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The front of the Palisades on a gorgeous spring day!
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| The town of Eggleston |
After a whole semester of trying, I finally convinced my mom to do a wine dinner with me. Having gone to the Palisades in Eggleston, VA with friends, I thought it would be a great place to take my mom (I offered to pay, of course). We had our dinner on Thursday, April 25th.
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| Some of the interior decorations. |
The theme of the night was rose blends and featured wines from Portugal, South Africa, and Virginia. A rose is a pink wine that can be sweet, semi sweet, or dry. Roses can have a range of colors and get their colors from the grapes and skin contact.
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| Wines Around the World: Rose Blends dinner write up. |
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| My mom! |
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| Me! |
Our dinner pairing consisted of Beef Tenderloin with spicy strawberries, a Scallop and Salmon Ceviche with Grapefruit instead of the Scallop and Almond Ceviche and Braised Rhubarb with Vanilla. My mom was so excited, saying this was one of the most fancy dinners she's had in a very long time.
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| The waitress first brought out what she called a "muse". It was a lime, coconut , and banana smoothie. |
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| The dinner and wine. From left to right is the ceviche, rhubarb, and beef tenderloin. |
The first wine on the left was a 2011 Vera Vinho Verde from Portugal. This was both my favorite and my mom's favorite wine of the night. By itself it smelled like cherries. When we tasted it, it had a little fizz, a little bitterness, and tasted like cherries. It was a little hot on the finish. With the ceviche there was no noticeable change in my palate. My mom thought it brought out the sourness of the grapefruit. With the meat the wine was very good! The meat helped calm down the hot finish on the wine. I thought with the rhubarb the wine calmed down the rhubarb's tartness. My mom thought it was gross with the rhubarb.
The second wine in the middle was a 2012 De Morgenzon DMZ Cabernet Rose from South Africa. By itself it smelled sour to me. On the taste it tasted like strawberries and sour cherries with a peppery finish. There was definitely a tannic bitterness present also. With the ceviche it just didn't work and honestly, I just didn't want to try it again with the ceviche to figure out why it didn't work. With the meat it wasn't bad. The meat help calm down the tannic aspect of the wine. My mom and I were both in agreement that this wine paired best with the rhubarb. The tartness of the rhubarb and the vanilla in the rhubarb matched well with the sour cherries and spicy, bitter finish of the wine.
The last wine, a 2011 Lovingston Rose from Virginia, was our least favorite wine. It smelled like dark cherries, raspberries, and plums. On the taste it was the most bitter out of the three and I think that's why it turned both my mom and I off. She actually didn't pair it with any of the food because she disliked it that much. I thought it paired best with the ceviche. The bitterness of the wine was balanced by the grapefruit and peppers in the ceviche. With the meat, I thought the bitterness was somehow elevated. And finally with the rhubarb it was just nasty.
I was very sad when the waitress didn't bring the bottles through so we could take pictures, but the restaurant was extra busy that night.
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| They bring out the check in a cute little mason jar! |
All and all, I really enjoyed my evening with my mom. I don't get to spend a ton of time with her because she works 12 hour shifts as a dispatcher so this was a extra special treat for me right before finals. I think she really enjoyed it too as since on the way back to my apartment she couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had. I learned a lot about her wine taste and she enjoyed having me share what I've learned in class. I'll definitely have more wine outings with her in the future as I see it as a great opportunity for some mother-daughter bonding!
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| My mom and I outside the restaurant. |
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