Wine Dinner With My Parents - Italian Feast

Having a mom who is Italian lends our household to have a wide assortment of pasta dishes. For this particular wine dinner, we started out the evening with an assortment of cheese and crackers in order to snack on while the dinner was finishing being made. The three wines chosen for the evening were a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Shiraz, and a Chianti. All three of these wines are red wines. The Cabernet Sauvignon was a boxed wine from Black Box. This wine was a 2011 Chilean wine with an alcohol content of 13%. On the nose, this wine had some hints of berries. When tasted on its own, it definitely had a strong tannin component. As described, it did have a long finish. Pairing this wine with the various cheeses, I felt that it helped to cut some of the tannin components in the wine. I definitely enjoyed it more with the cheese. My dad also agreed that the cheese was able to cut some of the acid and allow for more balance to be obtained with the wine. The Shiraz was also a boxed wine made by Vendage. This Californian Shiraz was 13% alcohol. The color of this wine was similar to the Cabernet Sauvignon as it was a dark red color. On the nose, this wine did not have too many distinctive smells. While tasting it on its own, it did not have as much of the tannin as the Cabernet Sauvignon did. I felt that this wine was much more "balanced" for my palate. It paired nicely with the cheese. This 2011 Chianti was made by Gabbiano. The bottle said it was a DOCG, which from the Zraly book, I had known was the highest classification of wines in Italy. Thus, I had higher hopes for this particular wine. The color was slightly darker than the other two wines, but all of them were very similar in color in my opinion. On the nose, it had more of an aroma of alcohol. On my palate, it was definitely too strong. My dad did think that this wine was pretty good. I did start to enjoy it a bit more when I paired it with the cheeses, but it still was not my favorite. 

Close up of the box

The boxed Shiraz

The bottle of Chianti

Close up of the Shiraz

The boxed Cabernet Sauvignon

Close up of the Chianti

Finally, it was time for the main course to be had. Our dinner consisted of a very basic penne pasta with marinara sauce. We also had a salad and garlic bread to pair with the pasta. With the pasta dish, I did not like the Cabernet Sauvignon or the Chianti that much. This may have been due to the overwhelming tannin component of the wines and them being a bit too strong for my palate. My dad felt that the Cabernet Sauvignon paired well with the pasta. He did also enjoy the Chianti. We both agreed though that the Shiraz blended the best with this particular meal in our opinions. The flavors of the wine were able to pair well with the pasta.  In my own opinion, I did not feel that any of the wines really contributed anything drastic to the penne pasta. However, this may be due to the fact that the marina sauce used was a very basic recipe. All of the wines paired nicely, but none stood out in my opinion as being a fantastic compliment to the food. 

Tasting the Cabernet Sauvignon

My plate!!

My dad caught up in smelling the Shiraz

The wines all lined up

For dessert, we decided to eat some brownies which had been made the day before. In my opinion, I always seem to gravitate towards chocolate and red wines. Thus, this made perfect sense for me. This time  though, instead of favoring the Shiraz, I really enjoyed having the Chianti with the brownies. I felt that the tannins in the Chianti were able to cut through some of the sweetness of the brownies. My dad also thought that the Chianti paired well with the dessert. 

Myself smiling with the Chianti!

Overall, it was a very fun night being around my parents, drinking wine and having good food. Since my parents aren't huge wine drinkers, it is definitely an experience for all of us as we get to see our palates grow through the experience of drinking and tasting wines with different food!