Over spring break my boyfriend and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas. We left out of Baltimore, MD so we had a few days at sea at the start of our cruise. There are several "excursions" which are pretty much ways that Carnival can steal more of your money, which totally works by the way. One of these excursions was a wine and food pairing with Sommelier Ivan (sweet name I know). It was $25 dollars so we thought what the heck and did this instead of lunch one day. It was at the nicer restaurant which you had to pay more for instead of the dining room which was included in the cruise fee. The place was awesome, it was at the highest point of the ship so the view was beautiful and there were murals and mirrors surrounding everything. Our guide Ivan was adorable and very informative. He told us we were going to see how food can change the tastes of the wines. They filled our 5 glasses with generous portions of five different wines and brought out a plate for each of us with various items so we could taste them with the wines. The only gave us the countries where the wines were from by the way, not the regions.
Clifford Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zeland
This wine was very pale in color. It tasted very acidic and had hints of citrus and green apple and I found it to be very earthy. We paired it with green apple. After taking a bite of the apple and then sipping the wine, it changed the taste of the wine to be less acidic and more mellow, which I found to be much more enjoyable afterwards.
Zonin Pinot Grigio from Italy
This wine was a light gold color, darker than the Clifford Bay. It had a less strong scent than the first wine. I found it to have not much taste and to be a little bitter. Another person at the tasting said it reminded her of "fresh cut grass" which doesn't sound very appealing. This wine was paired with salmon. After the fish it seemed to express more flavors and seemed a little lighter. Next we tried it with a bite of lemon with some salt on it. This taste of wine after was even more different and was sweeter and fruiter.
Robert Mondavi Chardonnay from USA
Of the white wines this had the darkest, strongest gold color. It had an oaky smell kind of like fresh wood. This wine was very heavy and had a creamy taste and I got a lot of oak out of it. This was paired with a marmalade and afterwards it tasted lighter, less oaky, and seemed to have a lighter body.
Then our guide told us about tears when swirling the wine in your glass. When the tears are close together and slow it means there is a higher alcohol content.
Mirassou Pinot Noir from USA
This had a light red color and its scent was very pungent of red berries and spice even outside of the glass as we swirled it. The taste was nice because it was dry but also very light. This was paired with filet mignon that was DELICIOUS however when tried with the wine I really only got the steak taste because the wine was so light. He told us this was a bad pairing. Then we tasted with strawberries and it was a good pairing because it gave the wine more depth and became light and fruity.
Black Swan Shiraz from Australia
The guide referred to Shiraz as "a cowboy in a tuxedo." This was of a much darker color than the Pinot Noir. The scent was strong and spicy with more pepper than the previous red. It tasted of burnt oak and darker berries like currants. The tears of this wine fell very fast, but the alcohol percentage was 14% so I was not surprised. He also said for this type of wine they allow the grapes to be over ripened. First we paired this with green apple as the bad pairing example. It tasted really strange with an awkward bitter taste that I couldn't really put my finger on ... but it was NOT GOOD.
Our guide gave us more of all the wines and let us finish up our food at the end and told us to try everything together to see what we liked. He said that Brie cheese was the best pairing for most all wines because it just makes the wine tastes better by smoothing and softening the taste so that it is more rounded and easier on the palate. I had to agree! He also gave us some more tips. He said that when eating sweet foods you should drink a sweeter wine so that the taste is not overpowered, hence desert wines. He also told us that when in doubt when choosing a wine to pair with food just use a Champagne! He also told us that we should match the body of the wine with the food for the best pairing. All in all it was a great time! The steak and fish were very good and we got nice size portions of all the wines so I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Now for some pics.
Heres the wines! I took notes on that paper they were sitting on.
Here's my food plate. We got extra plates of the meats.
Here's how it ended!
My flash broke on the trip which is the reason for the awkward lighting.
