Food & Wine

Food and wine have gone hand in hand since its beginnings; this is in part because clean drinking water wasn’t always available. Wine can bring out the best in food as can food bring out the best in wine. When a food and wine that is a perfect match hit your palate, it can be magical. There are two things to remember when paring wine with food: Matching and contrasting. Matching the flavors found in wine and food can bring to light certain attributes that the two share and enhance the flavors much more than if they were consumed separately. A dish containing citrus would be complimented nicely by a fruity wine; a robust stew would pair great with a full bodied wine; a delicate dish such as a poached white fish would be complimented by a dry, crisp white wine. A rich cream sauce would contrast well with a highly acidic dry wine. Complex foods pair well with simple wines and simple foods pair well with complex wines.

Go with a wine that won’t overpower or be overpowered by the food. Protein tends to calm tannins, so a highly tannic wine would be exceptional with rare beef. Delicate foods will be overpowered by a full bodied red, just as a hearty dish will basically nullify a dry medium bodied white. Tannic wines make sweet foods not taste as sweet; salty foods accentuate tannins. Salty foods dull the sweetness and augment the fruitiness of a sweet wine. Highly acidic wines lose some acidic flavor with sweet or salty foods; oily foods can also be counterbalanced by an acidic wine. There are really no rules, these are just suggestions, remember, any combination you enjoy is a good combination! Try to stay away from the known “wine killers;” artichokes, eggs, asparagus, avocados, peanuts and chili peppers.

If you're serving more than one wine with a meal, you should serve white before red, dry before sweet, light before bold, and simple before complex. This approach will ensure that everyone's palates are prepared to appreciate each wine being served.

When using wine to cook with, it is important to use a wine that you would drink, if you use a cheap or bad wine in a recipe, it will yield bad results. When wine reduces, the flavors become concentrated so the bad flavor will be stronger as it reduces. Cooking wine is cheap wine with salt added; it has a very bad flavor and when reduced, the salt becomes very prevalent, so it is best to use real wine to cook or use none at all.

Most of the alcohol is cooked out when it interacts with heat; alcohol has a lower boiling point than water so it will cook out at a faster pace.

Below is a list of some of our favorite recipes using wine:

Please take time to look at the reviews of wine tasted during our very own wine tastings. Wine Reviews