Wine Dinner- 622 North

Me at the 622 North wine dinner!

This week I did a wine dinner with my roommate Allie, and we had a great time trying all of the different wines with the different foods. We decided to go with an American theme, so the three wines we tasted were Sawtooth (Late Harvest Riesling) from Snake River Valley, Idaho, Paraiso (Pinot Noir) from Monterey, California, and Jekel (Chardonnay) from Monterey, California as well. We paired these wines with a cheese platter, a corn salsa with chips, and a spring mandarine salad. These pairings can be seen in the picture below. 

The three wines with the three food choices. 

Jeckel paired with the spring salad.

I first paired the Jeckel (Chardonnay) with the spring mandarine salad. The wine by itself smelled like an apple or a pear with some honey accents. The flavors of this wine were kind of earthy. I thought this wine was surprisingly ry and a little bit tart. However, it was very smooth and crisp on the palate. The salad had a very interesting mandarine-esque dressing on it that had a basil and mint flare to it. This wine paired well with the salad, and the flavors of the salad actually brought out a certain spiciness to the wine. Overall, this was a good pairing. Although this was claimed to bring a spring salad, it actually reminded me more of fall flavors, especially when paired with this wine. 

Sawtooth with the corn salsa & tortilla chips

Next, I paired the Sawtooth (Late Harvest Riesling) with the corn salsa and tortilla chips. The salsa tasted a lot like pico del gallo with a little bit of corn. I absolutely loved this wine, and it might possibly be one of my more favorite wines to date. It had a bit of a maple syrup smell to it with hints of apple. It kind of reminds me of a caramel covered apple. The wine was very sweet, but in more of a dessert way rather than fruity. This pairing brought out tons of spiciness to the salsa. I was kind of surprised that this pairing went so great together because of the contrast between the flavors. This was a terrific pairing. 

Paraiso with the cheese platter. 

Finally I paired the Paraiso (Pinot Noir) with the cheese platter. This wine smelled like blackberries with maybe a little bit of cherry. It was extremely dry, and there really weren't many flavors to it. Overall, I thought this wine was very bland, and it wasn't the wine for me. I thought that this paired well with the cheese on the crackers because the carbohydrates kind of calmed the dryness of the wine. I absolutely loved the green cheese that came with this platter. It was very smooth and had almost a vegetable like cheddar taste to it. I though that the cheddar paired well with the wine, but it kind of overpowered the taste of the cheddar just a little bit. The white cheese on this platter tasted a little bit like either bleu cheese or brie cheese. Overall, this pairing was not one of my favorites, but I think that is primarily due to the fact that I did not like the wine. 

This dinner was a great way to end the semester, and I am so glad I got to have this experience. Of all the dinners that I've participated in, I think I enjoyed the wines of this one the most. I also think these wines paired the best with the foods, and it was probably due to the fact that we had a professional advising us to pair certain wines with certain flavors. The staff at 622 North was so friendly, and I would definitely go back for another experience like this. It was very educational to find out which wines pair best with which foods, and it was even more interesting to put those tips to practice by actually tasting the pairings. 

The three wines

The 622 North menu

Specials: Spring Salad