Paired Up: Red Blend and Mushroom Lasagna

In our Paired Up posts, we review a wine and the food we wisely (or foolishly) paired it with. 

The Wine

2008 SuLei Cellars Beet Red

We picked this bottle up at the winery during 2011 Spring Release Weekend in Walla Walla. It was our second visit to SuLei Cellars, having been lured in the year before by an adorable little puppy. The wines were our reward for following our hearts, and the following year's releases were so good that we bought a bottle of each. The Beet Red is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Malbec, and 20% Cabernet Franc. We expected some full flavors for this meal, and wanted a wine that would complement the earthiness of mushrooms. This wine stuck out as one that had that dirty goodness, its name is Beet Red after all, so we popped it open and decanted it for a couple hours before tasting. It was a bit tight on opening, so the airing out was a definite plus.

The Food

Hunter stayed out of the kitchen once again. In Katy's words:

Paired Up: Merlot/Cabernet Franc Blend and Chipotle Steak

In our Paired Up posts, we review a wine and the food we wisely (or foolishly) paired it with. 

The Wine

2007 Fjellene Cellars The North Col Blend

We picked this bottle up at the winery during Spring Release Weekend in Walla Walla. Our wine group had not been to Fjellene and wanted to check it out this time around. We all came away very impressed by the array of smooth, fruity wines on offer. We have found that we are suckers for Merlot-Cabernet Franc blends, so we grabbed a bottle of this 50-50 mix. Having had success with this type of blend paired with steak before, we selected this one to partner with a different style of steak. It was on our rack for a few weeks before we tabbed it for this meal. It decanted while the meal was prepared - so, not very long - but didn't show any tightness on the nose.

The Food

Hunter stayed out of the kitchen once again. In Katy's words:

Paired Up: Red Blend and BBQ Pizza

In our Paired Up posts, we review a wine and the food we wisely (or foolishly) paired it with. 

The Wine

2007 Zerba Cellars Wild Z (Walla Walla Valley)

We did a different spin on the pizza/wine pairing this time in that the pizza was homemade and the toppings were different. Since our last red blend with pizza pairing was such a rousing success, we figured there was no need to mess with that aspect this time.We wanted something that was new but a bit familiar and we wanted to keep the price around the $20. We have been out to Zerba Cellars, yet had not had a bottle of this wine - perfect! Familiar yet new, just like this pairing!

Wild Z is a blend of mainly Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, with a splash of Cabernet Franc. We bought this one at Metropolitan Market and gave it about a half hour in the decanter before we were ready to taste. We didn't notice the nose being tight at all, so that seemed to be enough time.

The Food

Hunter helped on this one by staying out of the way. In Katy's words:

Paired Up: Merlot/Cabernet Franc Blend and Steak in Chocolate Sauce

In our Paired Up posts, we review a wine and the food we wisely (or foolishly) paired it with. 

The Wine

2009 Buty Winery Merlot & Cabernet Franc (Columbia Valley)

We wanted to do a Merlot for this tasting, but we didn't think the one bottle in our cellar was quite ready and we didn't find any varietal Merlots that tickled our fancy. We tried a bottle of the 2008 vintage of this blend with an excellent dinner at Monsoon in Capitol Hill a couple nights prior to this meal, where it worked Buty-fully with a wide variety of dishes. The strength of the wine was great with steak, and we felt that the chocolate notes would mesh well with the chocolate sauce in this meal. Alas, the 2008 was not to be found, so we picked up a bottle of the 2009 at McCarthy & Schiering in Queen Anne while out on a walk. We packed it back down the hill and it sat in our living room for a few days before we got a chance to cook this dinner. It decanted for about 20 minutes before tasting, and really should have aired out more as it got better as the night wore on.

The Food

This one was all Katy - the only thing Hunter helped with was the eating. In the chef's words:

Moving on up! After mastering the leg of lamb, I'm feeling like getting a little edgy- onto the Beef Tenderloin! We knew that we wanted to taste a Merlot, and since, in our opinions, Merlot just comes off as a generic-panic at the cellar-"I didn't know what to buy, so I got this because I've heard of it" wine, we wanted to try something a little unconventional for the dish.

Paired Up: Red Blend and Pizza

In our Paired Up posts, we review a wine and the food we wisely (or foolishly) paired it with. 

The Wine

2007 Beresan Winery The Buzz (Walla Walla Valley)

Since we were having a pizza with a little bit of everything, we wanted a wine with a little bit of everything. This one fit the bill: it's a blend of 40% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot and 10% Malbec.We first tried this blend at Beresan Winery just south of Walla Walla during Spring Release last year, and we picked up a bottle at that time. That bottle is long gone; this one came from Fred Meyer. It rested at room temperature in our dining room wine rack for a couple months until it got pulled for this meal. We opened and decanted it about 30 minutes before tasting. It didn't seem to need even that long, though. We could smell this one beckoning us from across the room right away. It's truly a pop and pour wine.

The Food

After a long day of hiking around Seattle, Hunter took the reigns on making this meal happen. In the chef's words:

This was a tough one. First, I consulted Katy to decide whether we wanted a cheesy pizza or a toppings-driven pie. Toppings was the consensus, so I went online to Zeek's Pizza to bring up the "Super Awesome," a custom pizza with pepperoni, spinach, pineapple, mushrooms, roma tomatoes and roasted garlic. Unfortunately, Zeek's website had been updated since we last ordered and I could not simply recall a saved order, meaning I had to check all those boxes individually... what trials!