Wine Dinner Blog #1 - Katie Williams

Wine Dinner Blog #1

    First ever dinner wine blog! I decided to treat myself to my own dinner blog night. I really wanted to have a chance to think about each of the flavors I was trying by myself. I thought this was a super fun experience and would love to try it with friends next time. However, it was easier to understand the flavors when I was able to think about it on my own and see what was right for my pallet. Still very interesting to have tried this using different foods and wines. The meal I made was orange chicken for my main meal with fried rice and avocado on the side. One of my favorite college meals I make because not only is it quick it was so delicious. I add hot sauce on top of my rice and avocado to add a bit extra flavor and my orange chicken had the tangy dressing. 

    The three wines I chose were all white wines, Barefoot resiling, Bay Moon sauvignon blanc, and Avaline white wine. I felt that these would have been best due to the fact orange chicken has a very rich, sweet, and tangy flavor. The fried rice was warm and had very unique flavors and the avocado was smooth and creamy. I was surprised when reading the Wine Folly textbook from pages 60-63 they do not recommend any of the foods I tried with the resiling. Surprised that I enjoyed the orange chicken so much with it!

 

Barefoot Resiling

Vintage year: 2017

Variety of grape: Resiling

Country of origin: USA

Region of origin: CA

Price: $8.50

• Smells: Peach with hints of orange. Very sweet smells and it reminded me of tropical fruits.

• Flavor: Tasted like orange and a few hints of citrus. Overall I think it was a very nice flavor but it could be too sweet for my pallet.

Orange chicken: I thought this was my favorite pairing! The orange flavors balanced each other out so well and it was absolutely yum! Since the orange chicken was tangy and the sweetness of the resiling balanced them so perfectly.

Fried rice: I thought that this was my second favorite flavor. I thought that the spicy and sweet went hand and hand leveling out each of the flavors but enhancing them at the same time. The back of the bottle even recommends it paired with spicy foods and they were not wrong.

Avocado: The flavors did not go well together at all. I felt that they were both so over powering flavors and textures that there was a clash with each of them. I think the avocado could go better with maybe a drier wine or something less sweet.

Bay Moon

Vintage year: 2023

Variety of grape: Sauvignon blanc

Country of origin: USA

Region of origin: CA

Price: $10

• Smells: Green apple and citrus of some sort. Could be smells of lime or lemon. Had hints of melon but I cant tell if it would be a cantaloupe or honey due melon.

• Flavor: It was bitter at first and leveled out into a very nice flavor. It tasted like sour apple and lemon. Had hints of cantaloupe melon I believe.

Orange chicken: I thought the flavors of this wine were very unique. Because the chicken had some spice and orange tang to this I didn't think it would pair well. However, the citrus I think helped make the orange more vibrant. I felt like it enhanced the flavors more and I could taste the orange and citrus.

Fried rice: I dont think the flavors went well together too much in my opinion. The fried rice had other tastes in it like edamame, carrots and egg. I think that with all those flavors and the saltiness from the soy sauce and spiciness from hot sauce it was a lot. There was not really a balance between all of them and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Avocado: The flavors of these two went very well together! Because of the creamy avocado pairing with the crispy and citrusy sauvignon blanc, they both balanced each other well. It felt like I was eating avocado toast at one point. It was cool to close my eyes and taste all of the new flavors.

 

Avaline

Vintage year: Unknown

Variety of grape: Unknown but potentially Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc

Country of origin: Spain

Region of origin: Catalonia

Price: $19

• Smells: Citrus scents with apple notes but it was not very vibrant with smells more so with the taste.

• Flavor: I loved the flavor of this wine. Super light and flavorful. Had notes of apple and pear. It felt very airy and clean. I also like how there are organic grapes in this wine.

Orange chicken: On page 61 of the Wine Folly textbook it gives a check mark by chicken. I was very excited to try this and see where the flavors will lead. Because Avaline has such a sweet but at the same time bitter taste this wine went very well together with the orange chicken. Because of the tangy and spice while being warm from cooking in a stove, the flavors were almost brought to life.

Fried rice: The flavors together were outstanding. The wine did not over power the rice and all of the flavors it had. Instead I think each of them enhanced for a delicious fried rice that was very flavorful. I liked how the light wine added a fruity and citrusy taste to the rice as well as enhancing the saltiness of the soy sauce.

Avocado: On page 62 of the Wine Folly textbook it mentioned how a light bodied white wine would go well with avocado so I was surprised by this. I thought this pairing was okay and maybe there was not enough avocado left. There was some salt and pepper on this with a bit of hot sauce and although it was an interesting flavor with the pairing it was not my favorite. The wines fruity and floral scents with the avocado seemed to mess well but it felt like it was missing something.

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  To conclude, I really had a great time with my first ever dinner blog. Although its fun doing this with friends I really enjoyed getting a chance to do this on my own and taste each of the pairings. I never really thought about tasting orange chicken, fried rice, or avocado to white wines but I am very glad I did. I feel whenever I go out to eat or dinners at home, meals that pair best with wines are Italian. A good old chicken parmesan or caesar salad I find always needs to be accommodated by a glass of wine. So it was very nice to get out of my comfort zone and try an entirely new category of cuisine with wine. My final picks for each of the pairings would have to be:

• Barefoot Resiling --> Orange chicken

• Bay Moon --> Tie between orange chicken and avocado

• Avaline --> Fried rice