Dinner #2 - Good Ole Homemade Indian Food and Post Spring Break Shenanigans

Hello and welcome back to Dinner #2 for Geography to Wine. My name is Charles and I'll be your pilot for this adventure. Please keep all hands and legs inside the vehicle at all times. You'll be accompanied by my friends Josh (middle) and Simran (right). Tonight, we will be pairing 3 wines, each with a unique part of our meal. 

Our appetizer was homemade chicken wings via Simran's parents. There were spicy, but too spicy and were delicious.

The main course was homemade butter chicken and naan.. again via Simran's parents. It was super creamy and was a delight to the senses. OH MY LANTA I gorged myself. 

For dessert. We had lava cakes. Unfortunately, they were more lava than cake. They never really fully cooked and they super wet. But still good because chocolate. 

Now, moving onto the wines!

Name - Cupcake Angel Food

Variety of grapes: Blend

Country of Origin: USA

Region of Origin: California

Vintage Year: 2020

Price: $7.99

Bottle Description: Our Angel Food is a luscious aromatic white blend made from premium grapes from our sun-drenched vineyards in California. Reminiscent of Angel Food cake, this wine has flavors of pineapple, vanilla bean, and toasted coconut that culminate in a creamy mouthful. Enjoy with spicy Buffalo wings, chicken quesadillas, or caramel popcorn and a movie.

My Review:

The cake wine had initial taste of coconut and a sweet creamy finish. In addition, there were no real distinct smell. When paired with the chicken wings, the wine overall felt much smoother, and the flavor did not change much. Another note when pairing with the food is that the wine tasted "warmer". Overall, I enjoyed the cupcake wine more with the food more, but not that much more. I do not think that I would not recommend this wine.

Name - Chateau Michelle Sweet Riesling

Variety of grapes: Riesling

Country of Origin: USA

Region of Origin: Washington State

Vintage Year: 2021

Price: $9.99

Bottle Description: This harvest select sweet Riesling captures the rich, ripe flavor of peach - and the results are stunning paired with more fruit, soft cheese or a spicy main course.

My Review:

I actually really liked this resiling. It was very sweet and rich. I would consider it the orange soda of the wins that I have had so far. There was a noticeable floral scent, and it was less noticeable the more I smelled it. I was not able to detect any flavor and just tasted the sweetness. 

Name - Taylor Cream Sherry

Variety of grapes: Blend

Country of Origin: New York

Region of Origin: USA

Vintage Year: N/A

Price: $7.99

Bottle Description: A full bodied, moderately sweet sherry with nuances of toffee and roasted nuts. Delicious with dessert or after dinner. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

My Review:

This wine (sherry) was really weird. To start, it smelled like a combination of a woody (almost an oaky smell), sugar and a dash of smokiness. The initial taste was alcoholic maple syrup. Wow it tasted good for a second and then I felt all confused afterwards because the tasted slowly changed into a more of a rustic flavor. When the sherry was paired with the lava cakes, it was a sweetness overload. I felt like I was at Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and tasted the chocolate river.

Tasting - White Zinfandel (Crane Lake)

 

• Name: White Zinfandel

• Variety of the grapes: Zinfandel

• Country of origin: USA

• Region of origin: California

• Vintage year: 2019

• Price: $6.95

Winery Review: “Taste is strawberry, peach, and raspberry. The flavor profile is medium sweet.”

Wine Folly: On page 189 the text mentions the Zinfandel grape variety and its characteristics. Zinfandel grapes have hints of blackberry, strawberry, peach preserves, cinnamon, and sweet tobacco flavors but I did not taste all of those flavors except the peach and strawberry. It is supposed to be kind of low in sweetness and was kind of high in tannins, which I agreed with.

My Review: This wine had a fruity, almost peachy flavor. I did not taste strawberry, or raspberry.  It was drier than the other white zinfandels that I have tried. I do not think that I enjoyed it as much because I enjoyed the other white zinfandels more than this. Overall, I liked this wine, but I do not think that I would buy it again considering that there are other white zinfandels that I like, but I would drink it again. To be honest, I do not remember all too much from this. I think that I was trying to forget about her... she LOVED PEACHESSSSS. SHE WAS MY LITTLE PEACH

Tasting - TAVO Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie Doc

• Name: Tavo

• Variety of the grapes: Pinot Grigio

• Country of origin: Italy

• Region of origin: Delle Venezie

• Vintage year: 2021

• Price: $12

Winery Review: "The Redmont-Di Tonno family settled in Abruzzo decades ago to grow the Pinot Grigio grape sustainably in one of the most biodiverse areas in the world. Our desire is to finely craft authentic wines of great elegance. Enjoy."

Wine Folly: Page 149 of the Wine Folly book describes the Pinot Gris (aka Pinot Grigio) grape variety. This grape is known for its "zesty white wines". Overall, my experience with this wine matched the general description of this variety. The book describes this grape as low in body and tannins and higher in acidity. One of the common descriptors of this grape is "crushed gravel", which I did not taste. However, I am now very curious as to how this flavor would be in a wine.

My Review: This wine had distinct floral notes from first inspection. This is also detected from taste. Overall, it was dry, but very lightly and was not overwhelming. I did not really detect this very much but there was almost a creamy finish. I did not pair this wine with anything but enjoyed it, nevertheless. I would consider buying and drinking this wine again.