Kelsey Drinks Wine: Dinner - Palisades (Wines Around the World, Grenache Blends)

Overall impression of the experience: The wines could have been better, and the food portions could have been larger. However, the food was delicious and I am definitely glad I tried it out and really experienced the different tastes of the wines with different foods.

(House Appetizer Salad with Ranch Dressing

-came out and was finish before the wines got to the table)

I also had a salad, and it was certainly very, very green and fresh but I was not a huge fan of the spicy, peppery ranch dressing that accompanied it. I would certainly go back and try other things on the menu because many of them sounded fantastic (such as the spicy shrimp, the steaks, and the specialty pizzas which promise to be very interesting). We actually decided that if we do go back on a Wines Around the World Night, we will get one of the wine pairing platters, order other items off the menu, and share it all in order to have a more filling meal and taste the wines with other items as well.

(The spread of wines and food.

The wines and foods are discussed from left to right)

The Foods:

Braised Swiss Chard Stuffed Poblano

Personal Review: Very green peppery, but with much more complex flavors from the greens and whatever the diced red topping was.

Arbol Chili Pork with Rhubarb Chutney

Personal Review: Very zesty pork. I would have definitely liked to have an entire sandwich of this. It made all the wines better.

Roasted Shallot Chocolate Thimble with Spicy Cherry

Personal Review: Delicious. Perfectly soft and moist on the outside with slightly harder exterior (pleasant because I like corner brownies but also the soft moist centers, and this was the perfect mix of the two). The cream on top was creamy and smooth while full of flavor. However, the alleged cherry topping definitely could have fooled me because I thought it was strawberry (though they was very little of it so maybe if there were more to taste I would have gotten the cherry flavor)

The Wines:

General Grenache Blend Profile (provided by restaurant): The unmistakable candied fruit roll-up and cinnamon flavor is what gives Grenache away to expert blind tasters. It has a medium to full weight in taste, but has a deceptively lighter color and is semi=translucent. Depending on where it's grown, Grenache often lets off strong smells of orange rinds and ruby-red grapefruit. When Grenache is grown in Old World regions such as Cotes du Rhone and Sardinia, it can have herbal notes of dried oregano and tobacco.

Honoro Vera

Country: Spain

Year: 2012

Restaurant Provided Review: Garnacha from Spain is a whine that usually shows great fruit, but it is still a dryer wine. Garnacha is very versatile to different palates. It shows great notes of juicy plums and sweet berries on the palate. It is not very tannic either. Even though it shows great fruit, it is not sweet. This is highlighted by the touch of pepper on the finish. It is an extremely enjoyable red wine. It is not an extremely complex wine by that is what is great about Garnacha. It does not try to be something that it isn't.

Personal Review: Not bad alone. Smooth and tastes like a merlot, though not sure about the nose (can't really distinguish it). However, the next time I tasted it alone I got more of a dry mid palate.

With the Stuffed Pepper: Brings out the fruitiness of the wine. Dry was toned down by the pepper making it much better than alone.

With the Pork: Brings out spice, while adding its own spice to the flavor.

With the Chocolate Thimble: Contributed to the cake with contrast, tasting kind of spicy in the mid palate and then sweetens, ending with the sweetness of the cake which lingers.

Little James' Basket Press

Country: France

Year: 2012

Restaurant Provided Review: This sexy, ripe wine dominated by Grenache is an amazing value, with oodles of black cherry fruit in a thick, glycerine emboldened style. It is full bodied, lush, and ideal for drinking in its first several years of life. This beauty offers lot of spicy, peppery, black cherry and even blacker fruits along with medium body, a tasty, satisfying style and remarkably low price.

Personal Review: Not sure about the nose, maybe just a hint of black cherry aroma. Tastes dry but not terribly. However, the dry is the largest taste and makes it hard to get other flavors. Though on a second sip I got the slight hint of fruit in the mid palate. The more you try it though, the drier it gets, in a negative way, and the dry begins to take over.

With the Stuffed Pepper: Does not really do anything different to this wine.

With the Pork: Makes this wine more okay. Becomes more spicy and less dry, almost on the enjoyable I'd like to drink a glass side.

With the Chocolate Thimble: Pairing is bitter and takes away from the delectable chocolateness of the cake.

Loose End

Country: Australia

Year: 2008

Restaurant Provided Review: To be at a loose end is to have no plans which is a wonderful thing in our busy world. This provides us with the opportunity to be spontaneous, creative or even mischievous. This wine oozes charm. Vibrant rose pink in color with the lifted candy aromas that have appealing notes of musk and flowers in bloom. The palate is fresh with mouth filling cherry flavors which finish clean and slightly dry.

Personal Review: Very interesting smell that is very perfumesque. However, the flavor takes away from this intrigue and disappoints. Strange industrial first taste like freshly made rubber or plastic. After talking about it at the table the label of petrol was given to me and that is exactly what it is like. There are definitely some complexities going on after that first initial petrol taste but it is too overwhelmed by the petrol and thus cannot really experiencing them because of the lingering poor taste. There is certainly a reason most people left the majority of this wine in the glass when they left.

With the Stuffed Pepper: Less overt petrol mess with pepper but still not good and takes away from the pepper.

With the Pork: Petrol taste is masked slightly with the pork spice, and while it is certainly better than any of the other pairings with this wine or the wine by itself, it is still not enjoyable.

With the Chocolate Thimble: Less petrol taste but still not good. Really just ruins the chocolate--pretty much the same thing as if you covered a piece of chocolate in plastic and ate them together.