Wine Dinner 1

Wine dinner number one!  Sadly, my girlfriend has the flu and my friends are busy, so I'm all alone this time.  Ah well; the wine and food is still delicious!

And now... The WINES!!

As shown, the wines paired with the meal are a Sauvignon Blanc, a Gruner Veltliner, and a Beaujolais Nouveau.

They're each paired with a different course - a salad with carrots, tomatoes, and strawberries, with pomegranate vinaigrette dressing; polenta, sauteed in olive oil; and vegetarian chili with cornbread.

Name: Kennedy Point
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Marlborough
Country: New Zealand
Year: 2014
Price: $13.95
Shop/Critic/Winery Review: "Kennedy Point Vineyard makes a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc that captures the essence of the regional fruit. The grapes, grown in the hot, stony soils of the Wairau, produce a wine redolent of fresh cut wild flowers and a full palate of passion fruit, gooseberry and citrus."

My impressions: Kiwi, citrus on the nose.  Very sharp.  Citrus notes continue on the tongue, with high acidity.  Very clean and crisp tasting.

Name: Steininger
Variety: Gruner Veltliner
Region: Kamptal
Country: Austria
Year: 2014
Price: $14.99
Shop/Critic/Winery Review: "This Gruner Veltliner from Austria is light and has a floral summer fruits nose leading to crisp acidity and a mineral finish. An outstanding white wine."

My impressions: Not a strong nose on this one.  Very mineral.  On the tongue, there's a citrus peel note, with more minerality.  Maybe a little slate or chalk.

Name: Domaine Manoir Du Carra, Beaujolais Nouveau
Variety: Pinot Noir
Region: Beaujolais
Country: France
Year: 2015
Price: $8.40
Shop/Critic/Winery Review: "Fresh fruity red from the granite hills of Beaujolais comes entirely from Gamay grapes. Beaujolais Nouveau day is November 19th this year and is a celebration of harvest and a festive event. This bistro style wine should be consumed in copious quantities in the first full year of its life."

My impressions: Cherry, raspberry. Red fruit.  Bright nose, for a red.  It tastes almost like a cherry pie.  Bright, bold flavors, with a hint of tannins.  Fruity and uncomplicated, obviously very new.

The salad was paired with the Sauvignon Blanc.  The crispness of the wine brings out the freshness of the salad.  The acidic tomatoes pair well with the acid in the wine.  I find that the wine brings out the taste of the lettuce and carrots more; I'm not so sure that it's in a good way, or pleasant.  However, the wine tastes a little less acidic after having the salad.

With the polenta, the wine seems a little sharper.  Maybe because of the oil the polenta was sauteed in.  The taste of the wine overpowers the polenta though.  I usually eat polenta plain, but in this case I think it needs a sauce of some kind to hold its own.  Both delicious apart, but this pairing does nothing for me.

The fruitiness of the wine is the perfect pairing for the chili.  The fruit almost quenches the spiciness; it doesn't remove the burn from your tongue, but the fruit is a very welcome change.  The chili tastes fuller somehow, after a sip of the wine.  Absolutely wonderful.  I'll always want this wine whenever I make this chili.