Wine Dinner Blog 1

Dinner – Travinia  (Italy)

            Several weekend and holidays during the school year I visit my uncle in Sterling, VA.  My hometown in New Jersey is a very far drive; likewise it is a far drive for my parents to come to tech.  So an easy middle point is of course NOVA, where everyone else lives.  While visiting one weekend in spring we decided to leave all the little cousins and children at home and go out for an Italian restaurant (as were all Italian it is always our go to cuisine).

            The restaurant of choice, Travinia seen above, was nuzzled into the corner of a vibrant shopping center.  The outing of the restaurant had a huge sign that said Wine Bar raising my expectations of the place.  The inside was an upscale bar with modern lights and bar top.  The dining area was very cliché with raised sitting and tables scattered.  My family and I were seated at a table near the window in the far side of the restaurant.  Good thing too because when wine starting flowing everyone gets louder!

            The three wines were ordered and brought out first. “Canto de Apalta”, “ La Terre White Zinfandel”, and “Steele Dupratt Chardonnay.”  Mussels were ordered as as appetizers.  Dinners were all Italian of course.  Mussels and bread with olive oil blend to start out with followed by dishes including, breaded veal in cream sauce, egg plant parmesan, stuffed pasta with chicken and ricotta, as well as the classic shrimp scampi.  My mom, my aunt, and myself ordered the wine of our choices, and we traded to taste with each meal.  My father order beer (not a big wine fan) but gave each a sip with his meal to help me out!

The first wine I tasted was the Steele Dupratt Chardonnay.  This wine was a 2008 vintage, 100 % Chardonnay coming from the Mendocino valley region in California.  This wine was served in a 750ml bottle.  The fragrance of the wine was a distinct sweet pear smell.  The initial taste with no food was Crisp, sweet, very easy going down a little kick in the middle of the taste but smooth all together.  This wine was tried first with mussels, and the common agreement was no, this wine should not be eaten with mussels by any means; the slight sweetness of the chardonnay with a peary taste did not go with seafood at all for my palate.  Next the wine was served with a colorful salad with vinaigrette and balsamic dressing.  The combination was great together, both mild sweetness and complement each other.  This wine was my personal choice so I tasted it when my dinner, stuffed pasta with chicken, roma tomatoes, spinach, and feta cheese with a cream sauce. I was not super fond of it, but did not dislike it. The chardonnay was too sweet for how rich the dinner was, the chicken and sauce, too heavy really for such a sweet wine.

I would have enjoyed a mild not dry red wine instead with this food. 

The second wine I tasted was the La Terre White Zinfandel.  This wine is a 2011 vintage from La Terre cellars in California made of 100 percent zinfandel grape.    The initial fragrance and taste of this wine without food was strong fruity smell, mostly raspberry and a smooth and sweet apricot taste.   This wine was not tasted with the mussles.  The wine mixed very well salad and vinaigrette the wine mixed well with salad and balsamic dressing.  The blush colored zinfandel enhances the sweetness of the dressing and just really brought out the normally timid sweet flavors of the salad.  This wine was my moms choice of wine and she enjoyed it with egg plant parm.  Her rating of the wine with her dinner was excellent.  The sauce and the wine were both very sweet and sat nicely on the palate together, complementing each others flavors.

            The third and last wine I tasted at dinner was Canto de Apalta.  This is a 2010 Red Blend Vintage from Chile, South America. It has a 14.1 percent alcohol by volume and is a blend of Carmenère, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.  The wine had no distinct fragrance other than I hate to say it but classic red wine smell.  The initial taste was smooth going down with sight bite at the end, overall slightly bitter.  I had no comment with the red and the salad, no change or notice of flavor was really observed when mixing the two.  The red blend was very good with the mussels because the sweetness of the mussels in the garlic sauce counteracted the bitterness of the red wine.  The red blend was my aunt’s choice of wine.  She had the wine with veal and cream sauce.  Her comments were not terrible but would have been better with a lighter wine because of the strong tomato based cream sauce. 

            Overall this was a great experience the zinfandel was much too sweet for my palate to be eating with food other than the salad, however I greatly enjoyed the chardonnay and the red blend.  I would absolutely like to keep experimenting with wine and food after this experience!