This Sunday was the Super Bowl! My roommate and I were making our super bowl dinner and thought it would be fun to do wine pairings with our different courses. Neither of us particularly enjoys cooking, so we kept our courses pretty simple. Here is us with our full spread:
Our first course was cheesy garlic bread (on front of table). We paired this with Stella Rosa's Stella Berry.
Name: Stella Rosa's Stella Berry
Varietal: Brachetto
Tasting Notes: This wine is advertised as berry flavored, which it lives up to with a very strong berry flavor. Specifically notes of strawberry and raspberry can be found. This wine was fairly acidic, but it was balanced nicely by the sweetness of the wine. The wine was not overtly sweet too, I had honestly expected it to be sweeter.
Pairing Notes: This wine paired well as it was a refreshing balance to heavier cheesy garlic bread. The acidity was a nice way to cut some through the buttery flavor. Overall it made the food seem saltier as the sweetness of the wine contrasted the saltiness of the food. Both the food and wine had strong flavor so they did not overpower each other. The garlic bread would possibly pair better with something slightly less strong so that they are not battling each other. But the pairing was still pretty good.
Our second course of the night was cheese pizza (on the back of the table). This was paired with Barefoot Rosé.
Name: Barefoot Rosé
Varietals: Sauvignon blanc, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot gris
Tasting Notes: This is a nice Rosé. It is a bit acidic for my tastes but it's not overwhelming. There is notes of cherry and possibly watermelon in the wine. The note of cherry is stronger in the smell of the wine than the actually taste itself. It has a very light body, as I said before a bit acidic but it needs to be to balance the sweetness.
Pairing Notes: This wine paired okay with the pizza, they didn't particularly compliment each but they also didn't take away from each other. The acidity of the wine was similar to the acidity of the pizza sauce, I feel a less acidic wine would probably pair better with this sauce. The lightness and sweetness of the wine did enhance the richness and saltiness of the pizza with was enjoyable. Neither the pizza nor the wine overpowered each other. The pizza really brought out the sweetness of the wine.
Our last course of the night was chocolate chip cookies (left side of table). This was paired with Barefoot Fruit Moscato Blueberry.
Name: Barefoot Fruit Moscato Blueberry
Varietals: Moscato- Muscat Blanc
Tasting Notes: I really like this wine. It's has a relatively more fully body than the other wines of the night but also isn't too heavy. It is lightly acidic while also being very sweet. The main note of the wine is blueberry, as that's what the wine is flavored to taste like. It has a strong blueberry aroma. I enjoyed the balance of the wine, the sweetness matching the acidity.
Pairing Notes: This wine did not pair great with the cookies. This wine was chosen for the last course as it is a very sweet wine, so it was meant to be slightly like a dessert wine. The sweetness of wine made the cookies seem less sweet. The wine almost overpowered the cookies, with the chocolate fighting the blueberry. The sweet cookies made the wine seem more acidic, which affected the balance of the wine. The cookies would likely pair better with a less sweet wine.
.
