AIWF Trione Wine Dinner

We are truly lucky to have great wine experience opportunities here in Wichita. The American Institute of Wine & Food - Wichita is one excellent group who is frequently organizing delicious gatherings. We recently went to their Trione wine dinner at Larkspur, and while we hadn’t heard of Trione Vineyard and Winery before, we’re very glad we have now!

Trione Vineyards are located in Alexander Valley, an AVA in Sonoma County. This is a family-run vineyard, and as we found, they make DELICIOUS wine.

We started off with the 2023 Sauvignon Blanc, which reminded us of a New Zealand Sauv Blanc—green, like green bell peppers, lime, and also elements of grapefruit. There’s even some sweeter pineapple mixed in there as well. It’s clean and brisk and seems like a perfect wine for a warm summer day.

This sells for $28 at Jacob Liquor.

Our soup course was paired with the 2020 Chardonnay, and this was GOOD. To be honest, we don’t drink a lot of Chardonnay, and if we do, it’s often not California Chardonnay. But this one? We really enjoyed drinking this. It wasn’t as oaky/buttery as many California Chardonnays, perhaps because they dry their barrels for 3 years instead of the customary 2. It’s lovely, like baked apples in pastry—an apple dumpling, or Grandma’s delicious apple pie. We bought bottles of these for our cellar (the only Chardonnay Katie currently has in her cellar).

This sells for $37 at Jacob Liquor.

Lucky us! We were given two wines with our first course of Greek chicken and wild rice. The first was the 2019 Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley.

This one immediately smells like red fruit, like red strawberries and cherry crumble where the cherries are still tart. It has a smoky quality to it as well. When tasted with food, it mellows out a lot, now tasting like ripe cherries. Another delicious example of the Pinot coming out of the Russian River Valley!

Next up was the 2018 Henry’s Blend, which is 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 13% Petit Verdot, 13% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Malbec. This one reminds us of rich, warm blackberries and baking spices. It goes great with food and holds its own against even strong flavors in the dish. Red blends do a great job of maximizing the best of each grape into a beautiful partnership.

Our braised short rib dish was served with the 2018 Zinfandel, and this was another wonderful surprise! Generally, the two of us don’t love Zinfandel, as it’s often jammy and oaky. But this one? LOVELY. It’s dark and inky but not oaky or jammy. It’s soft, like blackberry cobbler, with a slight black licorice hint. It’s very good. We ordered bottles of this, and again, it’s not a grape we typically enjoy. Strong work, Trione.

Last up, we had the nonvintage sparkling Brut with our dessert. This was a real fun sparkling wine with the classic bread dough notes, but also flavors of orange creamsicle.

If you see Trione wines at Jacob or anywhere else, grab them up! We will!! Thanks for another great evening, AIWF-Wichita!