Fielder’s Choice on the Wine Tonight – VJB Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon or Wood Family Vineyards Zinfandel
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Last evening it was a toss up on which wine to go with one of our standby comfort foods, a spicy jalapeño meatloaf. The traditional approach is to have a strong tannic wine like a Cabernet Sauvignon to “cut” the fat of the hamburger meat. It also would pair well with the tomato sauce in the recipe.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
As this was a spicy meatloaf with minced jalapeño peppers mixed into the meatloaf, for an awesome spicy and flavorful dish. The thought here was to “calm down” the intensity of the spice with an enveloping dry but fruit forward semi-sweet Zinfandel.
The meatloaf consisted of both 85% and 93% fat free ground beef. Ingredients included panko breadcrumbs, egg, 6-8 minced jalapeño peppers (1/2 with seeds), minced garlic cloves, shredded sharp cheddar, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, honey and chili powder.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The meal was accompanied by a cheesy jalapeño bread that was tangy and delicious. Also sauteed halved small potatoes, asparagus and mushrooms.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
In the end the meatloaf was not quite as hot as we were expecting, so the Cabernet Sauvignon wines were the best choice for the evening. They included the previous mentioned wines, a 2020 VJB Cellars “Dante” Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2013 Outpost “True Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
For good measure we also brought out a 2014 YoungInglewood Cabernet Franc. All the wines were very good and Cabernet Sauvignon was the best choice amongst the table voting.
Sláinte,
Michael
https://californiawinesandwineries.com
https://woodfamilyvineyards.com/