It is always a Stucke family tradition that sometime around our birthdays, me and both of my sisters', we have to come home and our mom cooks us whatever dinner we want. Now my family does like to have fun and these occasions are becoming farther apart (usually ending up in drunk board games like trivial pursuit, catchphrse, cards against humanity) so pressure is on to make them perfect. I also saw this as a way of unveiling my new found wine connoisseurship that I had been talking up, so even more pressure was on me to not be a phony. I thought it would be simple, hear what she wants for dinner and pair it up and it everything would be smashing. However, then she had to make it difficult and request a surf and turf... grilled scallops and beef tenderloin. Which don't get me wrong, sounds really delicious, but I had no idea how to pair wines to it. I knew red wine paired with the beef tenderloin and white wine for the scallops, but what happens when you have them together. Luckily, the fine people at vintage cellar were able to help me and told me to just serve two wines with dinner! Fancy! And then my awesome aunt also made a cajun-ey type crab dip before hand too. So starting with that I am gonna go wine by wine by course by course and describing my "expert" review and all the funny things my family blurted out hahaha
First up was this JP Chenet sparkling Rose paired to the crab dip with a little bit of spice to it that my Aunt Dawn made. I looked at my Hello Vino app and it had said sparkling rose was a good pair for crab, so I just ran with it. Also everyone was seriously impressed by how quietly I could open these bottles and maybe now my mom won't freak out and tell me to go outside all the time. This is a French wine that when I smelled reminded me of those brut champagnes my mom always gave me, but was more floral. It was really hard to balance my own tasting, with instructing my family the proper techniques, so I hope you don't mind the lackluster reviews. The taste followed up on the brut taste, but the fruity, apricotty flavors shown nicely only to have a little dryness on the finish. The peanut gallery kept saying the word bubbly... which depicts no flavor whatsoever and a little dry, noobs. My sister's fiance even said it sort of tasted like cheerwine. After eating the dip, which was delicious, everyone all agreed it tasted much different and better. The slight heat of the crab dip accentuated the fruitiness rather than the dryness. Everyone also agreed it tasted better with the food. Family birthday dinner was off to a good start!
And there's the birthday girl in the background too! Now for the main dinner. Everyone was a little hesitant to drink sauvignon blanc too, no one seemed to like it or had preconceived notions, so no one really tasted it by itself except me. It smelled like one of those earthy, grassy sauvignon blancs and like cat pee. Everyone laughed when I said that, but a few kind of agreed after smelling it. It was dry to start but then came together in a fruity and acidic mid pallet to finish. The most I got out from everyone else was that it was much better after eating with the scallops, but it would have been even better had it been cooked in the wine too. The wine definitely sweetened up and the scallop, shellfishy flavor complemented really nicely and added depth and richness to the taste.
This should look familiar! Of all the 30 wines tasted so far this semester, this one by far is my favorite: a hint of dry red wine, nice pop of red fruit, and a smoky finish always stands out to me. Naturally I wanted to incorporate it into my family's dinner and the vintage cellar people agreed it was a good pair to the beef tenderloin. Now my family is very picky with red wines and it can be hit or miss. I knew what the taste was, but I was eager to hear what my family would say. A few got the peppery, smoky flavor that I love so much. and it was even better with the meat too. It made a rich and full flavor, almost buttery which I never expected. It added a new dimension to the flavor and the smokiness complemented the meat extremely well. By this time, my family after 4 pitchers of beer at bowling, margaritas, and copious amounts of wine were feeling pretty good, so the descriptors were pretty bad. My other sister kept saying "party in my mouth" and my dad was saying "flirtatious yet moderately appealing." Seeing as how my dad never really drinks red wine, I thought it was an overall victory on all fronts.
All in all my family was definitely impressed with how enthusiastic, cultured, and knowledgable about wine I have become and it was awesome to try to teach them a little bit more. When I told them I had signed up for a wine class they were a little skeptical, but since I can recommend better wines I think they have accepted it. So I proved my worth and now maybe, just maybe they will keep me in the family! And Happy Birthday Amanda!!
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