Food and Wine Pairings for Christmas, New Year's Day, Hanukkah

Here are some tips for holiday parties that will allow guests to have a
good time and take home some new favorite food and wine pairings to use
in their own kitchens.

For a dinner party where the guests will be a mix of red and white wine
lovers, I suggest buying a bottle or two of both a German or Finger
Lakes Riesling and aPinot Noir from Burgundy. Riesling is a wine that
many novice wine drinkers will be familiar with, and choosing a dry
version will enable the wine to pair with a wide variety of seafood and white meats with fruit or cream based sauces.
Pinot Noir is a light, tasty red wine that can pair with many foods, especially meats with mushroom-based sauces. Encourage guests to try both wines with each dish and offer their impressions of which wine pairs best with each course.

Adding a wine and food tasting element to Hanukkah and Christmas parties can
be as easy as purchasing a few dozen plastic wine glasses.
Instead of the traditional separation of food and drink, arrange a group of
empty wine glasses next to a selection of finger foods. Place a
handmade sign directing guests to try the 'Cabernet with the aged
cheddar cheese' or the 'Sauvignon Blanc with the chips and mango salsa,' in front of the snacks and let guests choose their own wine and food pairing.

For more suggestions on appetizer pairings, watch my video on pairing wine with cheese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XthfDWIeN_g

A perfect after-dinner wine for enjoying Hanukkah 'gelt'
or the chocolate treats from the Christmas Stocking is Port. Port is a
fortified wine and meant to be sipped and savored slowly, so portions
are smaller than table wine. The residual sugar in Port wine allows the
wine to pair very well with sweeter chocolate as well as nuts and
savory blue cheeses. For the adventurous wine drinker, chill a bottle
of Brachetto d'Acqui. This is a slightly sweet red wine with a little sparkle in the glass. Brachetto pairs well with both chocolate and fresh strawberries.

New Year's Day party wine and food pairings are focused on the drink of the night - sparkling wine!
Put out the classiest pairings early in the night and save the more
interesting matches for after the ball drops. Champagne and other dry
sparkling wines pair with salty and oily foods. Early evening snacks
can include Caviar and a wide range of traditional hors d'oeuvres.
After midnight, get creative by inviting your guests to try their leftover
bubbly with familiar favorites like potato chips, french fries, fried
chicken and salted popcorn. For guests that like their wines a little
sweeter, serve a bubblyMoscato d'Asti. This fruity sparkler pairs well with fresh fruit and berries with cream or other not-too-sweet desserts.

What are your favorite holiday food and wine pairings?

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Improve your wine palate at this wine course in Pittsford, NY

FingerLakesWine.com reports that a Wine Appreciation Course will start Sept. 29 in Pittsford.

The classes, which can be taken individually, include Kevin Zraly's book, Windows on the World: A Complete Wine Course. Eight wines will be tasted each class, accompanied by a cheese and cracker platter.

Classes will be held Mondays, Sept. 29 to Nov. 17 (no class on Oct.13) at Brookwood Inn Pittsford, 800 Pittsford-Victor Road, Pittsford.

The cost is $339 per person; $49 for individual classes.

Registration required. Call (585) 671-5076 or go to www.rocwineschool.com.

Kevin Zraly's book offers a comprehensive list of wines that, when critically tasted, provide the wine drinker with a firm experience of the wines of the world.

Related Article: How to Improve Your Wine Palate
http://kathleenlisson.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-to-improve-your-wine-tasting-skills.html

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Southern Style Food and Wine Pairing Tips "Cheat Sheet"

The Dallas Morning News provides a great "cheat sheet" for wine pairing in the article, "Choose the perfect wine for Southern food, Thai curry and other complex flavors."

Pairings for barbecue, red snapper, gourmet popcorn, artisan cheeses, steak, cheese grits, spaghetti, Thanksgiving dinner, fried chicken, Thai food, pork tenderloin, and pizza are discussed.

My favorite pairing advice was for Cheese Grits, a dish I remember from my college years in North Carolina. The wine panel recommended pairing the cheese grits with crisp, fruity whites with good weight and body or soft, juicy red wines with a touch of spice.

This is a great article packed with solid tips for wine and food pairing, but be sure to read what ingredients are in the recipes and sauces before you make any of these suggestions a hard and fast rule in your kitchen. Think of these tips as a road map and jumping off point for your own wine and food pairing experiences.

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Spanish food and wine pairings - including Oloroso Sherry!

In 'Flavors of Spain,' an article for the Wall Street Journal, Shivani Vora provides Chef Seamus Mullen's tapas recipe for a full meal of tasty Spanish dishes, including:

Pan con Tomate - Grilled bread with tomato and garlic Calamares y Al i Oli - crispy squid with citrus "al i oli"and Pintxos Morunos - grilled lamb marinated in cumin, lemon and saffron.

Recommended wine pairings include Oloroso Sherry, Alvarino (white), or Rioja (red).


Related article: Vegetarian Enchiladas and Rioja wine recipe and wine pairing
http://kathleenlisson.blogspot.com/2008/03/everyday-enchiladas-and-rioja-wine.html

Spanish Tapas recipes that pair with red Rioja wine
http://kathleenlisson.blogspot.com/2008/03/celebrate-fathers-with-this-spanish.html


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Fish Curry and Gewurztraminer Wine and Food Pairing

Fish Curry is my favorite Indian dish!

Food and Wine provides this fragrant, tasty recipe for Fish Curry, a dish made with Indian spices and salmon. Always use a dedicated spice grinder to grind spices. Your "spice grinder" can be as simple as an inexpensive plastic coffee grinder, but once you grind spices, their fragrant aroma stays in the appliance for the life of the machine.

Gewurztraminer is a good match for mildly spicy asian foods, and the spicy scent of this white wine would pair well with this fish curry as well.

Find the recipe here:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/indian-coconut-fish-curry

Related Article: Indian Food and Red Wine Pairing
http://kathleenlisson.blogspot.com/2008/02/indian-food-and-red-wine-pairing.html
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How to cook with flavored salts

In the La Jolla Light article entitled, 'SALT: Scraping the surface of the ultimate seasoning,' Brandon Hernandez offers quick facts about
the many different versions of salt available to American cooks. Salts profiled include Table, Kosher, and Sea salts, Fleur de Del, Sel Gris, flavored salts and specialty salts including Murray River Pink Salt, Kuroshio Deep Ocean Sea Salt, and Himalayan Pink Salt.

Salt is essential in cooking, helping to boost the natural flavors of the recipe. Pair overtly salty foods with a glass of dry Sparkling wine.

What wine do you drink with salty foods? What is your favorite salt?


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Grana Padano and Parmigiana-Reggiano wine and cheese pairings

New York Daily News writer Rachel Wharton offers a primer on two great Italian cheeses - Grana Padano and Parmigiana-Reggiano in the article "Know your Italian cheeses: Grana Padano vs. Parmigiana-Reggiano."

Two great red wine pairings for these hard cheeses come from Italy as well - Barbera and Montepulciano.

Do you use Parmesan cheese for more than grating on pasta?


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Rose wine and Shrimp food and wine pairing

From Food and Wine Magazine - a perfect pairing for that leftover
bottle of Rose!

Brrr! The crisp air of fall has settled in on Albany, NY and I have pulled my cable knit sweater collection back to the front of my closet. I haven't put away all my short sleeved shirts, though, because I am counting on a few weeks of Indian summer -and the perfect wine for Indian summer is that last bottle of dry Rose stashed in the back of the wine rack.

This recipe for Chipotle Shrimp Tostadas, courtesy Food and Wine magazine, features chipotle chile powder, shredded cabbage, tomato, scallions, lime juice, avocado, radishes, and cilantro. The spiciness of the chili powder and tartness of the lime and coleslaw is an excellent pairing for dry Rose wine.

Get the recipe here:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chipotle-shrimp-tostadas

What do you eat with Dry Rose wine?

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How to Plan Your Hudson River Winery Trip

According to the New York Wine & Grape Foundation newsletter, hudsonvalleywinecountry.org has been launched to promote the Hudson River wine region as home of "The Roots of American Wine".

The Hudson River wine industry dates back to 1677 when French Huguenots planted the first vines on hillsides of the Hudson Highlands. Brotherhood, the country's oldest continuously operating winery and Benmarl, the country's oldest vineyard, are still committed to creating world class wines for local customers and wine drinkers around the world.

As a wine tourist, my favorite part of the website is the Google maps trip planner. First, click on the Wineries tab to learn about the wineries and make a list of wineries you would like to visit. Then click on Plan a Tour and select your wineries. Though I live in the Capital Region, I don't know the names of all the little towns in the Hudson Valley. Viewing the wineries on a road map allows me to arrange my itinerary in a way that saves both gas and time.

Another education part of the website is the overview of wine grapes grown in the Hudson Region. Sampling wines made from these grapes helped me qualify for membership in the Wine Century Club. Read about Hudson River wine grapes here:
http://hudsonvalleywinecountry.org/grapes.html


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Fox Run is one of the Top 100 Wineries in the World!

Congratulations to Finger Lakes winery Fox Run Vineyards on Seneca Lake for being named as one of the top 100 wineries in the world in Wine & Spirits magazine's November issue!

I got a chance to speak with owner Scott Osborn last year about his Cabernet Franc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAT4_2ovnnQ



Visit Fox run on the web here: http://foxrunvineyards.com/

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Best apple for apple pie; apple pie food and wine pairing

In 'Choose the best apples for baking,' a story from the Chicago Daily Herald, Caroline LeBlanc offers tips on choosing the perfect apple for baking a homemade apple pie.

September is apple picking season out here in my corner of Upstate New York, and the ultimate use for all those freshly picked pecks of apples is a freshly baked pie.

A glass of dessert wine and a scoop of vanilla ice cream are the perfect pairing for a slice of warm apple pie.

What is your favorite apple for pie?

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Upcoming Food Class - Goat Cheese

You're invited to my Goat Cheese Tasting! This will be the first in a series of "tasting" classes. We will provide information and samples of foods that the co-op sells.

Here are the details:

Tuesday September 23, 2008 6pm – 7pm

Kathleen Lisson, Certified Wine Specialist, and Honest Weight Food Co-op Education Coordinator, Karisa Centanni, will talk about the many goat cheeses Honest Weight carries, emphasizing some of our favorite, local varieties. Pre-registration is required and there is a $5 materials cost payable at the start of the class. Call 482-3312 ext. 113 to register.

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Two ways to discover new wine and food pairings

As a wine and food blogger, I am always looking for new wine and food pairing ideas. The best ideas often come from fellow 'foodies,' and the easiest way to make friends with food lovers is to join the discussion on a food and wine themed message board. The two heavy hitters in the wine world are the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker message boards, but I would like to share two additional forums for wine lovers that are specifically dedicated to food.

Snooth -
Snooth is a great resource for anyone that purchases wine. Visit their food and wine message board to swap ideas with fellow wine buyers: http://www.snooth.com/talk/

Wine Library -

Gary Vaynerchuk has built a community of wine lovers that aren't afraid to drink out of the box! Find their wine friendly recipes here: http://tv.winelibrary.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=15

Where do you find wine and food loving friends on the Internet?

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How To Plan Your Own Cabernet Sauvignon Tasting Party

Is there such a thing as a "weekday" Cabernet Sauvignon?

Fall begins this month, so I am inviting my wine group to taste a variety of Cabernet Sauvignon wines and cheeses from around the world to prepare for the cooler days ahead.

Each guest will bring a bottle of wine or cheese to share from the suggested wine list and come away with some great ideas for what to sip on this Autumn.

Cabernet Sauvignon is the king of wine grapes, and many wine lovers have resigned themselves to paying $50 - 100 for a quality bottle of this magnificent wine. Can we find a simpler version that a wine lover on a budget can enjoy with a weekday meal? This is our goal for the evening.

Find out more here, including the suggested wine list and cheese pairing ideas: http://wine.meetup.com/139/calendar/8670219/

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Best Red Wine and Cheese for Fall Foliage Picnic

September is here, and that means the cooler weather of fall is right around the corner. Are you planning a "leaf peeping" trip at the end of the moth to enjoy the spectacular fall foliage?

Packing a picnic is a great idea, and nothing goes with crisp fall air like a loaf of crusty bread, some great wine and a few hunks of flavorful cheese.

Grab some great advice on pairing red wine and cheese in this video from the Wine Spectator -
http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Free/Newsletter_Tip_Main/0,3963,360,00.html
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