A Toast to Us!

By: Souwan

Many of you may have known that Lisa and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary on Monday, April 11th. While at the Childress Vineyards, we learned a few things about tasting/drinking wine. The vineyard offers a “tasting flight” in which they serve you three courses, each presented with a different wine. This allows you to discover how food and wine complement each other.

1st Course: Chipotle Black Bean Soup paired with Sangiovese

• Their Sangiovese is a rich, complex red wine with luscious and bright fruit flavor. This wine cuts through the spicy savory taste of the Chipotle Black Bean Soup.

2nd Course: Pan-seared Catfish with Cornbread Shrimp Stuffing paired with Sauvignon Blanc

• Their Sauvignon Blanc has nose of citrus, figs, and honeydew melon with a crisp fresh ending of butterscotch and sweet grass. This pairs great with the flaky sweet flavor of the fish.

3rd Course: Bourbon Panna Cotta paired with Late Harvest Viognier

• The Late Harvest Viognier is a sweet, heavy dessert wine made from high quality, botrytisized red grapes with notes of citrus and orange blossom honey. It is recommended that you take a sip of the Viognier first then take a bite of the Panna Cotta because the sweetness of the wine balanced quite well with the creaminess of the Panna Cotta.

We also had our first but definitely not last wine tasting experience. When tasting wine remember three things.

1. Look

• Tilt the glass away from you and check out the color of the wine.

2. Smell

• Swirl the glass for 10-12 seconds, this will help release some of the natural aromas, then take a quick whiff to get the first impression of the wine. Swirl the wine again then stick your nose into the glass and inhale through your nose with your mouth open. The wine’s aroma is an excellent indicator of the quality and gives you a sense of the unique characteristics within the wine.

3. Taste

• The best part is tasting the wine. Start with a small sip and let is roll around in your mouth, hitting all your taste buds. After the initial taste, swallow and see how long the flavor last.

We were able to taste the Classic White, Classic Blush, Classic Red, Muscadine White, Muscadine Blush, and Muscadine Red.  Remember to pace yourself when tasting all these wines.

Enjoy and let us know about your wine experiences!