Sixty Vines is known for its 60 vines on tap. Photo from D Magazine.
Location
Sixty Vines in Dallas, Texas is named for its 60 wines on tap (pictured above). With many options to choose from, a knowledgeable staff and even a searchable iPad depicting wine selections by color, grape and region, I found wines and food that were matches made in heaven!
On the syllabus, I saw "and no joke: 20+ (or more) extra points if you do a wine/food event with your parents and/or family
members" and I immediately knew I had to take advantage of this! My family loves wine (and education, I suppose), so I had to bring them along and document the experience. My sister moved to Dallas after graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 2015, so my parents and I decided to meet her there for a weekend. My parents traveled from Tulsa, OK and I traveled from Norman, OK to experience many dinners with wine in Dallas... But here is the Pennington fam's experience at Sixty Vines!
Pictured from left to right: my dad (David), me (Demery), my sister (Dea) and my mom (Deneen).
Yes, we all have the same initials!
Adorable set up and a huge menu depicting the wines on tap at Sixty Vines.
Wine
With so many options to choose from, I decided to utilize the waiter as I made my first wine decision. I told him I enjoy Pinot Noir's and was wanting something fresh and a step down from "huge bodied," and he recommended I try one of the Vine Huggers wines. All of the Vine Huggers wines on the menu were made especially for the restaurant, and come from everywhere, but mostly the big wine producers in the U.S. (Oregon, California, Washington state, New York).
The first wine I tried was "Vine Huggers 50/50," which was made of cabernet + cabernet franc out of Dry Creek Valley, California. Next, I had a glass of "Bell Wine Cellars 'The Scoundrel,'" made of cabernet + syrah out of California (pictured in the family photo above). Last, I had a frozen rose for after-the-meal dessert!
My sister and the frozes we ordered.
Beginning with the Vine Huggers 50/50 -- this wine smells like black cherry and black pepper. Upon tasting, it tastes bright and fresh, with an after taste of the "pencil lead" they refer to in the description. This wine was definitely not too bold for a first glass, and felt very smooth. It was exactly what I described wanting to the waiter. The description of this wine mentions tobacco, and I can definitely feel the tobacco's heaviness in the finish, but not while tasting. I would say I most agree with the dark fruit descriptors for this wine.
Next was the Bell Wine Cellars "The Scoundrel." This wine had much bigger body and I instantly noticed that it filled my palate much more than the Vine Huggers wine did before this one. It's fruity and thin, but gives off a very bold, big flavor. I really liked the fruit components in this wine, and it did have extra sweetness compared to regular cabs. This makes sense, since the description says it's a cabernet + syrah! The waiter told me I should get a wine with big flavors for my food pairings, so I took him up on it by ordering this wine.
Last was the frozen rose, or "froze" as the menu called it. The frozen part of the drink was super thinly minced ice, which made it very refreshing. I felt like this evened out all the flavors of the meal and served as a great "dessert wine" to finish off the meal. The froze tasted fruity, crisp and minty - as some mint leaves were added to the top of it. I've had froze before, but this one was better than many I've had!
Vine Huggers 50/50 wine with the wood fired cauliflower.
Food
The food I tested with the two red wines were "Crispy Zucchini," "Wood Fired Cauliflower" and "Tonarelli" pasta. From previous lectures, I know that fat is what sometimes makes underexposed flavors in wine come to life. I tried to order foods with identifiable flavors so that I could really assess what works together and what doesn't. Directly taken from the menu, the exact descriptions of all three foods were:
- Crispy Zucchini: tapioca dusted, peppadew & shishito peppers, cliantro, sweet chili vinaigrette.
- Wood Fired Cauliflower: pesto crusted, parmesan, lemon dill yogurt.
- Tonarelli: coconut & cilantro infused noodles, jumbo gulf shrimp, spinach, basil, cracked pepper, pecorino romano.
Wood fired cauliflower + Vine Huggers 50/50.
After the many different ways I tried the food with each wine, the wine before/after each food, several bites of food then wine in between, etc., I came up with a few key takeaways between the flavors.
Wood Fired Cauliflower
This pesto, cheesy cauliflower brought out the fruit side of both of the red wines much more. The lemon and garlic taste of the cauliflower made the wine taste even better than it did standing alone. With the Vine Huggers 50/50 wine, the plum and black cherry flavors mixed well with the lemony acidity that was mixed into the pesto. I enjoyed the wine much more with the cauliflower than I had directly before trying them together. I felt like the bold flavors in both the food and the wine balanced out, making them more enjoyable together.
Zucchini
The barely-fried zucchini tasted very lemony, and had sundried tomatoes and peppers in it. These bold flavors mixed with the Bell Wine Cellars "The Scoundrel" wine, as it calmed down the huge body of the wine and made it chill out a bit. I wouldn't say I was able to taste any differing flavors or flavors more exposed by in the wine after tasting the food, but it definitely calmed down the "fill your entire palate" sensation that I got from the wine alone.
Tonarelli
This pasta dish had somewhat of an Asian zing component to it from the coconut and cilantro infused noodles. The basil and cracked black pepper flavors mixed with the Vine Huggers 50/50 wine was amazing! The 50/50 wine was described as tasting of black pepper, and when mixing the two black pepper flavors together I felt like the black pepper taste in general canceled out, revealing more of the basil in the food and the fruit flavors in the wine. I really liked trying pasta with wine, because that's what I so often see paired with wine. Bites of the pasta with more cheese made both wines taste super flavorful, and I'd definitely pair this dish with these wines again! I felt like since this dish is more heavy, I enjoyed it with the less bodied wine (Vine Huggers 50/50) instead of the big bold cabernet/syrah wine.
Conclusion
I am content with the food and wine choices I made at Sixty Vines. The wines were super flavorful, and the foods were just the same. It felt like different flavors of the wine were exposed, while others were just more "evened out" or balanced by mixing food with them. It was fun going to a place known for wine for this experiment, because my waiter was so knowledgeable and ready to help me pair a food with my wine selections. I didn't ever feel like any of the foods nor wines completely overpowered one another, and none of them tasted worse off with the addition of food. I'd say my favorite mixture was the Tonarelli pasta with the Vine Huggers 50/50 wine, and I really liked the Vine Huggers 50/50 wine with the wood fired cauliflower as well.
I enjoyed hearing my family's thoughts on the flavors that were detected when mixing the food and wine, versus my opinions on the mixtures! As Mr. Boyer says, whatever you think it tastes like is what it tastes like -- and I felt like my tastebuds loved all of these flavor mixtures. Would go back and do it again!
Crispy Zucchini (left) and Tonarelli (right).
Wine + Food Unite
Wood Fired Cauliflower
This pesto, cheesy cauliflower brought out the fruit side of both of the red wines much more. The lemon and garlic taste of the cauliflower made the wine taste even better than it did standing alone. With the Vine Huggers 50/50 wine, the plum and black cherry flavors mixed well with the lemony acidity that was mixed into the pesto. I enjoyed the wine much more with the cauliflower than I had directly before trying them together. I felt like the bold flavors in both the food and the wine balanced out, making them more enjoyable together.
Zucchini
The barely-fried zucchini tasted very lemony, and had sundried tomatoes and peppers in it. These bold flavors mixed with the Bell Wine Cellars "The Scoundrel" wine, as it calmed down the huge body of the wine and made it chill out a bit. I wouldn't say I was able to taste any differing flavors or flavors more exposed by in the wine after tasting the food, but it definitely calmed down the "fill your entire palate" sensation that I got from the wine alone.
Tonarelli
This pasta dish had somewhat of an Asian zing component to it from the coconut and cilantro infused noodles. The basil and cracked black pepper flavors mixed with the Vine Huggers 50/50 wine was amazing! The 50/50 wine was described as tasting of black pepper, and when mixing the two black pepper flavors together I felt like the black pepper taste in general canceled out, revealing more of the basil in the food and the fruit flavors in the wine. I really liked trying pasta with wine, because that's what I so often see paired with wine. Bites of the pasta with more cheese made both wines taste super flavorful, and I'd definitely pair this dish with these wines again! I felt like since this dish is more heavy, I enjoyed it with the less bodied wine (Vine Huggers 50/50) instead of the big bold cabernet/syrah wine.
Conclusion
I am content with the food and wine choices I made at Sixty Vines. The wines were super flavorful, and the foods were just the same. It felt like different flavors of the wine were exposed, while others were just more "evened out" or balanced by mixing food with them. It was fun going to a place known for wine for this experiment, because my waiter was so knowledgeable and ready to help me pair a food with my wine selections. I didn't ever feel like any of the foods nor wines completely overpowered one another, and none of them tasted worse off with the addition of food. I'd say my favorite mixture was the Tonarelli pasta with the Vine Huggers 50/50 wine, and I really liked the Vine Huggers 50/50 wine with the wood fired cauliflower as well.
I enjoyed hearing my family's thoughts on the flavors that were detected when mixing the food and wine, versus my opinions on the mixtures! As Mr. Boyer says, whatever you think it tastes like is what it tastes like -- and I felt like my tastebuds loved all of these flavor mixtures. Would go back and do it again!
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