Wine & Dinner Pairing

Hello, wine lovers and friends! This week was full of fantastic food, amazing company, and so much fun learning! Week 11 and I am so close to being a wine Connoisseur ;) This week, I planned a wine and dinner pairing. With three wines and three different foods, the learning and collaborations were endless. Lucky enough, I was in Arizona spending time with my family while the Sedona Wine fest was going on.  

For the appetizer, we had some chips and homemade salsa. We paired that with a 2017 Ruby Rose. I chose a sweet Rose to pair with the salsa because I wanted the sweetness of the wine to cut the spiciness of the salsa if needed. I think this wine and food pairing was a great start for the evening. In the Ruby Rose, I tasted fruity and floral flavors. I believe that the wine has hints of strawberries and some very tart and yummy raspberries. This wine is $19 a bottle. I enjoyed this wine and will plan to have it again. 

The next pairing we had was my mom's homemade spinach and shrimp pasta with white wine. We chose the white wine with the past and shrimp dish because of how well white wines and fish pair together. The white wine we chose is from the High Lonesome Vineyard in Arizona. The style of wine is a Picpoul Blanc. My favorite pairing so far is a white wine with fish like shrimp or with sushi. The Picpoul Blanc and the shrimp balanced each other so well and even brought out more flavors in each other. The crisp taste of the wine brought out the tenderness and spiciness of the shrimp. The wine itself has tastes of peach, grapefruit, and apricot. This bottle of wine sells for $34, and it was delicious. I would love to have this wine again in the future. 

The third and final pairing we had was some classic cookie cake paired with another white wine called the Traveler. This combo fits together in many useful ways, but not all. The sweetness of the cake and the sweetness of the wine weren't incredible together, in my opinion. I don't think that cookie cake is something that should be paired with wine. Separate the wine and cake were both very yummy, but together it wasn't a great combo.