Dinner - Ribeye and Potatoes

 

From left to right: Me, Bob, and Ryan

My roommate, Bob, is also taking Geography of Wine this semester, so we got together with our third roommate Ryan to do this dinner. We decided to make a Caesar salad, ribeye streak, and fingerling potatoes. We paired the salad with chardonnay, the steak with Malbec, and the potatoes with a rose. We did a few Google searches on the way to Kroger to determine these pairings.

Caesar salad with croutons

Name: Chateau St. Jean

Variety: Chardonnay

Region: California

Country: United States

Year: 2019

My review on its own: 

On its own, the Chardonnay was acidic, with an apple aroma and taste with a slight hint of lemon.

My review with salad:

With the salad, the Chardonnay was much sweeter as the creamy dressing canceled out the acidity. Any acidity that was left was relegated to the aftertaste. Some pear flavor came out when taking a "big gulp." This was a good pairing.

Ribeye steak and fingerling potatoes

Name: Padrillos

Variety: Malbec

Region: Mendoza

Country: Argentina

Year: 2020

My review on its own:

On its own, the Malbec had a deep aroma with a hint of oak or leather. It was dry and tannic, with a bit of oaky flavor.

My review with steak:

With the steak, the grape flavors really came out with the fat absorbing the tannins. It was less dry and less intense. Drinking after eating a bite with a substantial amount of fat resulted in a very pleasant aftertaste. This was a very good pairing, so much so that from now on I'll drink a red with steak every time.

Name: Chalkboard

Variety: Rose, no grape given

Region: None Given

Country: France

Year: 2019

My review on its own:

The Rose was very similar to the Chardonnay on its own in terms of acidic, apple flavor. Overall, it was bolder and more intense.

My review with potatoes:

There was a very nice sweet and salty contrast with the Rose and the potatoes that resulted in a much more noticeable fruit flavor. I could really taste the blend of sweet fruits that was advertised on the bottle, including peach. We also tried putting ketchup on the potatoes, which yielded interesting results. I thought a bit of ketchup served to cancel out some of the acidity, but too much ketchup made the Rose taste like water. The potatoes and Rose were a good pairing, but the addition of ketchup spoiled it.