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: Viognier and Spicy Seared Sole

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

The Wine

2009 Rulo Viognier (Walla Walla Valley)

We had this dish with tilapia in place of the sole a few weeks ago and paired it with a Gewürztraminer, which worked out pretty well. This time, we opted for a Viognier, hoping that it would complement the cayenne kick that we are on.

The bottle was purchased at Metropolitan Market in Lower Queen Anne. We found Rulo's 2007 Syrah outstanding and were looking forward to seeing what they could do with the other Northern Rhône grape. After purchase, the wine was stored in our wine fridge for about 3 weeks. We took it out, twisted off the cap and poured within minutes of our initial tasting.

The Food

After Hunter made a rare trip to the chef's table for our first blog go-round, Katy made her triumphant return to the kitchen. In the chef's words:

Once again, we went to Martha for the jumping off point of our meal. The recipe calls for a firm white fish fillet (skinless), beets and broccoli. We left the decision of the type of fish to our local Metropolitan Market fish selection, and as they were fresh out of tilapia, went for the nice looking (and cheaper than the halibut by a whole lot!) sole fillet. As for the beets, I fancy myself a bit of a plate artist, and enjoy adding as much color as possible, so I went for a purple and a golden.