Wine Dinner 2

Photos of wines:

Photos of meals:

Photo of me:

Names of wines:

Wine notes without food:

Chardonnay (unoaked): Sweet apple flavor, with a buttery aftertaste. Similar to other Chardonnays, but not as crisp. Low acidity.
Sauvignon Blanc: Subtle pear flavor, more tannins than previous Sauvignon Blanc's I've tried. The aftertaste was strongly acidic, but overall the flavors were somewhat weak.
Chianti: Strong smell, but not nearly as piercing as the rest of the red wines I've tasted. Upon drinking it, it has a medium body with extremely high tannins. This was the driest red wine I've tasted thus far, and it had hints of raspberry and earthy flavors. The overall flavor I can describe as berry; not distinct, but a rather fruity flavor with not much citrus.

Wine notes with dishes:

Chardonnay w/ Garlic Broccoli: The broccoli had a pleasant flavor when cooked with garlic, with a tender and crispy texture from the sauté. When paired with Chardonnay, the sweetness cancels out most of the remaining bitterness and allows the herbal and garlic tastes to mix well with the buttery

Sauvignon Blanc w/ white wine and garlic pasta: The acidity comes earlier than an aftertaste. The fruity flavors are almost completely suppressed with the pasta, and the dryness disappeared as well. The buttery flavors from the pasta were prominent, and the acidity was a bit overpowering with the overall flavor profile.

I found that the two paired somewhat well, but I lost the flavors of the Sauvignon Blanc more than I would have liked. I think they pair very well if consumed in alternating fashion, but together in the mouth they seem to conflict.

Chianti w/ roasted garlic pepperoni pizza: The cheese and bread from the pizza immediately took away from the intense dryness of the Chianti, allowing me to focus more on the flavors. Something my roommate noticed about this Italian wine is that Old World wines tend to pair better with foods, which explains why the dryness left immediately when tasting them together. Having them in the mouth simultaneously lends to a very complex flavor, where the dryness is gone and the berry flavors get absorbed by the bread and are allowed to sing even after swallowing.

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