Katie's Wine Blog: Wine & Cheese Pairing #2 (With Family!)

I chose to do this wine and cheese pairing with my parents while I was home for the weekend, and had my mom at the store to pay for the wine and cheeses! Thanks, Mom! My parents love wine, so it was fun to do it with them. My Dad's first comment was, "Wow! It's finally fun to help with my kid's homework!" So I think it's safe to say they enjoyed the experience.
Since I'm not usually a fan of red wines, my mom encouraged me to try some new ones, so we did 2 reds and one white. We tasted a Merlot, a Zinfandel, and a Sauvignon Blanc. The cheeses we paired with them were Gouda, Double Gloucester, and Gruyere respectively.
Our first pairing we did was the Starborough Sauvignon Blanc, which we paired with the Gruyere cheese.

Name: Starborough

Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Country: New Zealand

Region: Marlborough
Year: 2015

Price: $13.99

Wine Critic Review: Linda Murphy from winereviewonline.com gave this wine 90 points and said: "This clasically styled Sauvignon Blanc is complex, with generous lime, kiwi fruit, and green melon flavors, with hints of fresh-mowed grass and jalepeno."
My Review:

The nose on this wine was sweet. It had a floral honeysuckle smell. It also had a fruity smell with hints of citrus, specifically grapefruit. This wine had a slightly bitter palette. However, it was very fruity. I tasted hints of grapefruit and other citrusy fruits. I also tasted a hint of watermelon. This was a very light, slightly sweet wine. The Gruyere cheese was very strong tasting, I was not a fan of this cheese by itself. The cheese brings out the bitterness of the wine. The cheese also brought out stronger floral tastes, and made the wine taste like it had a higher alcohol content. The wine made the cheese taste stronger and gave it a weird, chalky taste.

Name: 14 Hands Winery
Variety: Merlot
Country: USA
Region: Columbia Valley
Year: 2013
Price: $12.99

The second pairing we did was the 14 Hands Winery Merlot, which we paired with the Gouda cheese.

Wine Critic Review: Great Northwest Wines

The aromas are layered with hints of Rainier cherry, smoky milk chocolate, light tar, toast and a pinch of Italian herbs. Its structure carries some grace with a smooth entry of black cherry jam, blackberry, earthiness and saddle leather. The medium body to the tannin structure leads to a dazzling finish of sweet dried cherries, coffee and cocoa. It’s billed as a barbecue wine, but suggested pairings also include Pasta Marinara.

My Review:

The nose of this wine smelled of dark fruits and wood. It almost smelled like a campfire, with a charred, burned wood scent to it. It smelled kind of oaky. It also smelled of cherries. This wine had a bitter taste. It had a hint of mocha taste to it. It also had hints of blackberries and plum, with a dark, fruity palette. It had a strong tannic taste and a slightly buttery finish. The Gouda cheese was very buttery tasting. The cheese brings out the tannic taste of the wine even more. It cut the the fruitiness of the wine, and made it taste more bitter. The wine made the cheese taste even creamier.

The third pairing we did was the Cupcake Zinfandel, which we paired with the Double Gloucester cheese.

Name: Cupcake
Variety: Zinfandel
Country: USA
Region: California
Year: 2012
Price: $9.99

Wine Critic Review: I could not find a critic review of this wine, but the sign at the grocery store where I purchased it, Fresh Market, said: Experience waves of blueberry, spice, and ripe raspberry jam, along with hints of black pepper. Serve with seared tuna and tropical salsa or linguine with clams and lemon-garlic olive oil.

My Review: This wine had a very fruity, sweet nose. I smelled hints of raspberry and pomegranate. I also smelled a slight hint of fresh, juicy apples. My dad described it as, "Smelling very sugary." The wine had a very sweet taste, but not overwhelmingly so. It tasted kind of like raspberry jam. It was very fruity but also light and fresh. My mom said, "It tastes like a fruity dessert." The Double Gloucester cheese was very mellow and creamy, but tasted of onions, because it had onion and chives in it. The cheese made the wine more mellow, it balanced out the flavors. The cheese took the sugary edge off and was a good counter balance to the wine. The wine and cheese both enhanced the flavors of each other.

I am really glad my mom encouraged me to try more red wines! Although I wasn't a fan of the Merlot, I did really like the Zinfandel! However, my favorite was the Sauvignon Blanc, as usual. I am partial to the sweeter, white wines. But this class has really made me expand my palette and appreciate some wines other than the super sweet Moscato and Riesling I used to drink exclusively.

It was a lot of fun to taste the wines and cheeses with my parents! Tasting with people who have more experience with different types of wine was a good experience, and it was fun to compare what they smelled and tasted to what I did. My dog, Lucy, even enjoyed a couple leftover pieces of Gouda!

Starborough Sauvignon Blanc