Wine Dinner!
The meal just before we dug in
At dinner, we had chicken Alfredo with cheese garlic bread. For dessert, we had chocolate cake. My task was to buy the wines and I tried to pick one that would pair with each dish. We started with the sparkling wine, Cupcake Prosecco, and dug into dinner. It was sweet, light, crisp, and appley. You probably could’ve convinced me I was drinking a new brand of hard apple cider. I found that the wine brought out the garlic in the Alfredo sauce and bread and enhanced the creaminess. I later tried it with cake and it was far too sweet, ruining both for a few bites. Next, we opened the Chardonnay from Billings Farm. The buttery smells were immediately evident. Alone, it tasted like pineapple, butter, oak, pear, and was noticeably heavier and bolder than the Prosecco. It deepened all the flavors in the chicken, particularly highlighting the butter in both the pasta and bread. It didn’t change the cake much or vice versa. Next, we opened the Billings Farm Cabernet Sauvignon. It smelled and tasted like cherry, pomegranate, blackberry, oak, and smoke. I bought this to go with the cake, so it was no surprise when it overpowered and masked the taste of dinner. However, it performed as promised with the chocolate cake. It perfectly dulled some of the sweetness to allow the rich chocolate and espresso to shine. It was great to have the comparisons between wines and dishes to see how a good wine pairing can enhance your meal, while a poor pairing could make you seem like a bad cook. I’m excited to do more of these, and not just because it gets me out of having to make myself dinner.
Spotlight on the wines
An unfortunate, but educational, pairing - Prosecco and cake
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