Wine Pairing Dinner At Home

Recently I traveled home to Northern Virginia for the weekend where I decided to get my family (not a fake one) involved with helping me with my wine homework! (Hopefully I get an extra 20 points??) My mom stocked up on supplies from Wegmans and Trader Joes and we were good to go.

Mom preparing the butter sauce to go on top of the Sole fish. 

Dad posing with our appetizer - Havarti cheese!

The whole meal laid out! 

Our delicious meal consisted of:

Appetizer: "Denmark's Tradition" Havarti Cheese. It was creamy and kind of powerful, but delicious.

The cheese (and some optional Ritz crackers).

Main Dish: Sole Fish from Wegmans. On top, there was a sauce made from butter, lemon, capers, and red shallots.

Fish! Yum!

Dessert: There were an assortment of chocolate treats, but the one I paired the wine with was the chocolate peanut-butter brownie.

The peanut butter chocolate brownie is on the upper right hand side of the plate.

Wines:
                                             

The three wine labels.

Far Left Wine

Name: "Santa Ema"

Variety: Merlot

Region: Maipo Valley
Country: Chile 

Price: $10.99

Year: 2013

Middle Wine

Name: Sterling Vintner's Collection

Variety: Chardonnay

Region: Central Coast, California
Country: USA 

Price: $16.98

Year: 2014 

Far Right Wine

Name: Kim Crawford

Variety: Sauvignon Blanc

Region: Malborough
Country: New Zealand

Price: $17.99

Year: 2015

Wine and Pairing Details:

Wine #1: Sauvignon Blanc "Kim Crawford" Malborough
On it's own: Hints of pear on the nose. The taste was acidic but not overpowering, I could taste some granny-smith apple flavors. My brother thought it smelt "damp" or "dead." Not the words that came to my head but I thought it was funny. My dad thought it tasted like an "apple Now or Later" candy.
With Havarti cheese*Best Combo: Really good! The cheese brought out the apple tones in the wine but tones down the acidity.
With Sole fish: Makes the wine VERY fruity and full of apple flavor. The wine almost over powers it due to its high acid content.
With peanut-butter chocolate brownie: The apple in the wine and the peanut-butter chocolate flavor did NOT mix well at all. Gross.

Wine #2: Sterling Vintner's Collection Chardonnay 2014
On it's own: Golden yellow color. I could taste the wood. Nice balance between tannins and alcohol.
With Havarti cheese: I tasted them as individual items, but they didn't pair well together. Both were competing for attention.
With Sole fish*Best Combo: The plain fresh white fish tasted great with the tannic white! It brought out the buttery flavors of the fish.
With brownie: Not as bad as the first wine combination, but the wine completely overpowers it. I could feel the kick of wine at the beginning with a peanut butter after taste.

Wine #3: "Santa Ema" Merlot, Maipo Valley, Chile, Reserve 2013
On it's own: Wood and black cherry on the nose. I thought it was watery and light bodied for a red. My dad thought of butterscotch/caramel which I agreed with because of it's silky finish.
With Havarti cheese: The cheese brought out the vanilla notes in the wine.
With Sole fish: The wine definitely overpowers the fish, but it's still good because I like the vanilla/chocolate flavors of the wine.
With brownie*Best Combo: Absolutely delicious! The peanut butter neutralized some of the tannic components of the wine. The silkiness of the wine really complemented the chocolate as well.

Family ready to taste!

Mom and I

Overall, the Malborough went best with the Havarti cheese, the Chardonnay paired best with the Sole fish, and I enjoyed the Merlot the most with the chocolate peanut butter brownie. It was a great meal and great time with my family!