Wine and Food Pairing Dinner

My roommate, Abby Eastman, and I decided to have a food and wine dinner at our house for class!

Course 1: A spinach salad with avocado, strawberries, honey roasted almonds and mozzarella cheese with a strawberry balsamic dressing. I found the recipe on this blog:
http://valsocal.blogspot.com/2013/03/strawberry-avocado-salad.html?showComment=1363316503050


We paired this with a 2011 Chardonnay from California called Crane Lake.
Price: $4.49 at Kroger (super sale)
Region: Napa Valley, California
Smell: It wasn't super sweet or acidic, I smelled hints of apple, pineapple, oak and pear.
Taste: I got the same taste of apple and definitely pineapple, it was slightly acidic and very tangy. The oak also was brought out and some berry flavor. It was mild and mellow and perfect with the salad because it was bitter from the spinach but sweet and salty with the fruit and the almonds. I thought they were paired together very well and I would definitely recommend it to anyone!
Color: Light yellow, almost clear

Our main dish was a spicy sausage and broccoli pasta with gouda cheese. It was absolutely delicious and was relatively cheap and easy to make.
http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2012/02/spicy-sausage-broccoli-pasta-837-recipe.html

We paired this dish with a Sauvignon Blanc from Chile called San Elias.
Price: $9.00 at Kroger
Region: Central Valley, Chile
Smell: Very acidic and lots of greens and tropical fruits like pineapple and orange
Taste: Lots of citrus and hints of herbs. Had an acidic aftertaste, it is very acidic but not in a harsh way, very tangy, it complimented well with the spiciness of the sausage. Sauvignon Blanc is my favorite white wine so I was very pleased with this one! It was very fresh and had a clean finish.
Color: Light golden color with a hint of green

Our final course, dessert, was a slice of Tiramisu from Our Daily Bread on South Main St. It is my favorite dessert so any excuse to eat it sounded like a great time to me!

We paired this with a 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon from California called Snap Dragon.
Price: $11.99 at Kroger
Region: California, USA
Grapes: Zinfandel
Smell:  It was very sweet, like cherries and raspberries and then the oak monster came out!
Taste: Very oaky and cherry and had a lot of tannins, spicy and somewhat bitter when it came to the chocolate part of the tiramisu. Definitely could taste the raspberry in the aftertaste but was very very hot to me.
Color: Blood Red almost blackish

We had a great time, cant wait to have another one soon!

Hannah