Dinner - Palisades (Italy)

I was very excited for the theme of Palisade's Wines Around the World this week. Although its pretty basic, Italian food is one of my favorites and whether or not I am at an Italian restaurant, I generally order pizza or pasta anywhere I go. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the full experience of this week's theme because even though we made reservations and arrived long before 8:30, the restaurant had run out of 2 of the planned dishes, the gnocchi and the chicken. We were pretty disappointed to hear this, but made it work anyways. First, the three wines were brought out which gave us a chance to taste them all separately.

The Orvieto Classico was a very good white wine.

From left to right: La Carraia Orvieto Classico (2013),
Tiamo Chianti (2013), Bonaventura Rosso Toscano (2009)

It had nice body to it with a light citrus flavor and a smooth, silky finish. I really enjoyed it because I found it to be very well balanced and refreshing. Fuller than Sauv Blanc, but lighter than Chardonnay, this wine had a very pleasing mouthfeel. Since they ran out of gnocchi, they substituted this dish wish the spicy shrimp dip. We had ordered this as an appetizer the last time we ate at Palisades, so I already knew I liked this dish. Paired with the Orvieto, the only difference I noticed was that the spiciness was toned down. It was pleasant, but perhaps not the best pairing.

Next was the Chianti. It had this very familiar bouquet to it but I simply could not put my finger on it. I settled to say it was a woody/leafy smell with a hint of stinky, perhaps rotting fruit. Now, that sounds really gross, but combined with a light floral bouquet, the aroma wasn't as offensive as one may think. On

From left to right: Winter Bruschetta,
Spicy Shrimp Dip with Pita, Italian Pizza

the palate I found it to be very dry and full of tannins. Because of this, it had a velvety mouth-feel with flavors of black cherry and blackberry on the palate. A very nice wine, and a good experience as my first Chianti. In lieu of the chicken dish, they provided us with the winter bruschetta appetizer to pair with the Chianti. I found this to be the best pairing! The bruschetta was bursting with fruity flavors with an underlying herby-ness to it. The earthy taste of the Chianti complimented the sweet fruits very nicely and masked some of the original acidity I picked up when tasting the Chianti alone. The bruschetta also helped to open up the wine to its even fruitier undertones. Very impressive pair!

Lastly was the 2009 Toscano. I was eager to try this as we have learned from multiple sources that 2009 was a great year for most of the world and especially in Europe. On the nose it was rather acidic but well complimented with raspberry and strawberry aromas. On the palate, surprisingly, I felt it tasted young. Despite the 6 year aging, this wine felt like it needed a few more years to open up and release the complex fruit flavors. Full-bodied and with a smoky finish, unfortunately I was not impressed with this wine. Paired with the pizza, it didn't get much better. I found the pizza to be too bland, lacking flavors the wine may have needed to release the fruitiness of it. 

Because we felt like the three dishes weren't going to be enough, we also decided to order the Cherry Glazed Chicken and share.

This was by far my favorite dish of the night! The cherry chutney atop a juicy chicken breast sprinkled with bacon bits was delicious! On the side we also got mashed potatoes and sweet mashed potatoes. We paired the chicken and mashed potatoes with all three wines and found it to best pair with the Chianti, followed by the Orvieto. The cherry flavors of the Chianti went extremely well with the black, darker cherry flavors of the Chianti and overall made this a great pairing. the refreshing feel of the Orvieto also went great with the juicy chicken.

Although the night did not go as we expected, it was still a delicious meal that gave me some great food and wine pairing ideas for the future.