Wine Dinner - Home "Steak & Greens paired with the Old World!"

First off, I just want to thank you for making this an assignment as it brought my roommates, strangers, puppies, and others and I together to make an excellent steak dinner with multiple sides, as opposed to the usual West End or Owens dinner.  I not only had some excellent practice making steak, asparagus, and artichokes, but also thoroughly enjoyed pairing dinner with a bunch of good wine.  

We had 5 different wines which including a Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, and a Shiraz.  I suppose I'll just focus on three to make it less chaotic, for those I choose the Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfindel and Shiraz.  The Sauvignon Blanc, Villebois, is a 2012 vintage from France.  The Shiraz, Fat Bastard is a 2012 vintage from France as well.  The Zinfandel, JC van Staden, is a 2012 vintage from Lodi, California.  We had lots of food including cheese & crackers, steak, artichoke, asparagus, and taters.  

Our puppy Ollie was down for the count after the first round of food pairings.  But no worries, he rallied later and had some great input in our wine discussion. 

We started off pairing our Sauvignon Blanc with some Cranberry cheese spread.  The garlic herb crackers we used were perfect with the cheese.  The wine and cheese together were fantastic.  It really brought out the minerality of the Sauvignon Blanc from the start.  

After the appetizer (Crackers & Cheese) we moved the party to the back room where we enjoyed pairing the two red wines, Shiraz and Zinfandel, with our steak and  veggies, asparagus and artichokes.  I must say that I really enjoyed the Zinfandel paired with the steak.  The Zinfandel was very well balanced with hints of both dark fruits and light spice on the back end.  Washing down a bite of steak with it was quite the delight. 

The asparagus was so well cooked.  We roasted it in the oven with oil, salt, pepper, and soy sauce.  I thought it paired much better with the zinfandel as well.  I'm not sure if the Shiraz didn't pair as well or if it was just because I wasn't as much of a fan of it as I was of the Zinfandel.     

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this Sunday evening.  It was a great finish to a long day of school work. Look forward to another wine dinner pairing next week!