine actually helped to cut the sharpness of the cheddar cheese.
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| Looks like a successful wine night to me! |
Overall, I was kind of disappointed that the Havarti and Muenster cheese had similar profiles. The night would have been a little more successful if we picked a different cheese to replace one of these to have a range of sharpness, spiciness, and soft cheeses. However, we loved all of the wines and cheeses that we tried and know more about pairings from this experience. Here's to a night of friends, laughter, and wine!
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