Cabrillo College Culinary Students Shine in The Perfect Pair

May 2, 2025 – A schizophrenic sky kept us guessing what it would do next as we checked in for The Perfect Pair—the annual wine and food pairing event at Cabrillo College’s Sesnon House, run by Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains in conjunction with the Culinary Arts Program at Cabrillo College. One minute it was sprinkling, the next, the sun peaked through and it got almost too warm. Then the breeze and gray clouds returned.

Life on the coast demands layers: so does successful food and wine pairing. It’s an art that requires practice and dedication, and paying attention to layers of flavor and texture. If you love food and wine, and the occasionally superb synergies between the two, make sure you put The Perfect Pair on your calendar for next Spring. 

This year, there were 11 teams of talented students tasked with coming up with what they deemed the perfect bite to go with a wine from one of the participating local wineries. Arguably, some wines were easier to pair with than others, and given that some of these culinary apprentices are barely of legal drinking age, their experience with how to approach the challenge is understandably limited. 

All of the wines were dry, which automatically made pairing with a sweet dessert a risky venture. But the team of Ayla and Betsany at Wrights Station Winery managed to make their white cake with orange zested marscarpone topped with thyme, apricot and onion chutney, compliment the creamy texture of the 2019 Wrights Station Chardonnay. It was a controversial pairing, to be sure, but bravo to them for trying something edgy. Brilliance can often be found on the margins of questionable taste. 

The top three winners were:

First Place: Team 5, Irvyn & Aneesa

Storrs 2021 Santa Cruz Mountains Zinfandel, Zayante Vineyard, with Honey Glazed Grilled Lamb Loin with Red Wine Sauce

Why: The intense, plush fruit embraced the equally lush texture of the lamb, which was served on mashed potatoes. The sauce was made with the wine, a no-fail way to enhance compatibility. This pairing was totally harmonic: both dish and wine were on the same page. 

Second Place: Team 8, Antonio & Julie

Wargin Wines 2021 Big & Beautiful California Red with Blood Orange Glazed Seared Pork Belly

Why: Fat loves acid, and pork belly with citrus is a great foundation. The sesame and soy in the marinade picked up the savory elements of the fairly dry and tannic wine, made of Nebbiolo from Yolo County and Syrah and Cabernet from Santa Clara County. This dish totally made the wine work and elevated it beautifully. 

Third Place: Team 9, Matthew & Jose

Aptos Vineyard, 2021 Exhibit 3B Merlot with Manchego & Oaxaca Cheese Enchilada with Mole Sauce

Why: The dish was exceptional, with complex, intense flavors. The wine on its own was lovely, but I felt the dish overshadowed it. Taking down the heaviness and dark chocolate of the mole would have made the pairing significantly better. The dish actually went quite well with the 2021 Lester Estate “Domingo” Pinot Noir, a more robust and acidic wine that could handle the cheese and chocolate. 

My personal favorite was the Team 10 pairing of Sam & Kiernan’s excellent lamb kofta meatballs with red wine pomegranate sauce and whipped herb feta presenting with the 2022 Bargetto Pommard Clone Pinot Noir. Both dish and wine were complex, earthy, weighty and meaty, pulling together with both oars in the water.

I also appreciated the Team 6 pairing by Robert & Saul of shrimp with bacon in a cream cheese and parmesan dip that also contained bits of bacon and basil. Paired with the 2021 Santa Cruz Mountains Syrah from Zayante Vineyard, it was loved by some and not so much by others, as the amount of bacon and the degree to which is was cooked varied from batch to batch. Honestly, the Syrah was not nearly as bacony as anticipated, and the shrimp might have been better wrapped with prosciutto. 

Team 1’s pairing of the polenta, cream cheese and tomato tart by Cynthia and Michaela with the 2020 La Vida Bella Brut made by Dan Person of Carboniste, was quite good, but the polenta was a tad dry. 

Team 2 paired the exceptional 2019 Windy Oaks Old Vine Chardonnay with the smoked trout and potato cakes of Octavio & Dominiq. Maybe a bit too much oil here. The wine was already fairly extravagant in both texture and acidity: and my first pairing thought when I tasted it was crab salad on brioche.  

At the Team 3 table, vintner John Locke was pouring a wonderful skin contact 2023 Malvasia Bianca from Loma del Rio vineyard in King City that was formerly part of the San Bernabe Vineyard, owned by Delicato—once the largest contiguous vineyard in the world. Delicato kept shaving off the edges, like rind from a cheese, but it is still estimated to be 5,000 acres. The wine made from Malvasia vine cuttings originally brought to the area from Calabria, was paired with crisped brie on a blini with kumquat jam by Shaeffer & Holland, who clearly counted on the wine’s acid to foil the fat of the cheese. Brie is one of those polarizing cheeses best given a wide berth at events like this. 

As for Team 7, pairing a raspberry and dark chocolate tart with a 2023 Silver Mountain Pinot Noir rosé that was anything but sweet, was also risky business. The tart itself was quite a tasty bite, but would honestly have been better with the La Vida sparkling. 

Similarly, the spectacular dessert from Team 11, created by Gigi & Sadhbh, and paired was the 2021 Lester Estate Wines Domingo Pinot Noir, poured by Ed Lane, was something I could eat every day. These gals knew they wanted to make a dessert, and crafted a stunning parfait with milk and dark chocolate mousse, layered with whipped cream and a delicious cherry sauce made with the wine. A special dessert like this deserved a special dessert wine that could waltz it across the palate. A late harvest Zin would have been a superb dance partner. 

Congratulations to all the students who worked so hard to feed the hungry and appreciative crowd, and who spent hours and hours working on the often elusive quest for pairing perfection. If you play your cards right, you can practice this craft every single day.