Wine Dinner with Great Friends

Last Wednesday, my friends and I got together to enjoy some delicious wine and food.  We each focused on buying wine from different regions and different grapes to test our palate and work towards our goal of becoming more ‘experienced wine drinkers’.

            I bought a 2010 Granacha de Fuego from Central Spain, which received 89 points from the wine spectator. The bottle initially caught my eye with its black glass and striking flame label.  I was very pleased with my choice and enjoyed sipping it with dinner. 

First, I poured a little into a class and gave it a whirl.  The wine created decent legs and upon my first “sniffy sniff” I smelled smokiness and a little hint of berries and cherries.  The wine was a medium bodied wine and I tasted a little spice followed by bold fruit on the palate.  

            Before dinner, we paired our wine with Havarti cheese, salami, and crackers.  I thought the Havarti cheese went very well with the wine, because of it’s creamy texture and taste.  I also found that the crackers helped cleanse the palate slightly before I tasted the next wine. 

I was sad because my glass was empty :(

            The next wine I tried was an Alamos Malbec that Gary Vaynerchuck recently taste in one of his shows.  This 2007 bottle of Alamos Malbec is from the Mendonza wine region of western Argentina.  This is a dark purple wine that offers cheery aromas with a little hint of floral tones to the nose.  This Malbec is a full-bodied wine with black cherry, raspberry, and chocolate tastes.  The finish is just as strong as the initial taste and offers apparent tannins. 

            The next wine I tasted was a Senda 66 Tempranillo, which is a great bargain wine for only $9.50. This wine spent 8 months in French oak and is a almost black in color.  This Tempranillo offered a spicy and fruity fragrance.  The wine was incredibly smooth and rich with tastes of blueberry and tart-like fruits.  

            The next wine I enjoyed was a 2007 Biagio Chianti Riserva. This Sangiovese varietal from Tuscany is blood red and smelled of overwhelming spices. This medium-bodied wine tasted like blackberries and currants.  This wine was not my favorite of the wines we sampled, because I felt that the spice was almost overwhelming.  

We paired this wine with spaghetti and homemade tomato and meat sauce with sautéed zucchini and squash on the side.  I thought the spaghetti combined with meat sauce complimented the wine very well and the veggies offered a different taste to the palate.  This wine night was very successful and I was able to taste and learn about multiple wines from different geographic regions around the world.