Dinner- Zeppolis (California)

Every other Sunday in Blacksburg, VA, a small local restaurant called Zeppolis, has a wine paring open to any of those who wish to learn more about different wines and how to properly pair them with different food items. This past Sunday, February 26th, 2012, my boyfriend Eric and I went to Zepollis' California wine pairing. There we sampled 9 different wines all from California or the west coast with a variety of different food items. We had rigatoni with sausage, pizza bread, garlic bread, Cesar salad, different cheeses, caprese pasta, and a delicious fried artichoke and spinach pastry.

 

Shown above is the outside of Zeppoli's Italian Restaurant on the left and the wine tasting room shown on the right.

Eric and Me

Here, Eric and I are preparing for our first wine to be poured. As you can see, we grabbed a little of everything when it came to the food being offered to cleanse our palate. We are ready to dig in!

We tasted a total of 9 different wines, and only 2 were of the same variety. All had a distinct flavor about them and paired well with at least one of our food items. Below is a picture of all the wines we were able to taste.

All of the delicious wines we sampled.

One of the wines in this group was special in that it needed to be decanted and let breath for a good 4 hours upon our arrival in order for us to experience all that it had to offer. We tasted in the order right to left starting with the whites and ending with the reds and a dessert wine.






The first wine we tried was the Leese-Firch 2010 Sauvignon Blanc from California. It had 13% alcohol and was priced at 11.99. This was a very fruity wine with many citrus flavors including grapefruit, oranges, lemons and pina colada. The Sauvignon Blanc paired well with our caprese pasta and cheese slices.




Our next wine was the White Knight 2010 Viogner from Clarksburg. This wine had 13.9% alcohol and also was priced at 11.99. This wine had a strong pear nose with a kick at the end. It was not too smooth, but had a sense of texture about it that was pleasing to the palate. This is a very forward wine with tastes of honeysuckle and oranges with a spicy aftertaste. We ended up purchasing a bottle of this to take home.






The third wine we sampled was the Lockwood Chardonnay 2010 from California. This was had 13.5% alcohol and cost 12.99. To me, this was a very strong Chardonnay, but lived up to the expectation of California Chardonnay's. There were very tropical flavors with a fresh and radiant character. This wine went well with our cesar salads.




Our fourth and final white wine of the night was the Gen 5 Chardonnay 2010. It has 13.9% alcohol and cost 11.25. This was a great wine for the price. It was very fruity but softer than the previous Chardonnay and had a creaminess to it. This wine received 92 points by Wilfred Wong. We paired this wine with the caprese pasta and cesar salad.



The 5th wine, first of the reds, was a Trentadue 2010 "Old Patch Red" Lot #33 from California. It contains 14.5% alcohol and was priced at 11.99. This was a very smooth and spicy wine with a blackberry and cherry palate. This type of wine was made back in the pre-Prohibition decade and is still enjoyed today. This wine paired nicely with the rigatoni with sausage and the pizza bread.





The next red, 6th overall, was the Coastal Vines 2010 Pinor Noir from Sonoma County, California. This wine contains 12.5% alcohol and had a great price at 8.99. This was a very light a fruity wine. Pinot Noir is a great transition for those who love white wines and are afraid of reds. There was an aroma of blackberries and had a woody taste. This wine went well with our rigatoni and the fried spinach and artichoke pastries.

Eric showing us the proper swirling technique of his Coastal Vines Pinot Noir.

The seventh wine tasting was of David Aykroyd Cabernet Sauvignon 2007. 2007 was an excellent year for California wines. This wine contains 13.5% alcohol and was priced at 12.99. This was the wine that I had mentioned above that had to be decanted 4 hours upon our tasting in order to open up fully. There was a definite oaky taste to this wine along with tobacco and berries. This was a very strong wine but overall smooth.




The last of the reds, 8th overall, was the Bogle Petite Syrah 2009 of California, containing 13.5% alcohol and priced at 12.99. This was my overall favorite of all the wines I tasted. It was very full bodied and rich in textures and flavors. There were hints of plums, blackberries, jams, tobacco and leather. This wine would go excellent with a hearty steak. This paired well with our rigatoni and sausage.

The final wine pairing was for dessert. This was the NV Chocolate Shop, Chocolate Strawberry priced at 13.99 with 12.5% alcohol. Now I have tasted other chocolate wines before and was drastically let down, this wine was in a whole different universe compared to them. It honestly tastes exactly like strawberries dipped in milk chocolate. It was rich but velvety with a smooth finish. I absolutely loved this wine and cant wait to try the other 2 in the collection.



This was a very fun and enlightening experience that I look forward to participating in again in the coming weeks. I was able to go away with more knowledge in how to pair certain wines with different foods. And as an added bonus, I found more brands and types of wines to add to my collection!