Wine & Cheese Blog

 So I attended a wine tasting with my mom. We went to Ashton Creek Vineyard. We went during spring break as a bonding activity. So we arrived and ordered our drinks and our cheese board. I selected the Reserve Tasting Which included three new wines I hadn't tasted and one I had already tasted. The three new ones were the Petit Manseng, After Hours, and Bailey’s Bold. We decided to sit outside but since my mom had never been there before we decided to look around while we waited for our order so there are some images of us just looking at the views and the nice calming vibes the vineyard had. Once we settled into our chairs we were able to start doing our tastings. So I started with my wines and tasted the different wines alone before the cheese board arrived. 

First was the Petit Manseng. I smelt it and it had this huge scent. It was extremely strong but not a strong scent of flavors like woody, floral or fruity. It was a ridiculous scent of alcohol that resembled the smell of liquor from the ABC store. It did turn around and do better when tasting. It had a plain scent so I was assuming it would pair well with the cheeses and that they may balance out the alcohol scents and add some flavors. 

Second was the After Hours. I did my Swirl and Sniff and it had this melodious sweet smell. It had this really fruity smell and gave off these pleasant aromas and if I was walking through a strawberry field and it had orange trees with a hint of lemons. I didn't get all those smells but for you to see and think of what it felt like to smell the fruits from this wine. The actual fruits I seemed to get when smelling were strawberries and cherries. The strawberries were very strong which made me excited to try the wine . Then we tasted it and my mom said it was too strong and very bitter. I tasted it and really liked it because it tasted like strawberry but it did have a weird aftertaste that seemed to mix a lot of strong lingering flavors. 

Third was Bailey's Bold. It had a scent of the traditional table grapes that we eat on a regular basis. It also seemed to smell of flowers. It was very dry but was smooth going down but didn't like it overall. Not really sure why maybe I am just not a dry wine drinker

I then got the cheese board and began to taste the three cheeses which were White Cheddar,

Red Dragon, and Aged Gouda. The Red Dragon was very nice and seemed to be flexible. I was able to place it easily without crumbles and seemed like a nice dip. The Aged was very hard and crumbled a lot. I did not like its taste alone. 

Then I reviewed the wine with the cheeses. I paired the Manseng with the white cheddar and Aged Gouda. This seemed to remain the same when tasting it with the wine but once I tried it with the Red Dragon I was able to taste the pepper flakes in the cheese and it enhanced the flavors of the cheese when tested with this plain like Manseng 

I then did the After Hours. The white cheddar taste was muted when eaten with the wine. It was paired extremely well with the Red Dragon. All the spices allowed it to balance all the taste well and the alcohol as well as its bitterness. The Red Dragon also had mustard in it as a mix in and when tasting with this wine you could really taste the mustard instead of just smelling it from the cheese. 

 

Lastly was Bailey's Bold. It made the white cheddar very bitter and foul tasting. It did seem to pair nicely with the Red Dragon but it cooled it down and made it seem less spicy and that was soothing and nice for my taste buds. The aged Gouda did not taste right with this one because they were both very dry items that just seemed to not mesh well. 

Overall I enjoyed this wine tasting and cheese experience. It was nice to also go out with my mom. We will differently be doing more events like this and maybe at other vineyards.