Lilli's Wine Blog: Wine Dinner Blog

For this wine dinner blog, my friends and I wanted to do a super affordable three-course meal. We made a Caesar salad for our appetizer, chicken parmesan for our main course, and raspberry sorbet for dessert.

First course

We paired the Caesar salad with a Bota Box Pinot Grigio. We first tried the wine by itself, it was refreshing and light, a bit acidic, and had fruity and floral notes. I picked up on some citrus, maybe lemon or orange, and it was sweeter than other Pinot Grigios I've tried. We tried it with the salad and noticed that the flavors of the Caesar dressing made the wine taste much more citrusy, and it had more of a tart/sour aftertaste. I felt like this was a great pairing; the flavors blended well together, and the wine was a perfect starter.

Second course

We paired the chicken parmesan with a Black Box Pinot Noir. We tried the Pinot Noir on its own, and it was amazing. It was medium-bodied, which was perfect for pairing with the heaviness of the chicken parmesan. It had fruity notes, and we tasted cherry, blackberry, and some strawberry. It was also floral, like roses, and had a smooth chocolate flavor that blended really well with the cherry flavors. This was a great pairing. The wine tasted sweeter when paired, and it balanced perfectly with the acidity of the tomato in the sauce. We also noticed that when we sipped and then took a bite, it made the tomato taste sweeter, too. The saltiness of the parmesan also brought out the deeper flavors of the wine and made it taste even more rich and smooth.

Third course

We paired the raspberry sorbet with a Cupcake Vineyards Prosecco. When we tried the Prosecco by itself, it was very light, refreshing, and tart. It had fruity notes of citrus, maybe lemon. The raspberry sorbet by itself was also very tart but had a sugary sweetness to it. The tartness of both actually paired really well together and balanced each other. When paired, the Prosecco tasted a little sweeter, and it brought out more of the fruity sweetness of the raspberries. Overall, this course was a perfect finish to our meal. It was light enough that we still ate a good amount, even after getting super full from the pasta, and it cleansed our palettes. I would rate this meal a 9/10 overall; each dish complimented the wine pairings pretty well, and I think our favorite was the Pinot Noir.