Dinner - Palisades (Local Cuisine)

Palisades is a restaurant located in Eggleston, Virginia. They usually do a themed dinner/wine tasting each week, and this week the theme was local cuisine with wines from wineries nearby. I went with two fellow students from the class, and one who was just interested in trying new things out, The restaurant itself is located off 460, and it takes a winding road off it to get to it. There is no service near there, so our phone lost signal on the GPS for a little. Once reached, we were seated, and the staff working there knew about the Geography of Wine class at Virginia Tech. The environment was very quaint, and it is a very pretty little restaurant. The restaurant is very friendly. I am a vegetarian, so I called ahead the night before to make sure I had any options to eat. The restaurant made sure to get me the best, and the appropriate vegetarian meals to go with the wines.

The wine and food pairings is as shown in the picture above. All the dishes and the wines were brought out  together.  Mine was slightly modified, because of me being vegetarian. The first item was smoked pimento cheese on crostini with 2015 Intermezzo. The second item for me was Green apple, biscuit crumbs, nuts and kale with 2015 Afternoon Delight. The third item was A doughy bread with cheese, tangy barbecue sauce, and thin strips of apple with 2015 Duet. The last item was falafel with creamy goat cheese with 2014 Destiny. The price of this tasting was very affordable, compared to the delicious food and service.

The first wine was 2015 Intermezzo (Vidal Blan/Chambourcin blend), which had aromas of berries, plums, cherries, and apple. The pimento cheese on crostini really brought out the flavor from both of these items.  The combination gave the cheese smokier and creamier flavor, while flavor of plum stood out more in the wine.

The second wine was 2015 Afternoon Delight (60% Vidal Blanc, 40% Chardonnay), which had a oaky aroma and taste with hints of green apple. The salad went well with this wine, because the flavors of apple and nuts became stronger while the taste of kale disappeared, and it really brought out the spicy oaky apple flavor from the wine. 

The third wine was 2015 Duet (Cabernet Franc/Chambourchin Blend), which was a deep red wine with aromas of dried fruit and taste of plums and berries. This wine went really well with the barbecue dough, and it brought out the smoky tangy flavor from the dish, while it extracted the dry plum flavor from the wine. Afterwords, my mouth felt very dry and leathery.

The last wine was 2014 Destiny (100% Vidal Blanc), which unusually had aromas of cat pee with the taste of melon and lime. This went exceptionally well with the goat cheese falafel, and the wine completely melted the cheese in my mouth giving it a lot of flavor. The wine itself grew a new distinct flavor of green cantaloupe. 

Overall, this was an amazing experience, and I definitely fell in love with this restaurant. It was very welcoming and comfortable, and the service was amazing. The food itself tasted great, and even better with the wine. My favorite food and wine pair was the smoky pimento cheese on crostini with the 2015 Intermezzo. I recommend combining certain types of foods with wines, because it opens up the doors to a new world of flavors and experiences.