Dinner - Green's

 

I decided try pairing wines with a meal ordered from a local restaurant in Blacksburg, VA --- Green's. As it is known around town for its Asian fusion and seafood entrees, I figured that I should sample from that part of the menu, but I supplied my own wine for a fun trial-and-error pairing test. From Green's, I ordered a Greek salad with sesame ginger dressing, Hawaiian grilled tilapia with mango and rice, and pita bread. For the wine, I selected a Barefoot white Moscato from California with the salad, a Barefoot Chardonnay from California with the tilapia, and a Dauntless Bordeaux-style blend from Yakima Valley in Washington with the pita bread.

For the Moscato, I started by swirling and sniffing to detect strong scents of grape and honey. I then tasted the wine alone and found it to be very sweet and much like plain grape juice. I very much enjoyed it alone, and I will probably enjoy it as such in the future. Paired with the Greek salad and sesame ginger dressing, I found the flavor combination was overly sweet and on the verge of unpleasant. I think that the meeting of leafy vegetables with sweet and nutty dressing with sweet grapy wine was too stark of a difference to leave a nice result. I hesitate to say it, but it had an aftertaste resembling how paint smells. Looking back, I should have paired this wine with either a salty and savory meal or a tangy dessert.

For the Chardonnay, I again started by swirling and sniffing to pick up some unsettling notes of chemicals and urine. Maybe it is because Barefoot is said to be more of a lesser quality brand, but I did not care for the scents that it produced. Nonetheless, I tried it and thought it was bitter and vinegary with the ability to coat the tongue. After tasting it with the tilapia, mango, and rice, the flavors became more pleasant. It seems that the freshness of the food cut through the artificial-seeming, chemical notes of the wine. The salinity of the fish was complemented by an aspect of the wine that I cannot quite describe. It made the wine much better.

For the Bordeaux-style blend, I swirled and sniffed to get a strong oaky smell with notes of plum. Upon tasting, I got flavors of plum and cherry backed by strong tannins. I am not a big fan of red wines, so the tannins prevented me from fully enjoying the wine. I then tried it with the pita bread, being inspired by the Biblical pairing of bread with red wine, and it did improve the wine flavor. When the pairing first hit my tongue, I got a smokey flavor that was unexpected. It was not the best smokey taste, but it was far from bad. After swallowing, I got a very strange and rather unpleasant aftertaste, but I was surprised when it developed after a few seconds into a buttery flavor which I found surprisingly nice.

Overall, I had a fun time testing different wine and food combinations. I feel now that I have a better grasp on how to better discern good and bad pairing ideas. At the end of the day, however, drinking wine is a social activity, so more experimentation and nights of fun pairing are sure to come!