Dinner: Home Cooked Meal

About to enjoy our meal with two different wines!

 Another dinner with Sydney and Jude accompanied by too much wine! Simple, yet delicious, the menu consisted of:

- Brie cheese spread on french baguette
- Spaghetti with meatball sauce
- Garlic bread

Brie and French bread appetizer! 

Cooking the meatballs in tomato sauce.

Chopped onions added to the red sauce!

Preparing the garlic bread!

We decided to pair the dinner with two different wines, Crucero Colchagua Valley, Chile Carmenere 2009 and Ebano from the Ribera del Duero Region of Spain (tempranillo.)

Pepper explosion!

Perfection in a bottle!

The Carmenere is described by discountvino.com as “Deep ruby. Cherry, blackcurrant and dark cherry on the nose. Juicy dark fruit flavors turn slightly bitter in the middle palate and are framed by dusty tannins. Finishes with tightly focused bitter cherry and pepper qualities and decent length. Aged 25% in American oak barrels for 3 months. Pairs well with chicken, pasta, red meats, cheeses.”  My number one description of this wine is peppery explosion. Like walking though the spice isle in a grocery store, it was really overbearingly peppery with little other flavors.

As reviewed by the vintage cellar, “the 2007 Ebano 6 is 100% Tempranillo aged 4 months in French oak. Dark ruby red in color, it displays a pleasant bouquet of cedar, spice box, violets, black cherry, and blackberry. Medium-to fullbodied on the palate with savory flavors and plenty of spice, this racy, vibrant Tempranillo has enough structure to drink well over the next 5-6 years and is a very good value.” This description  persuaded my purchase! Ebano 6 contains everything that I crave in a wine; oaky, spicy, dark berry flavors, and full bodied wines always impress my palette. My review of Ebano 6 was similar to the store review. Spicy, dark berry aromas mixed with smooth spices and dark cherry flavors added Ebano 6 to my top favorite wines.

Finished Meal!

Wine paired with food:

Crucero: Surprisingly, when paired with brie and toasted french bread, the overwhelming pepperiness toned down and light blackberry tones were revealed. When paired with spaghetti and meatballs, Crucero transformed from unappetizing peppery explosion to orgasmic soft spiciness that complimented the melt in your mouth quality of the tender meatballs. Overall, this wine must be paired with food for the pepper flavors to be toned down enough to enjoy.

Ebano 6: Already perfect in balance of oak, dark berries and spices, Ebano 6 did not evolve much with the added flavors of dinner. It was perhaps a bit fuller, and the garlic bread brought out the spiciness and a hint of green pepper.