Beliveau Estate Winery Visit

Wines available for purchase located in lobby of winery.

I really enjoyed the Beliveau Estate wine pairing event we attended today. I feel like I really learned a lot about the basics or food and wine pairing. The way they set it up was very simple, but made it very easy to understand and allowed for first-hand and an interactive learning experience.

Plate and wine setting of pairing event. On plate:
lemon, apple, butter, cracker, salt and soft mint.

Tasting table centerpiece.

We began with the crisp and high acidity Pinot Grigio, "Kaleidoscope". On its own, it was very clean and crisp, with a refreshing feel. The acidity was prominent, but not overwhelming. With a bouquet and palate of light fruits such as pear and apricots, this was a pleasantly light white wine.

After tasting the wine on its own, we were instructed to suck the lemon a bit and then try the wine again. This pairing was very complimenting, as the acidity of the lemon made the wine smoother and sweeter. Here we learned that acidic fruits pair well with acidic wines, like Pinot Grigio.

Next we were told to take a small bite of the apple, and then follow up with a sip of the wine. This was not a compliment pairing. The sweetness of the apple exaggerated the hotness of the wine and made it almost bitter.

We then learned that acidic wines such as this one cut fat, like the butter. When instructed to try the butter paired with this wine, it was evident that the fat in the butter was broken up in my mouth and this was also a nice pairing.
Finally, the peppermint was supposed to represent very flavorful foods. After coating my mouth with the strong peppermint flavor, I tried the wine. This was not a plesant pairing as the acidity and hotness of the wine comes forward very prominently, and any light fruity flavors in the wine were lost in the overpowering flavor of the peppermint. This taught us that if a food is extremely flavorful, it should not be paired with a light, crisp wine such as this.

The next white wine we sampled was their 2012 dry, oaked Chardonnay, "Mystique". On its own, I actually found it to be a bit more watery and less full-bodied than other Chardonnays. This was surprising especially since it was noted that it was an oaked Chardonnay. It was not very buttery, which I like to see in Chardonnays, and the fruit flavors were rather dull.

This wine did not pair well with lemon. The acidity in the lemon dulled the wine down even more, making it more watery and took away any character or slight complexity it may have had.

With the butter, I did not notice much of a difference. I thought it would pair well, as an oaked Chardonnay is typically buttery, and adding some more fatty flavors on my mouth should have been complimenting, but I was rather indifferent about this pairing.

This Chardonnay however paired well with the peppermint. With its supposed bold flavors and heavier-bodied consistency as compared to the Pinot Grigio, it was not lost in the overwhelming peppermint flavor. It actually brought out the minty-ness of the mint and enhanced its flavor. Here we learned that oaked Chardonnays pair well with bold, flavorful foods.

The first red wine of the day was their 2012 lightly oaked Cabernet Sauvignon, "Silhouette". On its own it was a very pleasant Cabernet Sauvignon. Dark fruit flavors like blackberry and black currant were very pleasant on the palate and coupled with the tannins made for a great, balanced wine.

We paired this tannic with the butter and learned that tannins cut fat very well, just as acidity of a wine will. I won't go to say it was a good pairing because eating plain butter is pretty odd, but I was able to see the appeal of coupling a very fatty food with a tannic wine such as this. It brought out more of the fruit flavors in the wine and made for a pleasant change in the mouth-feel of this red wine. After the tasting was over, I actually finished my cracker with butter and mine and my friend's left over Silhouette, it was delicious!

We also paired this Cab with salt. The salt seemed to flatten out the wine and over exposed the tannins, making it rather offensive to my palate. It seemed to mask the beautiful fruit flavors incorporated into this wine, dulling it down. Here we learned that high salted foods should not be paired with heavy, tannic wines such as Cabs.

Lastly, we tried their Concord sweet table red wine, "Sweet Surrender". On the nose I immediately smelled the overwhelming sweetness and was turned off by it. I am not a big fan of sweet wines, and this was the definition of a sweet red. Extremely jammy on the nose and with a candy-like flavor, the high sugar content of this wine was too much for me.

Paired with the apple, we learned that sweet compliments sweet. This is why dessert wines are drunk with sweet desserts! The fruitiness of the wine was unmasked even further when paired with the sweet apple and it actually seemed to balance out the wine a bit more, making it more bearable in my mouth.

With the butter, the sweetness was toned down and the fruitiness was masked completely. The fat from the butter did not go well with the sweetness of the wine, so I learned to never pair a fatty steak or salmon with an extremely sweet wine such as this one.

The grape vines of Beliveau Estate.

Finally, we coupled this sweet wine with the salt. Unlike all other pairings we experience today, these opposites actually complimented each other. The sweetness of the wine counteracts the extreme salt, toning it down and making it less offensive to the palate. With this said, it is a good idea to pair sweet wines with salty foods, in order to balance out both flavors for a pleasant experience.

Following the pairing session, Derek the winemaker came out to talk to us a bit about the winery. We learned that they grow a wide variety of grapes, with their leading ones being Merlot, Syrah, Tempernillo, Cabernet Franc and Chardonelle. They were established in 2012 and have since won 48 awards, taking home some 2nd and 3rd places titles in an international wine competition just last fall.

Overall I really enjoyed my first visit to a winery and my first real pairing session. It was a beautiful estate with some quality wines and great people! I would definitely like to visit again!

Our group at Beliveau Estates!