The wines which we chose consisted of a 2019 Alcesti Nero d’Avola from Sicily Italy, a 2019 Sideshow The Charmer No.3 Shiraz from South Eastern Australia, and a 2018 Willm Gewürztraminer Réserve from the Alsace region of France. The Nero d’Avola and Shiraz were both full red wines and the Gewürztraminer was an aromatic white wine. The cheeses which we chose consisted of a Parmigiano Reggiano, an aged cheddar, and a triple crème brie. The Parmigiano Reggiano was dry, salty, umami cheese. Similarly, the cheddar was a fruity, umami cheese. The brie was a delicate, buttery cheese.
Left: 2019 Sideshow The Charmer No.3 Shiraz, Middle: 2018 Willm Gewürztraminer Réserve, Right: 2019 Alcesti Nero d’Avola
Top Left: Parmigiano Reggiano, Top Right: Aged Cheddar, Bottom: Triple Crème Brie
The 2019 Alcesti Nero d’Avola was a very acidic and dry wine with slight hints of sweetness and spiciness when drunk alone. It was quite woody and had prominent blacksburg and cedar flavors. The Nero d’Avola paired fairly well with the Parmigiano Reggiano which made the wine taste a lot sweeter and brought out the jammy flavors and lessened the woody flavors. The Parmigiano Reggiano may have overpowered the Nero d’Avola a bit. The Nero d’Avola also paired quite well with the aged cheddar which made the wine taste a bit sweeter in a more subtle way than the Parmigiano Reggiano and brought out both the raspberry and cedar flavors by tempering the acidic flavors of the wine. Neither the aged cheddar nor the Nero d’Avola overpowered each other. The Nero d’Avola paired fairly poorly with the triple crème brie which didn’t seem to lessen the tannic or acidic flavors and may have actually brought them out more. This caused them to further overshadow the fruity and woody flavors of the wine. The Nero d’Avola seemed to overpower the triple crème brie.
The 2019 Sideshow The Charmer No.3 Shiraz alone was quite dry and tannic with very little sweetness. It had strong flavors of blackberry and pepper spice and more subtle flavors of licorice and stone fruits, like plums. The Shiraz paired fairly well with the Parmigiano Reggiano which tempered the dryness and tannic components of a wine a bit and made it taste sweeter. It didn’t change the flavors which were brought out, but they were more prominent due to the lessening of the strong tannic flavors. Neither the Shiraz nor the Parmigiano Reggiano overpowered each other. The Shiraz paired quite well with the aged cheddar which also tempered the dryness and tannic components and made the wine feel much smoother and taste sweeter. It brought out the blackberry flavors and the fattiness of the cheese paired well with the peppery flavors. Neither the Shriaz nor the aged cheddar overpowered each other. The Shiraz paired fairly well with the triple crème brie which made the wine taste dryer and smokier. It also made the wine taste a bit jammier on the aftertaste. The increased smokiness brought out the pepper spice flavor and the jammier aftertaste brought out the blackberry flavor. The Shiraz may have overpowered the triple crème brie a bit, but it still affected the wine a bit.
The 2018 Willm Gewürztraminer Réserve alone was quite smooth and light with delicate flavors of pear and lychee. We had it chilled and that seemed to accentuate the lightness and pear flavor. The Gewürztraminer paired fairly well with the Parmigiano Reggiano which made the wine taste more acidic and brought out mineral flavors which didn’t seem apparent before. It was still fairly smooth, but it tasted overall stronger. The Parmigiano Reggiano may have overpowered the Gewürztraminer a bit. The Gewürztraminer paired fairly well with the aged cheddar as well which also made it taste stronger and more acidic similar to the Parmigiano Reggiano. However, it also made the wine taste sweeter and didn’t seem to slightly overpower the Gewürztraminer as the Parmigiano Reggiano did. The Gewürztraminer paired pretty well with the triple crème brie which brought out the lychee flavors and brought out mineral flavors which were previously much less apparent. The pairing also made the triple crème brie feel and taste smoother, which was the only strong effect which I noticed the wine had on the cheese. Neither the Gewürztraminer nor the triple crème brie overpowered each other.
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