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My First Wine Tasting Pt. 1

A group of friends and I decided to get together and have a big tasting party this week. We all went out to the Cellar in Norman and grabbed a bottle of wine each, as well as some cheese to pair with the most conventional wines. We ended up with three conventions wine and cheese pairings as well as two – lets call them 'experimental' – wines to try out, which I'll cover in my next Wine Tasting Post.

To begin the evenings festivities, we started with a 2013 Chianti Riserva paired with a sharp asiago. This is  the pairing that I picked out, but I have to say that it was probably the most disappointing of the lot. I am not typically a fan of dry reds, which is partially why I wanted to give one a try, but my expectations were fairly accurate. It had a distinctly tannic red wine smell that was very slightly warm and fruity, to the point of almost not being there. The taste itself was also about as typical of a dry red as you could get. It had all of those same subtle notes as the smell, but they were still lacking. It had an acidity that hit right at the back of the tongue, then left nothing other than dry in your mouth. The asiago's sharp bite did help cover up the early lackluster of the wine's flavor while allowing the its aftertaste to linger well, which could have been nice if the wine was more distinct in its flavor, but was not enough to make up for it. I worried the wine may have needed time to open up, so I returned to it for another glass once we were done with the others, and did find that the fruit notes had developed a little, but even with that, it still takes my bottom spot for this session.


Second, we had another 2013, this time a Malbec Reserva from Argentina paired with a manchego cheese. This ended up being my favorite wine, but not necessarily my favorite pairing. The Malbec ended up being about what I wanted from the Chianti in the end. The fruit smells and tastes were much more distinct and intense, although I still couldn't quite place exactly what they were, and the general mouth-feel was much more pleasant. Its warmth radiated throughout the whole mouth rather than just the back of the tongue. This worked well with the butteriness of the manchego, as the cheese was able to help fill out the lacking after taste of the wine while not intruding on its distinct opening. It's butteriness also helped to mellow out some of the more acidic notes, substantially changing the flavors throughout.


And finally, we finished up with a sparkling Moscato Rosé paired with a smoked gouda. I liked the wine well enough – its hard to make a bad sparkling rose, in my opinion – but that safety ended up making it a bit less interesting than the Malbec to me. It had a nice peachy smell, with minor hints of something tropical, like a mango, that rounded out the smell. Those scents carried through into the flavor with minor hints of cinnamon or some other baking spice to sort of reign in the sweetness of the fruit. It was utterly inoffensive and pleasant, but where its real strength shone was in the pairing with the cheese. The smokiness of the gouda completely changed the flavor, adding in much needed depth to round out the experience and make it more than just sugar water. Overall, I feel that this was the best executed pairing.


So that concludes this entry in my wine tasting journey, although I will be making another post shortly to show off some of the more... gimmicky wines we tried that night. Till then, I bid y'all adieu. 

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