Wine Dinner #1: February 10th 2014

The dinner: Steak, Chicken, and 2 different types of cheeses.

Our first wine, cheese, and dinner went exceptionally well considering the lack of expertise any of us had in cooking or tasting wine. There were six of us who decided to split 3 different white wines that paired with 4 different entree/appetizer choices. Blake, Ben, Carrick, Johnny, Tyler, and myself sat down for a wonderful dinner and wine tasting that turned out to be on great experience.

The Crew: (left to right) Blake, Ben, Carrick, Johnny, Tyler, and Myself

The dinner consisted of a zesty "Spicy Montreal Steak" seasoning on the steak and a spicy and frankly awesome tasting Caribbean jerk dry rub seasoning on the chicken (seasoned and cooked the chicken).  We also cheese and cracker appetizers to go with the wines. The two types of cheeses were a smoked bacon flavored cheddar cheese and an aged Sharp cheddar cheese that was just phenomenal.

Tyler Smalls cooking the steak

Me seasoning the uncooked chicken




The first wine of the three we used was the Rockbridge St. Mary's Blanc 2002. This wine had a strong taste and even stronger finish. It sat on the palate for a good 20-30 seconds after ingestion. It had a powerful and potent smell. It smells fruity, pear-like almost with a hint of melon or plum maybe. It was incredibly tough to try and figure out. It had the highest alcohol percentage out of all the wines at 13% ABV….and you could definitely tell. This white wine went alright with the chicken but not at all with the steak. It overpowered the wonderful taste of the sharp cheddar and bacon cheddar cheeses so I did not find this wine to be very good overall. I would probably give it a 60 out of 100. 

Rockbridge St. Mary's Blanc





The next wine was the Erben Spatlese 2001. This was my favorite of the three wines.  This white wine was much less powerful than the Rockbridge St. Mary's Blanc and paired much better with the steak, chicken, and cheeses. This white wine had a fruity bouquet and decent finish. I could for sure taste a mix of pear and apple flavor in the wine which I found pleasing. I found the wine didn't over power the spiciness of the steak seasoning or the dry rub of the caribbean jerk chicken seasoning. It for sure paired  best with the steak. It really amplified the steaks juiciness and succulence. It helped the steak almost melt in your mouth and increased the steak's taste on the palate. 

Erben Spatlese 2001

The final wine we tasted was the Barboursville Cabernet Blanc. This wine was good in its own right but for sure was not my favorite. This was a mild wine with a mediocre finish. The real value in this wine came with a pairing with the Caribbean Jerk seasoned chicken. This wine was spectacular with the season chicken. It increased the intensity of the Caribbean jerk seasoning and chicken and created a finish on your mouth that I just found spectacular. This wine, paired with that chicken, made me understand how wines can increase and amplify the taste and texture of some foods. It really was a pleasure to drink this wine paired with this chicken. 

Barboursville Cabernet Blanc

In conclusion, this experience really was awesome and I would most definitely recommend it to anyone who is trying to become a wine connoisseur. I plan to do this a couple more times with my friends and hope I can continue to improve upon my understanding and knowledge of wine. 

Carrick showing how to improperly drink wine.

Blake showing how to properly sniff and swirl the wine before consumption.