Sip Happens: A Grape Escape with Three Cheeses and Four Friends

 

To kick off the first weekend of February, our wine gang (Reagan, Sydney, Nate, Tyler, and I) decided to switch up our Saturday night routine and stay in for an evening of wine and cheese (although some of the group did decide to hit downtown after). We thought it would be a great idea to do 2 tastings and this pairing event on the same night, so we ended our Saturday night having split 5 bottles of wine, 4 cheeses, and some toasted baguettes with oil.

Here are the details on our spread:

The Alcohol (note: the group had two bottles of Chardonnay before these wines, to complete the weekly tasting assignment)    

• Wine 1 = Bell’Agio Chianti
• Wine 2 = Maipe Casir dos Santos Malbec
• Wine 3 = Barefoot Merlot

The Snacks

• Cheese 1 = Belgioioso Fontina: A light, sour, and soft cheese
• Cheese 2 = Murray’s Cheese – Brie: Soft, buttery, smooth cheese
• Cheese 3 = Cabot Creamery Vermont Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• Cheese 4 = Castello Danablue – Blue Cheese (note: I hate blue cheese and therefore focused on cheeses 1-3 for this assignment)

-        Bread & Oil

• Toasted Trader Joe's gluten-free baguette (the gluten eaters had a regular one)
• Fattoria Montecchio extra virgin olive oil – Chianti Classico from Italy (w/ salt and pepper): a delicious oil I bought from a wine tour in Tuscany with my family

Now that we have been taking this course for about a month, we did ensure that we were following the sniff and swirl instructions from our lecture video. My girly Reagan can be seen sniffing her swirled red wine below.

ALSO, my home girl Sydney went thrifting the day before we did this pairing event, and she scored the coolest decanter set. We enjoyed goofing around with it and decided to decant the Barefoot Merlot for this event (and it decanted for almost 3 hours because it took us a hot second to finish the first two wines). Here you can see Nate mesmerized by the wine flowing into the decanter.

Now that I’ve covered the spread, let’s jump into how the wine and cheese truly paired together.

Wine #1: Bell’Agio Chianti

Variety of Grape = Sangiovese

Region & Country of Origin = Chianti, Italy

Vintage Year = 2022

Price = $15.99

Specific Flavors = Red fruit (cherry, raspberry, cranberry, Earthly (leather, mineral, & black fruit (plum, blackberry) notes

Pairs Well With = Beef, veal, and poultry

Wine Folly Notes = Chianti is a medium-bodied red wine, meaning that it pairs well with nutty hard, fruity umami, and dry-salty cheese. It tastes average with delicate, buttery cheese and is bad with salty, crumbly cheese [pg 60]. Therefore, according to the text, the wine should taste best with cheddar, average with the fontina, and bad with the brie.

My Review = By itself, this wine was dry, tannic, and oaky. Having had the two glasses of Chardonnay before this might have affected my overall taste of this wine. Overall a good wine, although I don’t understand its packaging. [2.5 / 5]

•          Pairing w/ Cheese 1 = The Fontina made this wine taste very smooth and sweet, removing the dryness altogether.
•        Pairing w/ Cheese 2 = Eating brie with this was a bad idea. It brought the wine immediately back to its dry state and had a horrible sour aftertaste.
•      Pairing w/ Cheese 3 = The cheddar tasted good after drinking the wine due to its nice saltiness.

Pairing Summary (best to worst) = Fontina (1) -> Cheddar (3) -> Brie (2)

Wine #2: Barefoot Merlot

Variety of Grape = Merlot

Region & Country of Origin = Modesto, California

Vintage Year = Not listed, so it is most likely a blend of wines

Price = $6.99

Specific Flavors = Boysenberry and chocolate, w/ hints of anise and tannins

Pairs Well With = Beef, poultry, red sauce pasta, cheeses and desserts

Wine Folly Notes = Barefoot merlot is a medium-bodied red wine, meaning that it pairs well with nutty hard, fruity umami, and dry-salty cheese. It tastes average with delicate, buttery cheese and is bad with salty, crumbly cheese [pg 60]. Therefore, according to the text, the wine should taste best with cheddar, average with the fontina, and bad with the brie.

My Review = On its own, this wine tasted strong, almost too sweet, with a strong plum flavor. This wine was not as dry as the Chianti we had had before, but having had this wine beforehand may have affected my taste. [1.5 / 5]

•          Pairing w/ Cheese 1 = The Fontina made this wine taste more acidic, dry, and bitter.
•          Pairing w/ Cheese 2 = Brie mixed with this is straight-up horrible. This cheese made it taste super sour, with the wine overpowering the brie.
•         Pairing w/ Cheese 3 = Sharp cheddar cheese is definitely the way to go. This cheese magnified the sweetness of the wine while making it taste smoother and more balanced.

Pairing Summary = Cheddar (3) -> Fontina (1) -> Brie (2)

Wine #3: Maipe Casir dos Santos Malbec

Variety of Grape = Malbec

Region & Country of Origin = Maipu Valley in Mendoza, Argentina

Vintage Year = 2019

Price = $8.99

Specific Flavors = Complex plum, fig, strawberry, spices, and floral aromas, w/ velvety/rounded tannins

Pairs Well With = Game, roasted red meats, pasta, or pizza

Wine Folly Notes = This Malbec is considered a full-bodied red wine, meaning that it pairs well with fruity, umami cheese. It tastes average with delicate, buttery, nutty, hard, and dry, salty umami cheese. Finally, it tastes bad with salty, crumbly and sour cheese [pg 60]. Therefore, according to the text, the wine should taste best with the cheddar and average with the fontina or the brie.

My Review = Although this wine decanted for quite some time, this tasted the strongest. It had a more bitter scent, and the overall taste was complex. I noted that this wine would probably taste really good with meat. (I’d also like to note that this was my fifth glass and the group was definitely feeling the wine by this point, so my judgment might have been slightly off)

•          Pairing w/ Cheese 1 = I felt neutral about this pairing, with the wine tasting slightly smoother.
•          Pairing w/ Cheese 2 = YUCKY! The brie made this wine taste extremely bitter.
•          Pairing w/ Cheese 3 = Great pairing, with the cheese accentuating the flavors in the wine while making it taste smoother.

Pairing Summary (best to worst) = Cheddar (3) -> Fontina (1) -> Brie (2)

As you can see, our group really enjoyed the decanting process and we look forward to using this in the future. The picture of Tyler below truly represents how we felt about the wine and decanting process (while also showing the vibe we all were feeling since this was our fifth wine).