Wine Dinner #1 - Olive Garden 2/19

My mom was up to visit for the series of basketball games this weekend, so we decided to do a wine dinner together with takeout from Olive Garden. And, of course, Dobby (the cat) had to be featured. 

Course 1: Olive Garden breadsticks and Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Proud Pour Save the Ocean

Variety: Sauvignon Blanc

Region: Pays d'Oc

Country: France

Bottled: Morgan Hill, CA

Year: 2020

Price: $22 at a bookstore in Topsail Beach

Tasting notes: dry and fruity, some bitterness/tartness, definite flavors of grapefruit and maybe lemon/lime

We paired a Sauvignon Blanc with the breadsticks/salad for the first course. I chose this wine because, based on a google this was the best wine to pair with salad/bread. I found the wine to be very bitter/sour. It was not my favorite. I am not a dry white wine person. The breadsticks made the wine a bit better by cutting the bitterness, but it paired better with my mom's salad. Olive Garden salad dressing has a bit of vinegar; this really complimented the wine and made it more fruity by removing some of the acidity. Eating the breadsticks while drinking made the wine much sweeter. I liked the wine better with food than without. I was worried the garlic in the breadsticks wouldn't pair, but it was surprisingly good. I think the fattiness of the garlic butter helped cut the dry wine.

Note: I ended up not finishing this glass with the meal and had some a bit later. Once the wine had warmed up, I actually enjoyed it a lot more because it was much less bitter. 

Course 2: Pasta with red meat sauce and Cabernet Sauvignon 

Name: Terra Vega - Cabernet Sauvignon

Variety: Sauvignon Blanc

Region: D.O. Valle Central Chile

Country: Chile

Bottled: Vina Luis Felipe Edwards, Nancagua, Chile

Year: 2021

Price: $5 at Vintage Cellar

Tasting notes: very dark and fruity, some black cherry/black pepper and definite spice notes

This wine paired well with the pasta and red sauce. I did chill it because I usually don't like warm wine, but this is the first one I thought needed to be served warmish. When it was cold, the wine was spicy to me. My mom didn't get it as strong, but to me, it was a very spicy sensation. Once it warmed up in my hand, there was no spice, and the fruity flavors were very apparent. 

The wine being cold overpowered the food, but once it warmed up, it paired nicely. The red sauce complimented the spices in the wine. I still had some breadsticks left, which also paired well with the wine. The red wine covered the garlic flavors to make the bread taste more buttery. 

My mom paired her cabernet sauvignon with marsala pasta. She said it paired well with the fattiness of the sauce. 

Course 3: Chocolate-Covered Strawberries and Sparkling Rose

Name: Pizzalato Paloma Rose Secco

Variety: 95% Glera / 5% Raboso

Region: Veneto, North of Treviso Italy

Country: Italy

Bottled: La Cantina Pizzolato, Italy

Terroir: Pebbly and permeable soil, allowing good drainage

Year: 2020

Price: Unknown, gift a year ago

Tasting notes: crisp apples, sweet yet slightly dry, slightly lemony/citrus

This was my favorite course because you can never go wrong with chocolate-covered strawberries. The wine was surprisingly sweet before eating any of the strawberries, but with the strawberries, the sweetness almost disappeared. The flavor of the wine changed with bites of more strawberry or chocolate. With the bites of chocolate, the wine was very dry and tart. With a bite of heavy strawberry, the apple flavors of the wine came out, and there was a hint of sweetness to the wine. I thought this was interesting as I ate the strawberries. 

I will definitely be getting a full-size bottle of this wine :)

Fun Fact: this cat enjoys the smell of red wine more than expected (no wine was consumed by Dobby)... and he does NOT like the bubbles popping in sparkling wine or soda, he is scared of those

Tasting - Italian Sparkling Wine (Prosecco)

Name: Villa Jolanda Saint Valentine I love you

Variety: Glera Grapes from Italy (Prosecco)

Region: Italy 

Bottled: Piedmont, Italy

Country: Italy

Year: No year listed

Price: ~$16 from Vintage Cellar

Winery Review: (From online listing--I should've taken a photo of the tag in the Vintage Cellar) Light and bubbly, this sparkler charms everyone who raises a glass with its delicate fizz and aromas of lemon, pink grapefruit and white peach. The perfect way to say "I love you" to that special someone. Works great as an aperitif or with lighter fare. 

Wine Folly: This wine is labeled as Italian Sparkling, but through some reading, I found it is made with glera grapes used to make prosecco  (an Italian sparkling wine). pg 155 - prosecco has tasting notes of green apple/honeydew/pear/lager/cream. None of these match this wine's flavors other than the general tart flavors. 

My review: This was definitely a dry wine. I tried it twice on two different nights. I liked it better the second time because I was not caught off guard by how dry it was. I got it expecting to not like it because there were so many labels of "extra dry." I got it because I thought the bottle was super cute (I want to put a plant in it). I got lots of lemon flavor but couldn't taste much over the dryness. I can also tell there is grapefruit because it is a very tart wine. I liked it because it was not overly sweet. I prefer more acidic/tart flavors. 

Tasting - Red Blend

Name: Playtime Red

Variety: Blend (Zinfandel, Barbera, Petit Verdot, Grenache)

Region: California, United States/North Coast/Lake County

Bottled: Kelseyville, California

Country: United States

Year: 2020

Price: $18 at a bookstore in Topsail Beach 

Winery Review: An enticing red blend, with lush fruit flavors and a soft vanilla finish. Playtime is a wine of great substance from the acclaimed growing regions of California. The label is a tribute to the Pinup Stars that were prevalent during World War II and were adorned on various military aircraft as they flew into battle. These pin-ups were an inspiration to enjoy life fully and return home safely to their loved ones. Sustainably farmed. (From the bottle)

Wine Folly: Looking into pg 290 of common wines from California, it seems this wine combines a lot of the popular grape varieties into one wine. pg 117- Grenache has common notes of strawberry/plum. pg 189- Zinfandel has common notes of strawberry/blackberry. This explains why the wine tasted so complexly fruity. 

My Review: This was a bottle we got on a trip to the beach at Topsail Island. I am not a red wine drinker usually, but I did enjoy the wine. I had it without food. The first thing I noticed was it was very dry. I did get some vanilla flavors, but mostly I just tasted red wine. There are a lot of fruit flavors, I think it's heavy blackberry/raspberry.