Drink This Now! Lesson #1

 

For the DTN Lesson #1, I drank Alain Jaume Roquedon Lirac. Vintage Cellar was out of the wine on the list, so Christian recommended the Alain Jaume Roquedon Lirac The wine have a vintage year of 2020 and is made from 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre, and 10% Carignan.

1) Open the Bottle and Try Immediately: The color of the wine was dark red, much darker than a pinot noir in my opinion. For the first swirl and sniff test, the wine smelt like a flattened out cherry. For the first sip, I got notes of grapefruit, pomegranate, oak, and paint. The wine tasted acidic on the front end, but sweet on the back end.

2) After 2 Hours: After letting the bottle open and sit for 2 hours the order of acidity and sweetness flipped from when I first tried it. It tasted sweet on the front end and way less acidic on the back end.

3) With the Cheese: I tried the wine with Provolone Piccante cheese from Italy. I wasn't too fond of the cheese, but it definitely had an impact on the wine. After eating a piece of cheese and trying sipping again, the wine almost lost all of its flavor. The wine basically tasted like cheese and a lot less like wine. It also flattened out the acidity even though I expected the opposite.

4) Wine with Spicy Foods: I had the wine with a spicy steak I was also eating for my wine dinner. The steak was smothered with black pepper and jalapeño juice. The wine itself made the steak taste much juicier. The spiciness from the hints of jalapeño and black pepper dulled the acidity of the wine, but heightened the flavor of jalapeño. 

Conclusion: Personally, this wasn't my favorite bottle of wine. Letting the wine sit for 2 hours definitely made a difference on the texture and acidity of the wine, something I enjoyed learning/experiencing. I wasn't expecting the flavor/acidity of the wine to change the way it did when I tried it with cheese and the spicy food. I probably won't be buying this wine again, but it was fun to experiment with.