Wine Dinner Blog

Wine Dinner Blog

For my first course, I began with potstickers and pink moscato. I was inspired to make this pairing simply by the back of the wine bottle, where it was recommended to be served with potstickers. I made a couple of my favorite chicken potstickers and poured a glass of pink moscato. The moscato is sweet, with aromas of strawberries and red fruits. It is incredibly smooth, and fruit forward with a primary taste of strawberry. It also has aromas of floral, particularly jasmine. It has no alcohol feel or warming sensation. It brought out the sweetness of the chicken potstickers- which I typically serve with a potsticker sauce. However, I didn't want to interfere with the tasting, so I opted to have them plain. However, I enjoyed them more than every, and loved the sweet and savory balance of the appetizer. I found that the moscato brought out the sweetness of the potsticker wrapping, and balanced the savory flavor of the chicken filling. Because the potstickers, and their chicken filling, are a rather mild flavor, it worked well with the strong sweet flavors of the moscato and they didn't clash nor did it feel like there was too many flavors going on. It was a delicious first course. 

I then moved on to making a turkey meatball sub, the turkey meatballs are seasoned with mild cheeses, and I tossed them very lightly in a basil tomato sauce, and topped it with parmesan cheese. I toasted and lightly butter the bun. I paired my main course with a glass of Chardonnay. This Chardonnay is from California. It has aromas primarily of green apples, peach, lemon (citrus notes) and a touch of vanilla, creamy, honey aromas. The flavor is crisp and dry. There is a warming sensation of alcohol and the finish is far longer than the moscato. I found this to be a longer finish than most wines I have tried thus far. And although I don't totally love the wine, paired with the meatball sandwich, I found it to be less dry and better. I also think that the warm and buttery bun brought out the warm buttery notes in the Chardonnay. The chardonnay seemed to complement the turkey meatballs nicely, and it's crispness and acidic aspects made the turkey feel less dry and more flavorful. The acidity also complemented the tangyness of the tomato basil sauce that I tossed the meatballs in. The parmesan cheese that I sprinkled on the sandwhich has nutty and salty flavors that bring out the buttery flavor of the wine, which was further enhanced by the warm and buttered bun which also highlighted the buttery aspect of the wine. This was a delicious main entree. 

I then finished my wine dinner with a mango frozen fruit bar that I found at Aldi, and a glass of Mango Fruitscato. The mango fruitscato is a delicious moscato with natural mango flavors. It has strong aromas of mango and purely mango at that. The flavor perfectly captures the true mango flavor without feeling artificial. It is a lower alcohol wine at 7.5% and has no alcohol feel. It is smooth and has a very short finish. It is highly aromatic and flavorful without feeling overly sweet. It makes a perfect dessert wine. Paired with this mango frozen fruit bar, the flavors perfectly matched. Instead of a contrasting pairing, I went for a match instead. The frozen bar and the glass of Mango Fruitscato went together perfectly and was a simple and refreshing dessert, as well as being light. Because of the sweetness of the wine, it was nice to have a lighter dessert. This was a great conclusion to a deliciously paired meal.