Zeppoli's Wine/Food Pairing

Front view, outside the restaurant

On Sunday, April 21 I went to Zeppoli's at 6pm with my good friend Elmer for a nice wine-food pairing. "I was quite excited at first because I had never done anything like it. One of the biggest mistakes we made was arriving late, we were one of the last ones (if not the last ones there). There were two main bad things about arriving there so late:

My plate with food

1. The food at the buffet was almost all out when we got there, which forced me to have very small helpings of food, especially of the ones I was most excited about (for example, there was only a handful of cheeses left). I think I overheard someone saying something along the lines of one of their cooks not making it that day or the day before, which might explain why there was so little food left by the time we got there.
2. By the time we had served our plates, there were no more seats left in the small sitting area. So what we ended up doing was having one of the tables scoot a little, and me and my friend were forced to sit at the end of the table, with barely enough room for our dishes, wine glass, and glass of water (I was forced to take notes on my lap, and I could not back up because there was someone directly behind me). You can see my food on the picture above and how little space I had.
The food I was able to serve myself included bread, a small salad, a couple of cheeses, and one cracker (all of which were pretty standard taste to me). Then there also was what I assumed was something like a stuff shell made with marinara sauce. This item in particular was outstandingly awesome tasting, I really liked, probably the most of what I was able to eat, made me really wish I could have had more of it. The second best thing was the rice, which I thought was going to be bland, but it was explosive with flavors, and also had a small piece of chicken. Then the last thing there was was some meatballs with what I initially thought were potatoes, but was actually pineapple to my surprise. The meatballs were a little too sweet to my taste (to be honest I had never had sweet meatballs, which took me by surprise the first time I tried it), which made me not really like it.
Without further ado, I present to you all the bottles of wine that we tried out during our tasting, four whites and five reds for a total of nine wines.

The wines we tried in their respective order from left to right

Whites:
Firesteed 2011 Pinot Gris Oregon: The guy serving the wines gave out a very interesting fact while serving this wine, he said something along the lines that it is almost an explicit law in Oregon, and you might offend someone if you call a Pinot Gris a Pinot Grigio in Oregon. Back to the tasting itself: on the nose I felt that it had a very floral and grassy smell. I really didn't like this wine when I first tried it (too floral and grassy on the mouth), but after I ate a little of the salad I felt like it eliminated some of the tastes I found unpleasant, and was a lot better, it was almost like extra dressing. With that being said, a lot of people seemed to like this wine a lot, but I didn't really like (even though it was a little better after the salad).

Lamplighter Chardonnay

Lamplighter Chardonnay 2009 California: The smell on this wine was even more floral to me than the first one, but not grassy now, with a slight hint of vanilla. Slightly stronger vanilla on the mouth, which was also rather crispy with a slightly spicy finish. The tastes were better enhanced and complemented after eating the cheese, but I didn't notice that many radical changes like I did with the food pairing of the first one. You can see the picture of this wine to the left (stupid camera focused on the drop on the glass rather than the wine itself, and I didn't notice it until I got back home). I felt that this wine was better than the first one, but I still didn't really like it, I have had other Chardonnays  that I have liked better.

The White Knight Viognier

The White Knight Viognier 2011 Clarksburg: I got a sense of melon and peaches on this second wine, which only got stronger on the mouth, but it also came in with a slight crispiness on the mouth. All of this only got accentuated by the cheese. This was another wine that I didn't really like very much, and if you have read some of my other blog posts, you may have guessed that the reason is most likely due to the fact that I really don't like melons. You can see a picture of this wine to the right.

Beringer Chenin Blanc

Beringer 2011 Chenin Blanc California: This was the last white wine that we tried. On the nose of this last wine were hints of melon, but not overpoweringly so. It had a crispy taste to it, with typical white wine flavors and hints of apple, but it had a slightly spicy finish to it. It went really well with the chicken and rice. This was my favorite wine out of the wines (which wasn't really that hard since I didn't really like most of the other ones). There is a picture of this wine to the left, but I didn't realize until I got home that since I took it without flash, the colors wouldn't be as consistent with the other whites, but you can get the picture.


Reds:

Simple Life Pinot Noir

Simple Life Pinot Noir 2011 California: I have only had like one or two Pinot Noirs, but I was surprised by how light this Pinot Noir was since the others I've had weren't this light. On the nose I got cherry and raspberries that came in with a lot of heat (I keep getting heat on the nose of Pinot Noirs, but none on the mouth, which makes me wonder why, or if I am doing something wrong, like confusing the smells with something else). On the mouth I got very pleasant boysenberries with a spicy finish. I felt that it became too acidic after I ate the stuffed shells, it went better with the meatballs (which again, were surprisingly sweet, this was actually when I first tried them, actually expecting them to be like normal meatballs).

Riven Rock Cabernet Sauvignon 2011: When I first saw this wine, I was really surprised by how light it was for a Cabernet Sauvignon. I got cherries on the nose. These got accentuated on the mouth, with an added hint of dark berries and leather. This wine was absolutely terrible with the sweet meatballs (starting to think I just disliked those meatballs).

Renwood Syrah

Renwood Syrah 2008 Sierra Foothills: This wine was very jammy on the nose,

Me with the Renwood Syrah

very different than the other reds I had. The tannins were stronger (which where surprisingly low on the Cab) on the mouth, with a stronger leather taste, and a long tannicy finish. I have had better Syrahs, this wasn't really anything special to my palate. It tasted slightly better after I ate the cheese, flavors were a little easier to catch.





Cypress Vineyards 2010 Merlot Central Coast California: Sweet raspberry smells on the nose with a little bit of heat coming through. More raspberry on the mid-palate with a slight hint of leather, but what was rather surprising was the tannic and long finish. The dark berry tastes were significantly complemented and enhanced after stuffing my mouth with bread, cheese and crackers. This was one of my favorite wines up to this point.

Trentadue Old Patch Red' Lot #34 2010 California: On the nose I got hints of plum and blackberry. On the mouth I got a hint of what I would assume that tobacco tastes like. The bread eliminated the berry taste, and left it with only the tannic feeling, and not surprisingly, the meatballs made it absolutely terrible. Of note, the guy that was serving the wines felt bad for me and my friend because of our tight sitting, that he poured a little extra wine to us, which was awesome because this was my favorite wine out of all the ones that I tried.

Final comments:
The overall experience was nice, and informative. I got to try a bunch of wines with different foods. My only complaints would be the poor seating arrangement planning. Also, I feel that it would have been better if everyone was given a plate with food already served for them, and as the guy would be speaking, he could have recommended what foods might go well with each wine, because I was not really sure of what I was doing.
After the tasting, many people left, and other (like me) went to talk to the guy and got another serving or two of whichever wine they wanted to. I drank the Chenin Blanc again to remind myself of what it was like, and also the Cabernet Sauvignon because I couldn't help but comparing it to others that I have had in the past, and how different it was from those from Chile. I wanted to get another of the Trentadue (my favorite), but I felt like I had had enough for the moment. Afterwards I got recommendations of a dessert wine from the people at the restaurant, and ended up buying a bottle of Lambrusco at 10% off. I am excited to try a sweet red wine, which is why I got this one, even though they were recommending a Muscato more, but again, I wanted to try a new type of wine, and I've already tried the Moscato.







Fin