Family Wine Dinner for Spring Break

I was able to spend some time with my family and my step-brother and I planned a really nice wine dinner! He prepared marinaded chicken, steaks, cheese risotto, mash potatoes, and corn. For desert he also made some really good crème brûlée. It was all really good.

Along with the excellent food, I went to Wegman's and got some advice from their wine consultant to find some wines that may go well with marinaded chicken and steaks. He recommended a French Sauvignon Blanc, however, the one he recommended was a very dry wine, and since my family aren't the biggest wine people I went with a Viognier instead that was off dry and semi-sweet. The next one he recommended was a Cabernet Sauvignon for the steaks. I went with this because I had never tried a Cabernet Sauvignon before and it said it was meant to have a more fruit forward aroma and flavor.

Lastly, my mom wanted me to choose a wine that is local to where we live. We live in Charlottesville, so she recommend a pear wine from Horton's Vineyard, which is located in Gordonsville about a half hour from where we live. Unfortunately they did not have the pear wine in stock, so I chose their blueberry wine instead.

Overall, I got a Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Blueberry Dessert wine!

Wines and their pairing:

Madison de LA Villette Viognier 2020

France

Price: $14.00

"Straightforward, reminiscent with a Chardonnay, more ripe yellow fruit front and less butter while still being silky and refreshing" - Javier Jimenez on Vivino

Specific flavors, aromas, and grape varietal characteristics from Wine Folly:

Viognier: Tangerine, Peach, Mango, Honeysuckle, Rose (pg 186)

Color: Pale Straw

Alcohol 13.5%

Paired with Marinaded Chicken.

My Review:

Aroma: I experienced some citrus aromas as well as a underlying pear scent.

Taste: It tasted like pear and it was smooth. It was not overly sweet, but it was not dry either. It had a buttery after taste, but it was refreshing.

Marinaded Chicken: This chicken was sweet from the salad dressing used to marinade it with, along with herbaceous flavors.

Pairing Flavor: The chicken brings out the meaty flavors of the chicken and it also envelopes it with a nice refreshing fruit flavor.

Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

Columbia Valley, WA

Price: $9.99

"If you need a crowd pleaser and at the grocery store, pick this one up. Fruit forward, blackberry, black cherry, vanilla, oak. On the nose the oak is very prominent and comes across a little like coconut. " - Bill the Wino on Vivino

Specific flavors, aromas, and grape varietal characteristics from Wine Folly:

Cabernet Sauvignon: Black Cherry, Black Currant, Cedar, Baking Spices, Graphite (pg 88)

Color: Deep Ruby

Alcohol 14.5%

Paired with New York Strip Steak.

My Review:

Aroma: The scent was filled with bold dark fruit, specifically cherry. I also picked up some vanilla and oaky aromas.

Taste: The flavor was bitter with dark earth flavors rather than fruit. However, I did pick up cherry as the primary dark fruit flavor. This wine was high in tannins.

Steak: The steak was full of flavor and was nicely seasoned with salt and pepper.

Pairing Flavor: With the steak the wine makes the steak richer and the steak makes the wine smoother. The tannins were less pronounced. This wine is definitely better with food, rather than by itself.

Chateau Le Cabin Blueberry Wine

Blend of Petit Verdot

Horton Vineyards

Gordonsville, VA

Price: $16.99

"Fruity with sweet smelling fragrances on the nose filled predominantly with blueberries and a hint of pine needles. The taste is sweet but not overbearing. Very fruity like sipping liquid blueberries. There was a light vanilla component." - Dylan Hecox on Vivino

Specific flavors, aromas, and grape varietal characteristics from Wine Folly:

Petit Verdot: Black Cherry, Plum, Violet, Lilac, Sage (pg 146)

Color: Deep Purple

Alcohol 11.5%

Paired with crème brûlée.

My Review:

Aroma: It had an overwhelming aroma of blueberry and raspberries. It was very fruity, to be expected.

Taste: I tasted just like a mouth full of cooked blueberries with the bitter aftertaste that comes with blackberries. This dessert wine was quite good and I did enjoy it.

Crème brûlée: The crème brûlée was sweet and creamy and had a caramelized flavor from the melted sugar on the top.

Pairing Favor: With the crème brûlée I was made aware that the wine was a little too heavy for the delicateness of the dessert. It was too bitter for the light sweetness of the crème brûlée and they contradicted each other, making the wine more bitter and over powering the flavor of the dessert.