Dinner - "Zeppoli's (Spain and Italy, Vino di Vino)"

I think this was the first time I had ever officially and purposefully paired food with wine, so I was really excited for this experience. I had never eaten at Zeppoli’s, so I was doubly excited to try out their food since I had heard good things. The theme of the night was “Spain and Italy, Vino di Vino.” Matthew Burch, the Zeppoli’s employee who hosted the wine dinner, described the theme as a competition between the two countries and their quality of wine. Personally, I’m impartial towards Italian wine simply because I am half Italian, so I have to represent.

Speaking of Matthew Burch, he was an incredibly knowledgeable wine connoisseur, especially since he is only 22 years old. I really enjoyed his presentation of each wine and his passion for the subject.

The food:

The presentation of the food was a little different than I expected. I assumed that we would be served a very particular

dish with each individual wine. Instead, the food was actually served buffet-style and we could get as much or as little as we wanted. I almost liked it better that way because then I got to eat my fill. As for the type of foods we were served:

- Margherita pizza

- Pasta with a cream sauce, with peas and prosciutto

- Turkey wraps with tomato and pesto

- Greek salad with a Mediterranean dressing

- Crackers and cheese (Brie, a chive cheese, smoked gouda, regular gouda)

- Barbeque meatballs

-Mozzarella sticks in a triangle shape

- Tons of bread dipped in herbs and olive oil

Everything I ate was delicious. Fortunately, Zeppoli’s had printed out the suggested foods to eat with each wine. Without that, I probably would’ve been going into this experience blind.

The wine:

Before I delve into each individual wine, I wanted to say how eye-opening of an experience this was for me. Since I first started drinking wine a year or two ago, I’ve struggled to like red wines. Riesling was always my go-to and the closest I got to reds was White Zinfandel, which I don’t think counts for much. I’ve always thought reds were too earthy and the alcohol was too powerful. I like my wines on the sweeter side of the spectrum and I never found any reds that really fit the bill for me. I know now from class and this experiment that all I needed was a little food to get the better flavors from the reds! It definitely speaks for the Old World style wines and how they were made to be paired with food. Not only did the flavors of the red wines become more complex when paired with food, but they became much sweeter also. All of the fruits I was always able to get from the nose of those wines finally came alive on the palate when paired with food.

Fortunately we actually had some of the wines that I had already tried from the Vintage Cellar’s wine tastings. Wines that I gave bad reviews at the Vintage Cellar became some of the best wines I had all night at Zeppoli’s. I never would have guessed what a big difference the food would make. Now lets get to each wine:

The first wine we tried was a Cortenova Prosecco, a non-varietal wine from Treviso, Italy. I think I was most excited to try this wine because I had never had a Prosecco before. This wine did not disappoint. It was light and fruity (which is my favorite style of wine). I also got hints of almonds in it and the acidity was well-balanced. I was shocked to learn that this wine had 11% alcohol! Not only is this fairly high compared with white wines I’ve had in the past, but I also couldn’t detect the alcohol really at all. That’s definitely a sign of a well-made wine, as we’ve learned in class. It was suggested that this wine be paired with the pasta in cream sauce or with the various cheeses. I definitely saw how this wine paired well with the pasta; I think it definitely helped bring out the sweetness. Zeppoli’s had this wine priced at $13.99.

The second wine of the night was the Cortenova Pinot Grigio from Italy. This was one of the wine I mentioned I had already tried at the Vintage Cellar’s wine tasting. From my notes of the Vintage Cellar’s tasting, I actually said this wine was pretty bland. I also don’t have much of a preference towards Pinot Grigios. When paired with the food however, I definitely liked the wine a lot more. It smelled very fresh and strongly of pears. The taste was a lot less dry with the food. We were told to pair this wine with seafood. Unfortunately, there was none on the menu that night, but it also paired well with the pasta in cream sauce. Zeppoli’s had this wine priced at $13.99.

The third wine was AV Vinho Verde from an AOC in Portugal. This wine had a floral nose, which I’ve come to love in wines. The taste was very light with hints of pears. It’s definitely a good wine to drink in warmer weather because it’s refreshing. Because of it’s freshness, we were told this wine paired well with barbeque foods. Fortunately, we had barbeque meatballs on the menu. I was suspicious about this pairing but actually liked them together a lot. It also paired well with the turkey wrap. This wine was priced at $9.99.

The fourth wine of the night was Opera Prima Sparkling Moscato, which is a non-varietal wine from Italy. I was excited that this wine was on the menu because it was one of the best wines I had had at the Vintage Cellar’s wine tastings thus far. The only difference was that this was the white version whereas the Vintage Cellar had the rose version. I found that I liked the white just as much as the rose. This wine was extremely floral on the nose and palate. It tastes kind of like you’re biting into a blend of roses and hibiscus flowers. On the end of the palate is a grapefruity flavor as well. Desserts were the suggested pairing with this wine, but we didn’t have any foods available that were particularly sweet. However, I liked this wine with the turkey wrap. Then again, I like this wine by itself just as much. Zeppoli’s had this wine priced at $5.99. I talked myself out of buying the wine and I really wish I hadn’t.

The fifth wine was the 2011 Opera Prima Chardonnay from La Mancha, Spain. Unlike most Chardonnays I’ve tried in the past, this one was not oaked, so it was a lot fresher and lighter than normal. I liked the Chardonnay much better this way. In both the nose and palate I got a lot of fruit. Pears, peaches and pineapple were the ones that stood out the most. This wine, like most other whites, was suggested to be paired well with the pasta in cream sauce. Zeppoli’s had this wine priced at $6.99.

The sixth wine was the 2009 Aviva Vino “Aletta” Garnacha from Campo de Borja, Spain. I got a lot of dark fruits, like blackberry, on the nose for this one. It also had hints of spice and vanilla in the taste of the wine, which tells me this wine may have been oaked. It was also very tannic and heavy. The meatballs were the only red meat that we had to go with this wine, but I also liked the margherita pizza with it. This wine would probably pair really well with a good steak as well.

The seventh wine was an Opera Prima Tempranillo from La Mancha, Spain. The vintage is a 2011. On the nose it smelled like strawberries with black pepper sprinkled on them. I was surprised how fruity this Tempranillo tasted, because ones I’ve had in the past were a lot more vegetal. I think the food definitely had something to do with that. Primarily I got blackberries out of the flavor but there was also the slightest bit of smoke. This wine was probably one of the most tannic wines of the night. This wine also went well with the meatballs, but I thought it actually tasted good with the greek salad also.

The eighth wine was the Cortenova Sangiovese from Puglia, Italy. This is a 2011 vintage wine. This was probably the best red wine I’ve tasted so far in my wine experience. It was surprising because I’ve had Sangiovese wine before and thought it was too strong and vegetal. I think because it was paired with the food, the fruit was brought out so much more. When we were able to get seconds on our wine of choice, I chose this one. It smelled very grapey and fruity. It tasted like rich, red fruits such as strawberries and ripe cherries. It had a slight pinch of spice, which gave the fruit some complexity. I’m actually really disappointed that I didn’t think to buy this wine before I left the restaurant. It paired really well with the pasta in cream sauce.

The ninth wine was a Cortenova Montepulciano from Abruzzo, Italy. It is a 2010 vintage. This wine packed some heat with its alcohol; combined with its heavy tannins, this wine was a little overwhelming in my opinion. The nose definitely hid the bolder flavors of this wine. It smelled of raspberry and strawberry, but primarily very grapey, almost to the point of being jammy. Some of the strawberry came out on the palate, but for the most part I got white pepper. The fruits may have come out more with a solid red meat, but it worked well with the pasta in cream sauce also.

The tenth wine was a Damilano “Marghe” Nebbiolo d’ Alba from Piedmont, Italy. It is a 2009 vintage. Having had Nebbiolo wine before, I knew this was going to be a powerful tasting wine, especially with the alcohol content. On the nose I got blackberry and spice. Surprisingly I smelled a little bit of apple coming through too, which is not as typical of red wines. As expected, this wine was definitely alcoholic. I also tasted a combination of smoke, spice and a lot of pepper. It should also be noted that this wine was decanted, but only for about 10 minutes, so it’s doubtful that the impact was anything too severe. This wine paired well with the cheeses and crackers, but also would have gone well with red or braised meats.

Our “bonus” wine of the night was the Morada Sangria, non-varietal. This is a traditional Spanish drink. I was happy to have this as one of our wines because I actually tried it before in the Vintage Cellar tastings and really liked it. I’ve actually bought a bottle of this for myself a few times. As I’ve said in my tasting blog on this wine, it tastes like an interesting blend of Sprite and Fruity Pebbles cereal. It makes a really great, refreshing wine from a warm, sunny day. This wine is simply good all by itself, but went just fine with all of the food we had available to us.

Overall, I found this to be a really great and fun experience. I definitely plan to take at least one more trip before the semester is over.