Dinner #2 - A Family That Drinks Together Stays Together

The other night my parents, sister, beloved pup, and I had a delicious wine dinner featuring a gift of hunted venison from a family friend. There was no shortage of surprises, laughs, and, of course, wine!

Lucy was very interested in the cooking venison.

Our venison dinner in progress, prepared by my amazing Mom

Our dinner spread

Wine #1

2016 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir
Russian River Valley, California, USA
Price: Unknown (gift, ~$35-$45)
Label Description: None

Our first wine of the evening was a 2016 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir. On its own, my family and I agreed that this wine was delightful. It had subtle aromas and flavors of cherry with a hint of vanilla on the finish. It was smooth, fruity, light, and not harsh at all. Our plan was to pair this wine with Black Capelin Caviar on French baguette toast points. However, the caviar was a gift and when we opened it, something was definitely off. Now I've never had caviar before, so I wasn't exactly sure what is was supposed to look like, but my family and I all had a feeling that it wasn't supposed to look like this. While my sister contacted her friend who sent her the caviar to figure out what was going on, we decided to try the Pinot Noir with the main course.

Black Capelin Caviar or mystery spread? My sister decided to uncover the truth.

The main course featured venison in a red wine/beef broth/blackberry jelly reduction sauce. The red wine used for the sauce was the 2016 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir, so I assumed it would be an ideal pairing. However, the Pinot Noir did not really do much for the venison. The venison was really earthy, which somewhat clashed with the fruitiness of the Pinot Noir. The venison in the sauce offered really strong flavors as well, which I think overpowered the delicate wine. We also tried the Pinot Noir with our sides of asparagus and roasted potatoes, but these pairings were a bust. The strong herbaceous flavors of the asparagus overpowered the wine, and the starchy potato somehow made the wine seem harsher. Luckily, we had another wine to stand up to the strong flavors of this dinner.

Bacchus Amarone
Grapes sourced from Northern Italy
Wine prepared in Virginia, USA
Price: $36
Label Description: None

Wine #2

Our second (and favorite) wine of the evening was an Amarone made by a local winemaker at Bacchus Winery. On its own, this wine had aromas of spices (especially cloves) and black cherry. My family and I tasted flavors of vanilla and black cherry on the back of the tongue with some spice at the back of the throat. This wine was very complex and full-bodied and it had a smooth and creamy mouthfeel. My family all agreed that this wine was delicious by itself, but we soon discovered how pairing it with the venison offered the perfect bite. Taking a sip of the Amarone, followed by eating some of the saucy venison, did wonders. The wine immediately brightened the meat and made it less earthy. It also brought out the fruity flavors in the sauce. An absolutely delicious pairing! Interestingly though, eating the venison followed by taking a sip of the wine did not seem to change the wine at all. My family and I thought it was very interesting how the order in which we tasted the food and wine affected the overall flavors.

Like before, we tasted this wine with the asparagus and potatoes as well. Again, the strong herbaceous flavors of the asparagus overpowered the wine and made it taste flat. The strong garlic and rosemary herbs on the potatoes also overpowered the wine.

Meanwhile, my sister had finally learned what was up with the "caviar," but not before we all tried it. The mystery spread was super spicy, and for good reason. It turns out that the caviar container had been repurposed to hold habanero pepper honey. Mystery solved! Unfortunately, my sister had gotten an especially hot seed and had to recover before we moved on to dessert. While she was recovering, I decided to pair the habanero honey with the Amarone. The wine actually calmed down the spiciness of the spread, but the flavors didn't really work together.

Amarone w/ venison = MAGIC

Habanero honey = surprising

My sister's face after eating that habanero honey

2016 Cavit Collection Moscato
Delle Venezie IGT, Italy
Price: Unknown (gift, ~$10)
Label Description: "Well-balanced with an
alluring touch of sweetness, Cavit Moscato
displays bright aromas and flavors of white
peach and apricot. Enjoy on its own or with
cheeses and spicy dishes. Wonderful with
dessert!"

Wine #3

Our third wine of the evening was a 2016 Cavit Collection Moscato. On its own, this wine had subtle aromas of peach and apricot. This slightly sparkling Moscato was very sweet, which overpowered any fruit flavors. My family and I didn't really like this Moscato by itself because it was so sweet. We paired it with meringue cookies and grapefruit, orange, and clementine slices topped with some shaved dark chocolate. The meringue cookies by themselves were overly sweet, but pairing them with the acidic citrus fruits helped cut the sweetness. Pairing the sweet meringues with the sweet Moscato was also better than tasting either component on its own. There was a cancellation effect with the sweetness, and some of the fruity flavors came out in the wine. Usually strong opponents of sweet wines, my parents were pleasantly surprised by how well this pairing worked. Another delicious pairing!

Meringue and citrus fruits w/ Moscato = Delicious!

Overall Impressions

Overall, my family and I had a wonderful experience. It was fun to teach my parents and sister about tasting wine and food and wine pairings in general. They were very interested in learning how to properly taste and describe wine and we all had a good time experimenting. Dinner lasted for hours, but there was never a dull moment. We all enjoyed coming together, listening to the blues, eating good food, and drinking good wine. Wine has always brought my family together and I look forward to more family wine dinners in the future.

My sister (right), Mom (center), and me (left) enjoying our dinner

My Dad and me enjoying dinner

Even Lucy joined in on the fun. (She may have gotten some venison too).