Dinner/Wine Pairing Party

The last full weekend in March I took a trip home to Harrisonburg, VA where my mom and I began to plan a dinner and wine pairing for that Sunday, March 25th. My dad was out of town, so we decided to invite two of our family friends to join us. After they had accepted the invitation, next on our list of things to do was to get some advice on what wines and foods to prepare for our already-decided Italian themed dinner. I decided to take a trip to the town's Vintage Wines store, where I got some helpful tips on good Italian wines and what to pair with them.

The man there was very helpful and suggested a 2008 Volpetti Cesanese Lazio red wine that would pair well with pasta and a light red sauce. This wine is made from 100% Cesanese grapes which are a native grape from the Roman countryside. The wine is 13% alcohol and is described as having a "ruby color and is intense and elegant with soft tannins" on the bottle. The wine is aged for 8 months in French barriques which are short barrels with a large surface area. The man at the wine store told us that the wine is left in the barrels long enough to pick up the taste of the fruit, but not long enough to pick up a strong oak flavor.

After picking out the red wine, I asked the man for a recommendation on a white wine that would be good with an appetizer. He suggested a 2010 Satrico Lazio Bianco which is made in the Agro Pontino Valley, thirty miles south of Rome. This wine was also 13% alcohol, which is surprising for a white wine. It is a blend of 3 equal parts of Chardonnay, Savignon Blanc, and Trebbiano Giallo grapes. The man suggested this would go well with a simple appetizer of grapes and cheese.

Once I had purchased the wines and decided what foods to prepare, next was to go shopping for the ingredients. I went to the local farmer's market and the Friendly City food Co-op to purchase as much locally grown ingredients as possible.

Next, it was time to prepare the food.

Once the guests arrived, it was time for the appetizers and the white wine. Below is a picture of our appetizer platter (grapes, Havarti and mozzarella cheeses) and our guests having their first glass of wine.

The white wine was dry and fruity on the nose. Very crisp with a slight mineral taste on the palate with a lengthy finish. When tasted after eating the cheeses the wine became less crisp and softer on the finish, the alcohol content became less apparent. However, when paired with the grapes the two tastes were very contrasting with two very acidic tastes mixing.

Time for the main course: a spring mix salad, pasta with a light red sauce and shrimp, and garlic bread.


Initially, I was a bit put off by the pungent nose on the red wine. However, my first taste of the wine was surprisingly soft and sweet. The wine paired very well with the pasta and the light red sauce. The sauce brought a little of the spice out of the wine and they really accentuated each other well.

Finally, it was time to taste the red wine with our dessert: Raspberry and Chocolate ice cream from a local custard shop.


The red wine was very smooth with the ice cream. Surprisingly, this might have been my favorite pairing of the night and the ice cream was a last minute decision for the meal. As I am not a very experience red wine drinker, I was excited about how much I liked the ice cream and the red wine together. It was a great balance with the sweetness of the ice cream. One of our guests described it as "almost as if you had poured Chambord on your ice cream".

Overall, we had a great time and I learned a lot in my experience of tasting and pairing the Italian wines.