Wine Dinner 1 - Homemade with my Coworkers

Preparing the spaghetti and meatballs

On Saturday February 3, I had a wine dinner for my coworkers. My friends Josh and Debbie graciously hosted us at their apartment. This wine dinner didn't really have a theme, as the food and the wine were from all over the place. The food and wine were great and it was nice to get together with my coworkers outside of our work environment. The guests were Josh, Debbie, Tobi (Josh and Debbie's daughter), Emeline, Michael, and me. I did buy more than 3 wines, because I was unsure of how many people would be there. I cooked everything, and we had homemade garlic bread as our appetizer, spaghetti with both homemade meatballs and sauce for the main dish, and a Chilean dessert called Brazo de Reina (accompanied with some ice cream!)

The five wines for the three courses

The first dish was the garlic bread. The spread for the bread had olive oil, butter, parsley, salt, and garlic, and the bread itself was a crusty multi-grain Italian loaf. The house smelled like garlic and parsley in the best way possible, it was incredible. We paired the garlic bread with a sparkling wine, Andre Extra Dry California Champagne. I chose this sparkling wine, champagne specifically, because a lot of my friends aren't a fan of dry wines, and before purchasing I read that the extra dry was a bit sweeter than the brut sparkling wine. It was fun to watch Josh and Michael open the bottle and celebrate our groups friendship. The sweetness of the champagne helped balance all of the garlic and salt that was in the garlic bread. However, the bubbles in the champagne accompanied with the bread made it a little too heavy together. I think had I not used so much butter, the champagne and garlic bread would be fantastic together in future pairings.

Tobi enjoying her apple juice with garlic bread

Michael and I "cutting the cake" aka the garlic bread

Josh also opened the sauvignon blanc, Beringer's Main & Vine 2017 Sauvignon Blanc for the garlic bread. The acidity in the sauvignon blanc helped cut down on the butter and oil of the spread. I think the garlic in the bread overpowered the citrus in the wine, as I couldn't taste any citrus, and wouldn't pair the two together again. Tobi really liked apple juice paired with the garlic bread!

Caught Emeline in the moment

Cheers to great friends and good garlic bread

The second course was the homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs, paired with the spaghetti. The spaghetti sauce had onions, garlic, black pepper, olive oil, basil, a dash of sugar, and a crap ton of tomatoes. The meatballs also had onions and garlic, but also had Italian herb seasoning and a mix of ground pork and ground beef. The wine for this dish was a 2016 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Merlot from California. The wine was better paired with the spaghetti and sauce than by itself. It was a really dry wine, but it brought out the sugar and sweetness in the sauce, and intensified the tomato flavor. I definitely got hit with a smoky flavor which was a fantastic aftertaste paired with the meatballs. The wine brought out the pork in the meatballs. Overall, I think this was a fantastic wine for the spaghetti and meatballs, or really any dish that has a red sauce, but none of us were fans of it alone.

Emeline + Mike taking their first bite 

I served myself too much spaghetti + not enough wine

The final course was a Chilean dish because I'm half Chilean. It's called Brazo de Reina, or the Queen's arm. It's basically a Swiss roll but with Dulce de Leche, bananas, and coconut. Half the group didn't like coconut, so I left half the dessert without it. We also had vanilla ice cream with it, because ice cream is always a good idea. I also apparently don't have toothpicks in my apartment, so I made do with floss to wrap the dessert. I paired the dessert with two wine's from Chateau Morrisette.

The first was their Blackberry wine, and the second was their Sweet Mountain Laurel. Debbie and I both thought the Blackberry wine was sweet enough to be had on its own, without an actual dessert. The aftertaste was thick with a blackberry jam taste and feeling on the tongue. Paired with the Brazo de Reina, the dessert actually made the blackberry aftertaste disappear, and the wine wasn't as sugary tasting. I think pairing a sweet fruit wine with a sweet dessert was a bad choice on my part, and wouldn't pair the two together again. Per Chateau Morrisette's recommendations, I would probably pair it with a spicy food in the future.

The second wine from Chateau Morrisette paired with the dessert was their Sweet Mountain Laurel. Debbie, Josh and I LOVED this wine. It tasted like a freshly picked grape. I'm talking EXACTLY like a green grape. This wine wasn't as sweet and actually complemented the bananas in the dessert and brought out the flavor, as well as the coconut. We all liked it by itself, and also with the dessert and ice cream. I would for sure purchase this wine again and drink it both with and without this dessert!

Overall, the champagne and the wine's from Chateau Morrisette did not disappoint. I'm excited to have more wine and food pairings in the future because I'm hopeful that I won't be so opposed to red wine. At the end of night, I ended up calling Emeline "Elemine," so Josh called me "Tharma" and Michael and I called him "Shoj" which I think was a great way to end a great night with good friends, good food, and good wine.

Floss works wonders during desperate times. Put that on my grave.