I had a wine
dinner at my Dad’s house with his wife, his baby, and a family friend. We tried three different bottles of wine, 2
red and 1 white.
The Wine We Drank:
Tribunal Red Table
Wine
from the North Coast, California
2011
Panilonco Chief of
Lions
Merlot Malbec from Colchagua Valley, Chile
2011 Reserva
Lincourt Courtney’s
Chardonnay
from Sta. Rita Hills
2009
The Food We Ate:
>Appetizers
-Bleu Cheese (Fancy French Stuff,
my Dad’s wife is from France)
-Supreme
Brie
-Fresh
Baguette Bread
-Pâté
>The Meal
-Tomato
Slices and Fresh Mozzarella Slices with Olive Oil and Green Parsley
-Spiced
Trout baked in the oven
-Tilapia,
also baked in the oven (I ate it salty, with plenty of soy sauce)
-Asparagus
-Olive Bread
>Dessert
-Kumquats,
Strawberries, and Blueberries
-Whipped
Cream
-Torcik
Wedlowski (Polish Chocolate Wafer Cake)
-Kinder
Happy Hippo’s!
The Tribunal Red Table Wine smelled musty and earthy, which was really
appealing, but when I ate it with the salad it was a little too spicy; however,
it paired great with the cheese we had as an appetizer while we waited for the
fish to cook. When I ate it with the
Supreme Brie and bread I could taste a hint of vanilla in the wine, as well as
fruity flavors. It was intensified just as
jam is, it could have been black current jam that was converted into wine! It
was a little hot when I tried a sip of it alone, but the cheese created an
incredible smoothness for the wine. The
baby was enthusiastically gulping down the bread and fancy cheese, but sadly he
couldn’t participate in the wine pairing.
The salad called for a lighter wine, which is where the Chardonnay came
in great. It was very refreshing, and
not fruity at all. The wine had more
mineral flavors, such as limestone, and it had a nice smooth texture. I also
had this wine with the tomato and fresh mozzarella slices, where it had the
same flavor profile, somewhat metallic, not too fruity, more mineral-like, crisp
and cool. 
The Merlot Malbec smelled like
iron, it seemed clinical, clean, and sterile; it was not fruity or oaky and
tasted like unripe fruit. It seemed like
it was not ready. With the cheese it was
more sea-like. It reminded me of snail shells
and vaguely of sea shells. The more of
it I drank the fruitier it became and tasted of blackberry jam! It was much
more appealing with the cheese than it was with the fish, it seemed a little
too spicy with the spice on the trout, but it went well with the salty tilapia
adding a somewhat smoky aspect. When I had
the asparagus with this wine it was so incredibly bitter than I decided to eat
the asparagus alone rather than trying the other wines with it. I wasn’t brave enough to go through that
taste again. 
The earthiness of the Tribunal
went well with both the trout and the tilapia, while the Chardonnay seemed to
completely transform from its previous flavor profile. Rather than being very mineral-like, it took
on fruity aspects and reminded me of overripe grapes, even though it was not
sweet. 
All the wines were semi-dry to
dry. Since none of the wines were sweet
they did not pair particularly well with the desserts, but we drank them
anyway! My dad kept asking about my tasting notes, but I was very protective of
them and did not want to share, which in the end probably won’t make a
difference since I am sure his wife is going to find this blog and read it with
him. He said that he did not know how to
analyze wine and he definitely like the Tribunal as his favorite but lacked the
descriptor words to share what aspects of it he enjoyed. We all agreed that the Chardonnay was the
least favorite, which was reinforced by the amount left in the bottle after
dinner was over.
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