What It’s Like Attending the WORLD’S LARGEST WINE DINNER

Bringing together over 7,000 guests in 208 cities, Carrabba’s pulled off the World’s largest wine dinner on March 21st. That’s 28,000 made from scratch dishes, 4,000 bottles of wine, and one incredible evening to enjoy. We were lucky enough to be invited to this grand 4 course dinner and couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised.

When we arrived at Carrabba’s Italian Grill we joined approximately 20 other guests in family style seating. At first we weren’t sure how we felt about it but in the end it was a great way to hold a wine dinner. In no time we were chatting it up with those around us and learning about our new neighbors. The servers were spot on greeting us with their complimentary bread olive oil appetizer and serving us with our first glass of wine.

The World’s Largest Wine Dinner

The dinner was created to be perfectly paired with a different wine for each course. This is great because not always can one wine compliment a whole meal from beginning to end. Not to mention having a good quality wine cooler at home makes purchasing bottles of wine after the meal a definite! Our first course started light with an Insalata Fiorucci which was paired with a Chloe Pinot Grigio.

I personally enjoyed the crisp taste of the Pinot with the fresh flavors of the Fiorucci salad. It was a mixed green salad with bell peppers, artichoke, Italian vinaigrette, grilled eggplant, and topped with hazelnut crusted goat cheese. Let me tell, I love goat cheese but this cheese was definitely the cherry on top of the salad. The flavors were amazing together.

The next course was a perfectly light pasta dish. Cavatappi pasta tossed with garlic, peppers, tomatoes, basil and chased with a creamy burrata, how could I say no?  As you can tell, I’m clearly a cheese fan. The Calabrian Cavatappi pasta had a bit of a spice to it but not too strong. I have what I like to refer to as a baby mouth and I handled it just fine. I think the lightness of this dish paired with the Pieropan Soave was hands down the best pairing of the night. They were the perfect match made and I couldn’t get enough of the wine. I will definitely be purchasing a bottle soon.

Our third course was the main course complete with our choice of entree. Normally Carrabba’s doesn’t offer choices with wine dinners so getting to choose was great as my husband and I have different tastes. He went with the Tuscan-grilled Sirloin and I opted for the Veal Marsala. The sirloin was a hefty 9 ounces and the veal came in 3 large pieces. Both dishes were dressed in mushrooms and Lombardo Marsala wine sauce.

Our main courses were both complimented with the third wine choice, a Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon. I really enjoyed this wine however my husband loved it. For him, this was the best wine of the night which may have been true but the Pieropan Soave still held my heart.

Last but certainly not least was our fourth course, Sogno di Cioccolata. Can I just say that if you ever go to Carrabba’s just for dessert that this cake is a must have. Take a rich fudge brownie, top it with chocolate mousse, fresh whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. I was in chocolate heaven and wanted a whole cake to myself. I savored every last drop of that chocolate dream and even scooped up my husband’s leftovers. Yes, it was that good.

Even though the Sogno di Cioccolata was served with Joel Gratt Zinfindel,  I was so in love with the dessert that I couldn’t even focus on wine. I took a sip and wasn’t a big fan of the wine so I down my fourth course instead. Before we left for the evening I made sure to finish the wine of course, don’t ever think I would let a glass of wine go to waste.