The Gurg-a-later

(from the left) Me, my brother, mother
and father enjoying our dinner.

     This past weekend I treated myself to a few days back in my hometown of Richmond with my family and 6 adorable small creatures, most normal people call them pets. One of the things I miss most when I'm at school is my home. And when I say home, I mean my kitchen. My apartment here in Blacksburg is great and the kitchen is nice but as a plucky young girl wearing braids and gingham once said "There's no place like home". So, I invited my parents to participate in a 'wine dinner' with me and we decided to celebrate the record 80 degree heat by breaking out the grill.

Our appetizer: pico de gallo, guacamole
and the King Estate wine.

The family sat down for appetizers.
My brother, feeling left out from
the wine glass club, drinking his
lemonade-OJ concoction
out of a goblet.

   
    We started our meal with a small, classic Simon family appetizer of guacamole and pico de gallo. I decided to pair our chips and dips with a crisp, chilled white wine. More specifically, the 2014 King Estate pinot gris from Oregon. Much to my family's enjoyment, the pico de gallo was quite fresh and the sweet tomatoes contrasted well with the hint of spicy chili. Slightly stronger, the guacamole also had a delicious spice to it with jalapeño and serrano peppers. Continuing the description train, the wine was dry and quite citrus-y with notes of pineapple and and apple. Though I was originally uneasy about the idea of pairing wine with spicy mexican food, I was pleasantly surprised with how the wine didn't compete with the heat at all. On the contrary, it was very refreshing and the notes of citrus in the wine complimented the lime in the two dips. A red wine would have been much too heavy, I think, and a sweeter white would probably have offered to much of a stark contrast with the spice. Therefore, the parents and I were pleased with the pairing and continued enjoying our light appetizer.

The burgers and all their
fixin's.

Artsy shot of my burger, wine
and mother.

Our dinner wine and two of our
"gurg-a-laters". A term we coined, and nevertheless
still use, before I learned the proper
term in this class.

     Now, onto the main course. As I mentioned earlier, it was a lovely, sunny February day so we decided to send Dad outside to grill burgers. Our toppings of choice for the evening were the usual ketchup, mustard and pickles, but also my favorite spicy pimento cheese from Costco and some crispy bacon. The wine we paired our meal with was the 2015 Clos du Bois pinot noir from California. The burgers were a delicious reminder of summer and they paired beautifully with the weather...but perhaps not so well with the wine. The wine alone was quite nice with strong aromas of vanilla and red berry. When tasted alone, it served up more of a warm spice than anything too sickly sweet. However, when I sampled it with the burger, the sweetness of the wine was almost overwhelming. The spice of the cheese contrasted quite strongly with the sweet, jam-like wine, making a subpar pairing. Upon further exploration, I decided to taste the wine with just a piece of the bacon and I was pleasantly surprised. Just like how the terms maple bacon and salted caramel make opposite, delicious sense, so did this duo. Overall, not a bad wine at all, but it may have been more suited to a dessert or sweet appetizer instead of the hearty, savory burger.

My red velvet cupcake and the dessert wine.

     Moving to my personal favorite part of any meal, the dessert: red velvet cupcakes topped with cream cheese icing made by yours truly. My mom actually surprised me by cracking open a nice bottle of raspberry dessert wine from The Williamsburg Winery that she had recently purchased. Now, if you were ever wondering what it tasted like to drink a slightly alcoholic raspberry and you're curious sample it yourself, buy this wine. If you'd rather just take my word for it, just know that it's an extremely pleasant sipping beverage that I would highly recommend to any raspberry lover. It is a rather sweet wine but it finishes with a tart, cranberry-like bitterness. Red velvet cake has a chocolate cake base and the combination of raspberry paired better with the chocolate than any valentine's strawberry could have ever hoped for. The two flavors together reminded me of my favorite raspberry chocolate chunk ice cream that I used to get at Bev's in Richmond.

   


     Overall, my family and I enjoyed our delightful summer meal in February, even if my poor parents  and brother spent it coping with my constant photographic interruptions. Bless them...and santé!