Wine Dinner Report:

Tonight I made dinner with my roommate Jake at my apartment because I was in the mood to cook something instead of going out to a restaurant (it was quite a late dinner but dinner nonetheless). We were feeling Italian tonight so I made a main dish and had two side dishes accompanying it.

Our main dish was medium pasta shells with a basil alfredo sauce. The two side dishes are oven-baked croissants and a hand-tossed Caesar salad with lettuce, cheese, Caesar dressing, and crushed croutons. Honestly, it looked pretty good to me and my roommate seemed to enjoy it just as much as I did so I was content.

I saw these wines at Kroger and thought that they would pair well with the dinner I had planned for tonight. Funny enough, I was using a mason jar to taste and smell the wine since the only wine glass we have was being used by my roommate LOL. I still got a good experience with the mason jar I used.

The 1917 Stella Rosa Tropical Mango wine was very appealing when I saw it in the store because I have had a pineapple-flavored wine from the same brand. I was not sure how it would pair with tonight's dinner but I decided to take the risk and buy it anyway. It has a very strong mango aroma, and overall just smelled very sweet, plain and simple. It tasted exactly like it smelled which has not always been the case for some wines I have tried in the past. It had a very strong mango and fruity taste, and it was almost too sweet for my liking, but I enjoyed it regardless. With the pasta, it actually tasted really good to my surprise. It really was not overpowering in the sense of the mango/super sweet flavor; they really balanced well, especially due to the creaminess of the alfredo sauce. I did not really enjoy the wine with the salad or the croissants though; it did not taste right to me.

The Bay Bridge Pinot Grigio Colombard wine was not as appealing as the Stella Rosa, but was on sale at Kroger and was super cheap; it does not have a vintage. I was not entirely sure how it would pair with the dinner I had planned for tonight, but since I am still learning about wine pairings with food, I decided to take the risk with something I am completely unfamiliar with. Its smell was weird at first because I could not make out any specific aroma, but after doing a little research, I concluded that it smelled a little fruity, floral, and a little bit dry. The taste was also a little bit of a mystery at first except I could immediately tell it was super dry; after some more research, I concluded that it also tasted like peach a little bit and was floral, but that was as far as I could get. With the pasta, it was not what I expected but it paired with it okay. I just thought it was too dry with the pasta's creaminess. Maybe I should try a different sauce next time, but it was just weird. I liked it with the salad pretty well, but not so much with the croissants.

The Bay Bridge White Zinfandel wine was also not as appealing as the Stella Rose, but was on sale at Kroger and was super cheap; it does not have a vintage. I was also not entirely sure how it would pair with the dinner I had planned for tonight, but since I am still learning about wine pairings with food, I decided to take the risk again with something I am completely unfamiliar with. The aromas of this wine were fruity, floral, had hints of peach, and apples as well; also had hints of dryness. The taste was super sweet at first and then immediately the dryness came and overpowered the sweetness. With the pasta, I actually enjoyed it since the creaminess of the alfredo sauce matched really well with the sweetness of this specific wine. The dryness was not great with the pasta, but overall was good. I did not enjoy it with the salad but surprisingly did with the croissants for some reason (I'm just weird I guess).

Overall, I was not a huge fan of the wine-dinner pairing, but that is also because I chose dishes and wines that didn't really pair with each other. I am excited to do this again later in the semester, maybe at an Italian restaurant next time LOL. It was nice to cook something that I enjoy though and now I know if I like or dislike these wines now.