Not every meal calls for a voluptuous red to accompany it. In fact, there are many meals that are better accompanied by a white. When pairing food, it’s good to think about the flavors you are working with. Recently, we decided to try pairing two different Chardonnay wines: The Dreaming Tree 2013 Central Coast Chardonnay and Catena 2010 Chardonnay, Mendoza Argentina. I paired them with fish tacos with homemade flour tortillas. You can find the flour tortilla recipe here. If you persuade me, I will write up the recipe for the fish tacos and share it in a later post. They were absolutely delicious!
The Dreaming Tree 2013 Central Coast Chardonnay ($15.99 Wine.com)
I’ve really enjoyed The Dreaming Tree’s 2009 Crush ($16.99 Wine.com) in the past when we’ve had it out at restaurants. When we saw that they had a Chardonnay, I was excited to give it a try. For the uninitiated, The Dreaming Tree is a collaboration between Dave Matthews (yes the Dave Matthews) and Steve Reeder. The wines are usually under $20, and they are easy to find. When I don’t see something I recognize among the options available to me, I order a glass or pick up a bottle. They’re also good wines for those who aren’t necessarily “wine people” but who have moved beyond box wine and wines like Gallo and Yellow Tail.
The wine itself is a lovely straw color when poured. Dreaming Tree’s Chardonnay smelled of honey and citrus. When tasting, it had notes of pears, apples, and nectarines – without being overly fruity. There was a hint of oak on the end, and it was lighter than many chardonnays, but not as light as say a Sauv Blanc or Pinot Grigio. It was definitely a young white wine, and that quality stood out against the Catena. It went well enough with the fish tacos to be the kind of wine you can pull out on a whim during the week and enjoy with dinner.
Catena 2010 Chardonnay, Mendoza, Argentina ($20 Wine.com)
The Catena family has been producing wines since 1902. That’s a lot of time for them to perfect the vineyards they have in Mendoza, Argentina. This Chardonnay had been in our cellar for a little while, and the smooth body of it reflected that. The grapes for this wine were grown in the family vineyards in Lujan de Cuyo and Tupungato – at altitudes of 3,000-4000 feet. While the wine is smooth, you get a hint of the mineral quality from the mountains reflected on the palate. It’s the perfect amount of oak to give it a nice body, without overpowering the wine. Like the Dreaming Tree, there were notes of apples and pears as well as citrus in this wine, but it also had vanilla. Because I’d battered the fish in a sparkling wine mixture, it was the better pairing of the two.
Have you tried either of these wines? What were your thoughts on them? I enjoyed both.
*The links in this post are affiliate links. Should you click on them and make a purchase, I will receive compensation. Purchasing from my links helps to support my family and keep this blog running. However, the two wines discussed in this post were from my personal collection; the links are for your reference should you decide you would like a convenient way of purchasing either or both.*
