Dinner At The Palisades

Wednesday April 15th, I had the pleasure of going to a delicious dinner at the Palisades restaurant with my wine partner in crime Renee Robus. We decided to partake in the New Zealand wine selection that they were pairing to foods that particular night.















There was a bit of a wait when we arrived so we decided to just mess around with the photoshopping joys of snapchat to pretend we were enjoying some high class wines.










The wait was a little long so while we were waiting I ordered a delicious sparkling Moscato Rose. The nose on it was incredibly fruity and floral and presented notes of orange blossom and jasmine. It slowly faded into a slightly more citrus feel that had hints of lemon, and tangerine. It was incredibly sweet and I could barely taste any alcohol. This like a few Moscatos I have tasted before definitely felt more like a soda than a wine, but it was a good warm up for the meal to come.











Finally the wines arrived and the food came out, the presentation was fantastic and the wines looked and smelled delicious.

The wine on the far left is the Waimea Edel (2010) it smelled like fresh oranges at the start of the nose and softly finished into a more floral scent that created a well balanced feeling to this wine. It was sweet but not so sweet as to be sickening and finished with the perfect amount of sour.

The wine in the middle is the Pinor Noir Vinterra (2011) this wine has officially brought me out of the world of hating red wines and into a new future that is delicious and beautiful. The nose on this wine was full of plum and caramel and just gave off the most warm feeling. I loved the way it paired with the dish.

Finally the wine on the far right is the Sauvignon Blanc Wither (2013) this was by far one of the most confusing wines I have smelled to date. I got the hints of the orange citrus hints and a small touch of lemon, however I recognized an on component to the nose that I was not able to place. Upon reading the review and seeing tomato leaf I was immediately brought back to the days of growing tomatoes in my garden at home and that smell of the stalks that the tomatoes grow on.

For some reason Blogger would not allow me to orient this image correctly so we are going to make do with what we have here. The food from top to bottom is a shrimp pizza, New Zealand Lamb, and a Bacon Tart. 

Lets start with the first dish: The Shrimp Pizza; this pizza was absolutely delicious and the shrimp was able to accent the orange pieces excellently. The Waima Edel, because of how robust and slightly sweet it was, accented the sour from the oranges and allowed the flavor of the shrimp and cheese to really shine through and made for a great pairing.

The Lamb: This was by far my favorite dish, and my favorite wine pairing which shocked even me as I typically do not enjoy red wines. The lamb was cooked perfectly and seasoned to a slightly salty finish. It was really juicy and had a lot of fullness to its design which was accented amazingly with the fullness of the Pinot Noir. The lamb was such a juicy and refreshing meal that the dryness of the wine was a perfect accent that just left you in a perfect neutral state. I honestly will be ordering this wine and this dish the next time I go back just so I can enjoy it again. I thought that the red wine would be too thick and over bearing for the already thick lamb meat but it ended up being what I enjoyed the most.

Finally the Bacon Tart: The bacon tart, though lacking distinctly in bacon was light and flaky with just the perfect hint of cheese. The refreshing garden feel of the Sauvignon Blanc really paired well and gave the whole ensemble a really light feeling. This is the kind of thing I could see myself sitting on a patio on a summer day enjoying. The Sauvignon Blanc paired great but it unfortunately was no contender compared to the Lamb/Pinot combo.



This was a really great experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to really learn to understand how foods and wines can pair together. Previous to this I never really understood what that meant but now I feel like I have a greater appreciation for it.