There were no wine events we could make it to during March so there hasn't been much to blog about. We did have a dinner party though, hosting Jan's colleague Brad and his wife Kim. This provided an opportunity to drink 2 of our recent acquisitions, try some new recipes and experiment with food and wine pairing as well.
As an appetizer, I made a goat cheese and caramelized garlic tart in puff pastry. This was a complicated recipe from a rather difficult cookbook Jan got for Christmas from sister-in-law Kerri. (I think she thinks I'm a better cook than I actually am.) Then as a main course, I made sausage ravioli using mild Italian sausage from
VG Meats and wonton wrappers. Both courses turned out really well and everyone seemed impressed.
Choosing a wine for those two courses was difficult. The tart contained both a young, mild goat's cheese and an older goat's gouda, as well as garlic caramelized in balsamic vinegar. According to my Canadian wine-pairing wheel, the young goat's cheese would favour a sauvignon blanc, the gouda a pinot noir, the balsamic a merlot and the garlic a cab. In the end we went for the
2009 Tawse Pinot Noir we'd purchased during the icewine festival. It wasn't as thin as I remembered it, possibly because I originally tasted it right after several syrupy icewines, and in terms of consistency, fell somewhere in between the
Lailey and Reif that we recently tried. I would definitely buy this wine again if I didn't have 6 other similar bottles in storage just now, but as a pair with the tart it was just okay. The mild goat cheese was the prevalent flabour in the tart so I should have gone with a sauvignon blanc. The two flavours neither complimented nor detracted from each other, but were nevertheless enjoyable. The ravioli was another story altogether. For us, a good pairing is when the combined taste of the wine and food is greater than the sum of its parts, and that was certainly the case here. The wine really accentuated the fresh ingredients of the ravioli including tomato, black pepper and sage, not to mention the sausage itself.
For dessert I was determined to use the
ice syrup I'd purchased at NC Teaching Winery so I looked up some recipes from the
company's web site. I decided on a blueberry square with a shortbread crust, thinking the crust would open up any dessert wine. Unfortunately, I was wrong about that, and the combination of the dessert with the
2008 Tawse Chardonnay Icewine was also just okay. The blueberry flavour was a little overpowering for the wine, and the crust didn't taste nearly as buttery as I'd expected. Once again, though, both the the dessert and the wine were great on their own.
As an appetizer, I made a goat cheese and caramelized garlic tart in puff pastry. This was a complicated recipe from a rather difficult cookbook Jan got for Christmas from sister-in-law Kerri. (I think she thinks I'm a better cook than I actually am.) Then as a main course, I made sausage ravioli using mild Italian sausage from VG Meats and wonton wrappers. Both courses turned out really well and everyone seemed impressed.
Choosing a wine for those two courses was difficult. The tart contained both a young, mild goat's cheese and an older goat's gouda, as well as garlic caramelized in balsamic vinegar. According to my Canadian wine-pairing wheel, the young goat's cheese would favour a sauvignon blanc, the gouda a pinot noir, the balsamic a merlot and the garlic a cab. In the end we went for the 2009 Tawse Pinot Noir we'd purchased during the icewine festival. It wasn't as thin as I remembered it, possibly because I originally tasted it right after several syrupy icewines, and in terms of consistency, fell somewhere in between the Lailey and Reif that we recently tried. I would definitely buy this wine again if I didn't have 6 other similar bottles in storage just now, but as a pair with the tart it was just okay. The mild goat cheese was the prevalent flabour in the tart so I should have gone with a sauvignon blanc. The two flavours neither complimented nor detracted from each other, but were nevertheless enjoyable. The ravioli was another story altogether. For us, a good pairing is when the combined taste of the wine and food is greater than the sum of its parts, and that was certainly the case here. The wine really accentuated the fresh ingredients of the ravioli including tomato, black pepper and sage, not to mention the sausage itself. 
Although I'm hardly a connoisseur, I found the meal and the wines were excellent (especially those blueberry squares)! I humbly volunteer should you choose to do any further food and wine pairing experimentation.
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