Wine Pairings 101 - Sauvignon Blanc

For more great food suggestions to pair with other wines, check out Riesling, Merlot, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Sauvignon Blanc: crisp and refreshing
A lean, crisp, white wine that's extremely flexible with food, and a great alternative to Chardonnay

Swirl and taste: Tart lemon, grapefruit, melon, and tropicals like passionfruit ― even gooseberry ― over a pleasant grassiness and herbal quality.

Pair with:

• Cheese (especially goat cheese)
• Green vegetables (asparagus, zucchini, fresh peas, artichokes)
• Oysters
• Delicate fish like sole
• Fresh herbs
• Mild viniagrettes
• Dishes with tangy dairy ingredients
• Herbal, briny sauces
• Pesto

Perfect recipe pairings
Salads and Soups
• Mâche with Spring Vegetables and Lemon Vinaigrette
• Roasted Artichoke Salad with Lemon and Mint
• Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese Medallions
• Crab and Artichoke Salad
• Green Minestrone

Pasta
• Basil Risotto
• Ravioli with Green Pea Pesto
• Pasta with Mint and Peas
• Risotto with Bitter Greens

Chicken and Lamb
• Grilled Lamb Brochettes with Lemon and Dill
• Roast Chicken and Onion Tacos

Shrimp
• Lemon-Garlic Shrimp Skewers
• Grilled Grapefruit-Rosemary Shrimp
• Asparagus and Shrimp Stir-Fry on Noodle Pillows
• Chinese Shrimp and Pea Rice Bowl

Seafood
• Halibut Tostadas with Yogurt-Lime Sauce
• Artichoke Crab Paella
• Oysters with Aioli
• Scallop and Sugar Snap Pea Stir-Fry
• Oven-Browned Sole with Asparagus

Source: Sunset

Wine Pairings 101 - Riesling

Riesling is the star of today's wine parings. To get great food suggestions to pair with other wines, check out Merlot, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Riesling: Crisp and aromatic
A crisp, aromatic wine, considered the noblest white of all by much of the wine world, that goes with just about everything.

Photo: Rob D. Brodman

Swirl and taste: Delicate white peach, green apple, and lime flavors ― or riper apricot, nectarine, and mandarin orange. Riesling often has a pleasant minerality akin to wet stones and a haunting diesel-like aroma (if you can imagine that as a good thing).

Pair with:
• Shellfish
• Pork
• Ham
• Salads and vegetables
• Egg dishes
• Sausages, salumi, and charcouterie ― especially cured pork products
• Barbecue
• Asian dishes ― Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese (sushi!), Indian
• Southwestern foods

Find your style: Bone-dry to quite sweet. (Western winemakers are making it drier now.) The best have great acidity that keeps the wine lively.

Perfect recipe pairings
For dry Riesling
• Chicken Stew with Olives and Lemon
• Pork Scaloppine with Sweet-tart Shallots
• Potato, Leek, and Mushroom Gratin

For slightly off-dry
• Pan-Roasted Fish with Thai Curry Sauce
• Chile Verde
• Halibut and Sweet Potato Chowder

For fairly sweet (but not late-harvest dessert style)
• Best-Ever Chinese Chicken Salad
• Pad Thai
• Sweet-and-Sour Chicken-Apricot Skewers

Source: Sunset

Wine Pairings 101 - Merlot

Merlot: soft tannins, dark fruit

The most popular red wine in the U.S. (the Sideways effect notwithstanding), Merlot has dark fruit flavors like Cabernet Sauvignon, but is generally a little rounder and softer

Swirl and taste: Blackberries, blueberries, plums, cassis, and dried cherries combined with chocolate, cedar, and tobacco and sometimes hints of black olive.

Merlot carries the same complex flavor package that Cabernet Sauvignon does, but generally has softer, mellower tannins.

Pair with:
• Tender, milder cuts of beef, such as tenderloin
• Lamb
• Meaty fish ― salmon, tuna
• Black olives
• Mushrooms
• Fresh herbs
• Grilled foods
• Meats with warm spices
• Meats with fruit sauces ― berries, dried cherries

MORE TASTING NOTES Merlot is the popular wine that it is partly because of its gentle reputation. But don't write Merlot off as less than serious! The variety can be deeply concentrated, with firm, Cab-rivaling tannins ― especially Merlot from Washington state.

Perfect recipe pairings

Seafood and Vegetarian
• Tuna with Tomato-Caper Sauce
• Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry
• Cheddar-Garlic Portabella Soufflés
• Hot Plum and Spinach Salad

Steak
• Bistec Argentino al Chimichurri (Steak with Chimichurri Sauce)
• Skirt Steak with Mustard Sauce
• Garlic Flank Steak
• New York Strip Steaks with Orange and Oregano

Chicken, Pork, and Lamb
• Lamb Shanks with Olives and Capers
• Parmesan-Herb Lamb Chops with Mint Aioli
• Sherried Mushroom Chicken Scaloppine
• Pork Scaloppine with Plum-Port Sauce

Beef
• Beef Tenderloin with Fresh Herbs
• Pastel de Choclo (Beef and Corn Shepherd's Pie)
• Plum Creek Cellars Grilled Tenderloin
• Hawaiian Beef Ribs
• Korean Barbecued Short Ribs
• Rancho Dagwood 1998

Source: Sunset
For more great food suggestions to pair with other wines, check out Riesling, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Wine Pairings 101 - Chardonnay

Our wine for today is...

Chardonnay: rich and complex white

With complex fruit flavors and often a rich, creamy texture; the most popular white wine in the U.S. to date.

Swirl and taste: Green apple, pear, melon, creamy lemon, and sometimes pineapple, rounded out with butterscotch and vanilla.

Pair with:
Sweet shellfish
White-fleshed fish ― halibut, black cod (sablefish), sturgeon, mahimahi, tilapia
Chicken and turkey
Pork
Veal
Legumes
Winter squash
Corn
Nuts
Risotto and pasta
Cream and butter sauces
Mild Caribbean dishes with tropical fruit flavors

Find your style: California winemakers have traditionally made Chardonnay in a rich, buttery style by fermenting and aging it in oak barrels. Too much oak can cover up the fruit, so some winemakers are starting to substitute stainless-steel tanks for a leaner, crisper style.

Perfect recipe pairings
For oaked styles

Mendo Crab Cakes

Golden Squash with Sautéed shrimp

Caramelized Fall Fruit Salad with Chicken

Lemon-Oregano Chicken

Roast Hens with Golden Vegetable Hash

For unoaked styles

Chicken Fettuccine with Mushroom Brie

Dungeness Crab and Winter Citrus Salad

Mango-Shrimp Tostadas

Tequila-Marinated Chicken Fajitas

Caesar Salad with Fried Ginger

Source: Sunset

Wine Pairings 101 - Cabs

I thought it would be fun to offer a modest primer on wine pairings. Over the next few days there will be suggestions and links to recipes that will compliment each selection. Cheers!

Cabernet Sauvignon: the king of reds

The king of reds; a big-structured, dark-fruited wine, the best of which become even more elegant with age.

Photo: James Carrier

Swirl and taste:
Plums, blackberries, and black currant; sometimes violets or rose petals, and often mint, mocha, and eucalyptus or cedar; strong tannins underneath.

Pair with:
• Well-marbled beef
• Hearty fowl like duck
• Spice rubs and sauces with lots of black pepper; mushrooms
• Marinades with soy sauce
• Long-braised stews
• Pot roast
• Grilled red meat

Find your style: Some Cabs are made to be drunk tonight ― with ripe fruit and subdued tannins. Others need years to mellow. Great Cabs, some argue, are balanced the day they're released and get better with time.

Perfect Pairings

Beef

Multicolored-Pepper Steaks with Balsamic Onions

French Onion Rib Eye Steak

Tenderloin Steaks with Gorgonzola Butter

Slow-Braised Beef Stew with Mushrooms

Cabernet-Braised Short Ribs with Dried Apricots

More

Parmesan-Herb Lamb Chops with Mint Aioli

Thyme-Roasted Duck Breast with Orange-Wine Sauce

Seared Tuna with Japanese Salsa

Source: Sunset
For more great food suggestions to pair with other wines, check out Riesling, Merlot, and Chardonnay, .

Toast The New Year

In Spain, revelers mark the new year by quickly eating a dozen grapes at midnight. The fruit is said to be a predictor of the year ahead: Each sweet grape represents a good month, each sour grape a less-than-lucky one.

Adopt the tradition by threading grapes onto skewers, and serve each in a glass of Champagne just before the countdown.

Source: Martha Stewart