Wine and Cheese #2 - More Cheese with Friends

 

Cheese #1 - Cream Havarti

Name of Wine: Fossa Mala Refossa 2020

Variety of Grapes: Sauvigon Blanc

Vintage Cellar Description:
"Considerable aromas and flavors of crushed sea salt and cooked apples. Full body. Really intense and flavorful. Steely."

My Review:
I tasted notes of apple in this full body creamy wine. It had a fiery burning finish that I liked much more than at the start of the semester. I'm not sure what crushed sea salt means from the Vintage Cellar description. The Havarti cheese was already creamy, and when paired with the wine, the wine and cheese both had an even creamier feel to them. The cheese also removed any of the burning sensation I originally felt. This wine went down very easily with the cheese.

Cheese #2 - Jalapeno Pepper Jack

Name of Wine: Rinaldi Moscato d'Asti

Variety of Grapes: Muscat

Vintage Cellar Description:
"Bright pale light silvery emerald color. Lively, fruity aromas and flavors of peach soda, apple sauce, and pear skin with an even crisp, spritzy moderately sweet light-to-medium body and a smooth, interesting, medium-length orange sherbet, honey apricots, and chalk finish with fine, dusty, fruit tannis and no oak. A light and lively Moscato d'Asti."

My Review:
Wow! This Moscato d'Asti was the sweetest wine I have ever had. I really liked it. I almost reminds me of an apple soda. I also enjoyed the light bubbling in the wine. I did not like this paired with the Jalapeno Pepper Jack. I think the pepper of the cheese clashed with the light bodied sweetness of the wine. The cheese flavors overpowered the wine and mode the wine taste more bitter.

Cheese #3 - Fresh Mozzarella

Name of Wine: Colutta Friuli Colli Orientali Pinot Grigio Skin Contact

Variety of Grapes: Pinot Grigio

Vintage Cellar Description:
"This Ramato (copper colored in Italian) boasts a rich, complex bouquet of crisp fruity impressions including white peach, and cantaloupe followed by blackberry and bitter cherry with an intriguing hint of wild flowers. On the palate the wine is enveloping with a pleasant acidity and long mineral finish of red fruits."

My Review:
This wine was a big change in pace from the other two wines of the evening. It was much higher in alcohol content, and I could feel it from the long finish this wine had. I tasted melon flavors in the wine with a hint of floral components. It was very dry. However, with the mozzarella the dryness was much more manageable, but the flavors of the wine were untouched from the cheese. I think mozzarella is too mild of a cheese to go with this wine. I think it would have paired better with a red pasta.

Dinner #3 - The Last Supper

 

Appetizer

For the appetizer, we had homemade mango salsa with Karl Josef Blend

Name of Wine: Karl Josef Piesporter Michelsberg Qualitatswein 2020

Variety of Grapes: Blend of Muller-Thurgau and Riesling

Vintage Cellar Description:
"Enticing, with notes of candle was, spice and zesty lemon, this off-dry blend of Muller-Thurgau and Riesling is deeply concentrated with white peach and apricot flavors. It's weighty and rich in feel, with streaks of mineral that add delicate complexity to the finish."

My Review:
The wine had faint floral aromas, and it tasted similarly. It was not too dry and it only gave my mouth the slightest feeling of dryness. When paired with the mango salsa, the wine was noticeable less dry and I did not get any of the puckering feeling in my mouth that I did when consuming the wine alone. I was also able to detect more fruity notes like orange. I also like the acidity of wine and how it paired with the acidity of the lime juice in the mango salsa. Overall, this combination was refreshing and would be perfect for a warm summer day.

Entrée 

For the main course we had homemade General Tso's chicken with rice and Dr. Leimbrock Riesling.

 

Name of Wine: Dr. Leimbrock Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese Feinherb

Variety of Grapes: Riesling

Vintage Cellar Description:
"Lime zest and green apples perfume this zesty, green-fruited sip. Properly feinherb in style, there's just a whisper of sweetness glazing the palate like lace against a backdrop of pristine, spine-tingling gooseberry and grapefruit flavor. An energizing wine that's delicious now but should hold well through 2024."

My Review: 
This was a Riesling Spatlese, and based on previous ones I have had, I expected it to be sweeter than it was. That being said it was still very good, although I much prefer the Dr. Leimbrock Riesling Auslese I previously had. But back to this review, this wine was slightly floral with a hint of sweetness. I would not agree with the Vintage Cellar description as having flavors of "lime zest or green apple." When paired with the General Tso's chicken, I think the wine tasted a more sweet. However I think the General Tso's was too overpowering for this off dry wine and that a sweet Riesling would have paired better.

Dessert

For dessert we had homemade snicker doodle cookies with Maynard's Aged Tawny Port

Name of Wine: Maynard's Aged Tawny Port

Variety of Grapes: Blend of Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cao, Tinta Barroca

Vintage Cellar Description:
"Maynard's 10 Year Old Tawny Port  has a deep brick color with amber rim. It shows beautiful aromas of dried fruits, honey flavors and a touch of vanilla, combined with ripe berry fruit. It has a silky texture with a long and clean ending."

My Review:
This was one of the oldest wine I have tried to date, and one of the strongest (as expect since its a fortified wine). This wine tasted similar to a honey syrup mix, like something that would go great with pancakes. It also had a noticeable fiery finish that I could feel down the back of my throat.  When paired with snicker doodle cookies, the long finish of the wine was not as prevalent. The sweetness of the cookies also went well with the sweet syrup like flavor of the wine. However, I would much prefer to eat the cookies by themselves and not drink the wine.

Tasting - Riesling Auslese

Name: Dr. Leimbrock Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Auslese 

Variety of grapes: Riesling

Country of origin: Germany

Region of origin: Brauneberg

Vintage year: 2010

Price: $29.95

Vintage Cellar Description:
"Excellent structure, ripe aromas and flavors of stone fruits (like peach), a fine minerality, great depth and length. Unique harmony, finesse and expression after aging. Fine, yet racy with elegance and complexity. Beautiful balance between fine minerality, crisp acidity, expressive fruit aromas and flavors. 

Wine Folly Text:
Page 158 of the Wine Folly book discusses the Riesling variety. Riesling grapes typically have green apple, lime, beeswax, petroleum, and jasmine notes. This particular wine only had the green apple notes. The book recommends that Rieslings age for about 5-10 years. The vintage of this wine is 2010, so it was 13 years old when we drank it.

My Review:
This was the oldest vintage of wine I have ever had, so I was eager to try it. I was not able to distinguish any particular aromas from the wine through the 'swirl and sniff'. Upon tasting it, i detected notes of green apple and peach. It had a crisp freshness to it that I greatly enjoyed. This was an Auslese Riesling so it was also very sweet, and I have a horrible sweet tooth. Overall I enjoyed this wine a lot. This was my favorite Riesling I have had to date.