Wine Dinner: Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro with family

Over Easter weekend, I went home to Virginia Beach to relax and spend time with my family. The Thursday evening I got home, my mom, sister and I decided to go out to dinner at Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro. My mom had been there before, only for drinks, so we were very excited to try their food. I turned this into a wine pairing dinner for fun! We had a great time tasting wines and catching up.

Selfie outside of the restaurant. 

 About Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro:

Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro is located in Town Center in Virginia Beach, VA. According to their website, they carry over 325 different varieties, and you can order 70 by the glass. They like to carry smaller producers compared to mass producers and their stock spans almost every wine-making region in the world! When it comes to their food, their website says that they fuse together American food with a European bistro twist.

Just one of their many wine racks! 

A sample of the restaurant's decor

Food & Wine Pairing:

Tour of Europe wine flight

Since their food is very rich, and somewhat pricy, the three of us decided to all pick a dish we could all share. When it came to the wines, our server recommended to us one of their wine flights! A flight is designed specifically for tasting and they serve you 3 two-ounce pours of wine. For what we were having, he suggested the Tour of Europe flight. 

Crab & Artichoke Dip:baked jumbo lump crab and artichokes with house-made mozzarella and grilled baguette slices  $12

With the dip, our server paired it with a Finca Venta Verdejo. 

Variety: Verdejo

Region: Tierra de Castilla

Country: Spain

Year: Didnt say

Avg. Price: $5.00

Winery Review: Brilliant straw colour. Intensive mixture of tropical fruit aromas and fresh grass. In mouth refreshing, full bodied with a slight elegant bitter ending typical for the Verdejo grape. Very pleasant drinking.

My Review: I really enjoyed this spanish wine. It was light yellow in color and was very tropical on the nose. I definitely got a pineapple taste and some apple taste as well. It was a great combination of sweet and sour with a refreshing finish. It was also a little bit bubbly which I wasn't expecting. Our server said it would be great with fish so we thought crab was close enough. It was great paired with the saltiness and creaminess of the dip since the wine was so refreshing and dry. 

Gorgeous presentation of the Caesar salad

Caesar Salad: hearts of romaine with house-made croutons, parmesan

and a house-made garlic dressing   $8 (added Shrimp)

With the salad our server paired it with Domaines Schlumberger Les Princes Abbes Pinot Blanc. He said that although this wine is good with seafood and salads, the anchovy taste in the dressing will pair great with it and the shrimp as well. 

Variety: Pinot Blanc

Region: Alsace

Country: France

Year: Didn't say

Price: $18.00

Winery Review: The robe is light yellow with green reflection. The disk is bright and luminous.
The nose is fine and delicate, on floral and fruity notes. Green lime notes can be found after airing.
In the mouth, the onset shows vivacity and as slightly full-bodied, but very fresh. We note the characteristics of a fresh vintage. In the middle mouth, we evolve on more mineral, slightly grilled notes. The finish is of medium length and very fine, making this wine a perfectly balanced wine.

My Review: It was light gold with a greenish tint. This wine was not sweet at all which was surprising because it is very fruity on the nose. It was very buttery to me and it also had a bit of a bitter aftertaste. I did like it with the salad though because caesar salad is so rich, it needed something dry and not super crazy to balance out the dressing and the amazing parmesan on it. The shrimp added a grilled/ spicy component to the salad but was also good with the wine since it wasn't sweet at all. 

Pesto and chicken pasta

Grilled Chicken Pasta: Grilled chicken over roasted Roma tomatoes and spinach tossed with 

penne pasta and sautéed with white wine and basil pesto $22 

Last but not least our server paired this with a Monti Guidi Pecorino. 

Variety: Pecorino

Region: Terre di Chieti

Country: Italy

Year: Didn't say

Price: $17.00

Winery Review: "Pecorino is a quite full-bodied wine with only moderate acidity, often showing flavors and aromas of yellow fruits, ground white spices like ginger and white pepper, and nuts, especially almonds and hazelnuts. Nice scents of green apples, bananas."

My Review: It was very golden in color compared to the other two wines we tasted. On the nose it was very alcohol forward, on my tasting sheet I have written "burns nose." It was very fruity on the nose as well. Definitely pineapple and floral. On the tongue I got very sweet and tangy with a large oak component. Im assuming thats how it got its color. It also had some acidity, but not as much as the other two. It was also not as refreshing as the other two, it was much thicker in body. With the pasta I really enjoyed it with the pesto component. Also since it was on the sweeter side, the grilled chicken tasted great with it. 

Over all I was very pleased with my first Sonoma experience. Although the prices were a bit expensive, I would defintiely go back for a happy hour or another tasting experience. We had so much fun catching up and my mom was so tickled that I had to do this assignment for a class. She wishes she could take a wine class for fun! 

Mom and sis waiting to order

awesome wine dispenser built into the wall