Table and Vines

There are lots of wines to pair with pizza, largely depending on the toppings, so go with what you like. Our featured wines this week are great selections.

Santa Francesca Pinot Grigio: Light body with notes of apple and pear.
Vegas Altas Tempranillo: Fresh, unoaked with notes of cherry and strawberry.

A lovely white wine from the same regions would be perfect. This week we are tasting the Famille Perrin Cotes du Rhone Blanc Reserve. A blend of grapes including Grenache Blanc and Viognier, the wine shows fresh notes of citrus, peach and flowers and has a mineral, savory palate. A perfect compliment to this dish!

Going with the theme, Pinot Noir is the perfect fall wine. It provides a berry-cherry fruitiness with subtle oak influence and a medium body/tannin finish. It’s like putting on a flannel in the evening just to take the chill off.

We are featuring a great Pinot from the Alsace region of France, known for its high elevation vineyards, cool growing conditions and complex characteristics. The Sophie Schaal Pinot is a show of black fruits, cherries and the vanilla toast of French oak barrels. The well-balanced wine combines a sturdy acidic structure with smooth tannins and a long warming spice finish.

Staying in the region of Apulia (Puglia), Primitivo is the primary red wine. A cousin of Zinfandel, this wine is jammy and fresh and shines when paired with meat dishes. For whites, try a Falanghina from the nearby region of Campania.

This week’s featured red is also a great choice for this recipe. Tannat from Uruguay is a bold, full-bodied red that has the aroma of plum, currants and blackberries. On the palate, spice and licorice combine with chewy tannins to complete the robust profile of this wine.

Grilled steak….big red wine. This week we are featuring a lovely wine from the Douro region of Portugal. Vinhas de Xisto is a powerful wine, with jammy dark fruits, spice and earthiness. Firm tannins are balanced with some minerality to showcase the best characteristics of Douro wines.

There are two ways to go with this dish, compliment or contrast. Looking to choose a wine that is rich like the butter sauce, consider a Vouvray from the Loire Valley of France. Made from Chenin Blanc grapes, this wine is full bodied and has notes of ripe pear and honey and comes in a variety of dryness levels. I would choose something just off-dry for this recipe.

To contrast, pick something crisp, light and something that won’t overpower the fish. This week we are featuring a Prosecco from producer Syltbar as well as a Vinho Verde from Portuguese winery Arca Noval. Both wines provide some bubbly texture and freshness that pair great with this dish.

With roasted chicken I have a few go-to wines. This recipe is a little on the rich side, owing to the amount of chicken fat and butter in the sauce, so I want a wine that is full-bodied and rich as well. Chardonnay is a perfect choice and never disappoints.

This week we are featuring one of my favorite wines in the shop – Albert Bichot Chablis. The wine initially shows delicate aromas of flowers and lemon. Those characteristics flow into the palate of flavors in the wine along with green apple and limestone. The wine both lush and crisp, with a clean saline finish.

You might be tempted to select a beer with this recipe, but wines can work as well.

One of our featured wines is Izadi Rioja from the northern region of Spain. The wine is expressive with dark fruit, spice, licorice and even a little chocolate. Aged in both American and French oak barrels, there is a hint of smoke and prickly tannins to provide a long finish. Perfect for this recipe!

Asparagus can be a tough ingredient to pair with wine, but Sauvignon Blanc always seems to work.

One of our featured wines is a Marlborough, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from Barker Marque called ‘ranga.ranga’. It has the grassy, citrus notes typical of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc as well as some herbal notes and a clean mineral finish.

When summer cooking, especially on the grill, I don’t care much for wine rules. Part of what we remember about food and wine parings has just as much to do with the environment and place as the flavors.

I can see sitting outside with friends enjoying this recipe and serving a number of different drinks. A crisp lager, margarita or spritzer are all considerations.