Tell us what you eat at home & we'll send you pairing suggestions
Why Everyday Meals Deserve Great Wine Pairings
While at another wine tasting room the other week, we overheard the associate telling guests what food pairs well with the wines she was pouring. She would say things like, “This is our estate Pinot Noir, and it pairs well with duck and lamb.” We said to ourselves...what if I don't cook duck and lamb? That tip won’t help at all then!
So we wanted to flip that on its head and see if we could help others out! We asked our friends to write us, DM us, text us – tell us what you or your partner/family/roommates cook NORMALLY, every week, in YOUR kitchen! It doesn’t matter how low-effort or high-effort the food is; whether it's out of your freezer into the air fryer, or stewed and roasted for days. Even your fave take-out! And our goal was to suggest some wine options to go with it.
Well, here are the results of our messages. Thank you to all of you who submitted a wine pairing question to us! We were psyched to have a window into what our friends eat at home! LOL. But really, it was fun to help out, and we hope the wine added that special touch to the meal.
A couple of pairings stood out for us, and we wanted to share with you all. As many people may be in a similar camp and could also use these suggestions.
Wine Pairings for Stir-Fry and Saucy Dishes
One friend is on a cooking kick creating different stir-fry dishes in a brand new authentic wok. Trying his hand at all kinds of flavors and sauces with the veggies & proteins. For multi-faceted dishes such as this, the trick is to pair the wine with the sauce, and not necessarily with the vegetables or meat. For a Teriyaki Sauce, a medium-bodied red wine with ripe fruit flavors and soft tannins can compliment the sweetness and provide a counter balance to the savory notes. A merlot or zinfandel come to mind. A soy sauce is savory & salty, and for that you would want a wine with good acidity and some earthy notes to compliment, so I would choose a Pinot Noir there. For spicy sauces, they generally benefit from a touch of sweetness to balance the heat - so off-dry white wines like Riesling are a perfect match. Finally a garlic or ginger sauce has much more aromatic and pungent flavors, so it calls for a wine with crisp acidity and citrus or floral notes such as Sauvignon Blanc or Viognier.
Yes, You Can Pair Wine With Cake (and Other Desserts)!
We had another interesting inquiry - what to pair with cake? Well we love cake too - and wine! And they CAN go together. The main rule of thumb for desserts is you want your wine to be sweeter than the treat. For vanilla cake or sprinkles birthday cake, we like to pair a Sauternes or Late Harvest Riesling…the honey, orange blossom and other floral notes compliment the more delicate flavors of the cake. Whereas if you are in the chocolate camp, we’d do a Tawny Port or Pedro Ximénez Sherry. Both have caramel, toffee and nutty notes that make an excellent compliment to chocolate. Finally, if you’re like me and LOVE peanut butter in any dessert possible–try your peanut butter pie with a Ruby Port or Late Harvest Zinfandel. Basically the flavors of ripe berries & jammy fruit act like you’re having a sweet PB&J sandwich.
The Famous "Liver and Fava Beans" Pairing: Does it Work?
Finally, a somewhat famous cinematic pairing request came our way: “What goes with Liver and Fava Beans?” Chianti of course!! Ironically it IS a good pairing because there is a bit of earthiness to the Chianti, but it’s also always very known for its sour cherry component that is the “tell” for Sangiovese. So we think Hannibal got it right! (You could probably also do a Pinot Noir that has a similar earth/cherry characteristic.)
Wine pairings should be fun and not intimidating! The best way to learn is to try...and what better homework is there than that? Feel free to contact us anytime you want a recommendation! We are always here to help.
Cheers!
-Sarah & Skye