Wine Dinner 1: Experimenting with Boxed Wine

I decided to have a small dinner in which I experimented with tasting wines that I usually wouldn't consider trying (minus the first wine). Boxed wine has, for many people, given the impression of being cheaply made and low quality compared to bottled wine. However, Professor Boyer stated in one of his lectures that boxed wine can actually be good quality and even has the benefit of lasting longer once opened. 

The three courses I had during this meal were as follows:

1. Salad with berries paired with Risata Moscato d'Asti '21
2. Spicy tuna sushi roll paired with Woodbridge Red Blend '17
3. Carrot Cake paired with Black Box Merlot '20

I wanted to try a few of my favorite foods paired with wines that I probably wouldn't otherwise have purchased to see just how valuable boxed wines can be.

First Course: Salad with berries paired with Risata Moscato d'Asti '21

Name: Risata Moscato d'Asti

Variety: Moscato

Country: Italy

Vintage: 2021

Price: $5.49 (quarter bottle)

This is a low alcohol, sweet sparkling wine with aromas of apple, raspberry and bread. This wine is very smooth, has a nice fruity sweetness to it as well as low tannins and a little acidity on the finish.

Pairing:

    The sweet sparkling Moscato was a nice and balanced pairing with the berries in the salad. The sweetness of both complimented each other but did not make the wine too sweet. Starting with a white sparkling wine was a nice choice for this meal as the appetizer is definitely on the lighter side. Unfortunately, some of the acidity was cut from the wine which I felt had balanced out the sweetness. It therefore became a little closer to a dessert in terms of flavor.

Second Course: Spicy tuna sushi roll paired with Woodbridge Red Blend '17

Name: Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Red Blend

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot

Region: Lodi Region

Country: California

Vintage: 2017

Price: $6.99

Dark fruit aromas of cherry and fig as well as traces of hay. Flavors of this wine remind me of strawberry jam and most interestingly, smoke. Not the most complex wine I've had but it did have some unexpected flavors.

Pairing:

    After tasting the red blend on its own I was expecting the smoke flavors in the wine to pair well with the fish and the dark fruits to blend nicely with the spice. 

    While tasting the two together, I noticed the spice from the sushi made the wine taste a little too acidic. I don't think the red blend was sweet enough to balance out the spice and ultimately made the wine taste much heavier. It also made the tuna taste much fishier which I usually would not consider a good thing. It overpowered the wine more than I would've hoped.

    I don't think this was a bad pairing, but a fruitier white wine would likely have complimented the sushi more, and vice versa.

    Extra Note: The pickled ginger on the side tasted really good with the wine. It cut back some of those heavy fruit flavors and complimented the slight smoke.

Final Course: Carrot Cake paired with Black Box Merlot '20

Name: Black Box Merlot

Variety: Merlot

Region: Grands Vins De La Vallee De La Loire

Country: California

Vintage: 2020

Price: $5.99

This wine smells woody and a little like oats and grain. Fruit is also present most resembling black currant and cherry. This wine is very tannic and relatively acidic but has some sweetness to back it up. Similar fruits as well as an earthy flavor are present.

Pairing:

    This pairing was overall very pleasant. The sweetness of the carrot cake almost perfectly balanced the acidity and tannins. The fact that this cake was carrot cake rather than chocolate or fruity cake also made this very work much better than expected. Since carrots are not too sweet and a little more earthy, it worked well with the earthiness of the wine. 

    When the wine first hits your tongue it feels like it is going to overpower the wine but it ended up balancing out perfectly. This was definitely the best pairing of the night.

Conclusions:

    My initial impressions that boxed wines cannot be that good were definitely disproven during this meal. I would not say the wines on their own were the best, but I can see them being very good with the right foods. I'm sure there are plenty of even higher quality boxed wines on the market and I will definitely check them out in the future.