Palisades: New World vs. Old World

For dinner on Wednesday at Palisades there were three Chardonnay's paired with three different foods. The first pairing was a shrimp salad served over a leaf of lettuce, and that was paired with a 2014 Meiomi Chardonnay from California. The wine had a gold coloring and smelled a lot like butterscotch when I smelled it. It also had flavors or butterscotch and citrus. I tasted the salad with the wine and the food really brought out the different flavors in the wine.

The second pairing was 2015 Terranoble Chardonnay from Chile. This was paired with Pebre Pan Amasado, which is Spanish for salsa on a piece of toast. This wine was also gold, but was a lot lighter than the first wine. When I smelled it, it smelled like citrus, especially orange. When I tasted the wine it was very fruity, but acidic because of the citrus taste. The salsa on the toast was very spicy and intense, and when drinking the wine after eating the toast seemed less acidic. I think the spiciness of the salsa really affected the flavor of the wine.

The third wine was a 2014 Italo Cescon from Italy. It also had a gold color, and didn't really smell like anything to me. This wine was a lot more tart than the other two, and tasted a lot like a granny smith apple. When eating the pizza the wine didn't really change in flavor that much in my opinion.