The other evening, Matt and I were lucky enough to have 2 spots to FEAST Magazine’s sold out Happy Hour Wine Tasting with STL Wine Girl at Ricardo’s Italian Café in Lafayette Square.

I hope you enjoyed that picture, because it was the last one I took before my memory card filled up – opps! That’s okay because I really didn’t have much to say about the food that I thought I was taking pictures of. I do, however, have lots to say about the wine. The pairings were awesome!

First up, we had the Gruet Brut Sparkling Wine with Arancini. Angela pointed out that bubbles are a palate cleanser, which I never knew before. I found that the bubbles also helped to cut through the greasiness of the cheese and fried risotto.

Next, we had a 2008 Miner Viognier. Honestly, at first, I didn’t like this wine. It tastes mineral-ish, which didn’t appeal to me; however, when paired with the toasted, spicy seafood calamari, the wine tasted much sweeter.

The third course was a 2008 Louis Fete Beaujolais. Again, I didn’t care for this wine at first. It was very tart up front, but when paired with the chicken spedini, I was able to taste more of the fruitiness and the tartness was greatly reduced.

Lastly, we tried the 2008 Penner Ash Pinot Noir-Syrah paired with meatballs. This was my favorite wine of the night, and the meatballs were my favorite dish. They really brought out the dark cherry and smoky flavors in the wine.

A few things I really liked about this event versus the one we attended in December: the food portions were very generous, as were the wine pours, and a special thanks to Ricardo’s for having the event in a separate room that wasn’t quite as noisy as being in the bar like we were at Monarch.

As always, Angela is extremely knowledgeable about wines, their different qualities and complexities and how to best pair them with different dishes. Both times we attended these events, I’ve felt like I learned a lot about different wines and pairing them with certain dishes.

In addition, what I love about FEAST Magazine is their presence in the food community and support and sponsorship of different events. These wine tastings are FREE and a really fun opportunity to try local restaurants and meet new people (or just hang out with friends). And rumor has it the next one is at Schafly’s… hmmm… maybe I’ll find out what to pair with my fried egg and ham toastie!