Thanksgiving Wine Pairing Guide

For many people, a variety of items and high expectations come with the approaching holidays. A complex wine with layers versus a brutish-straight–forward wine will lend itself well to various dishes and palates. Note the job of food and wine pairing. Nothing is better than the first bite of food; after that, the palate is coated and the flavor of the next bite is not as intense. The job of wine is to clear the palate and make sure every bite is as good as the first. So, the wine should be slightly heavier and a bit more acidic than the food that it is paired with, with the end result being food and wine combining to become a third flavor. Wines that are slightly tannic and acidic use food for balance.

Appetizers

How about an Aperitif’ … French aperitif aperient, from Middle French aperitif: an alcoholic drink taken before a meal as an appetizer.

Dry Sherries (soup friendly) Sherry Fino, Dry Amontillado. Kir or Kir Royal Champagne Any dry wine, usually white or Champagne.

The Meal

Turkey is often confused with chicken when it comes to food and wine pairing. Actually, the turkey is much closer to a game bird and should be treated accordingly.

Bordeaux/Cabernet blends and the classic Zinfandel are great for game birds, but try something a little different.

The Cabernet Sauvignon grape’s parents are 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Sauvignon Blanc. The flavor components that these wines offer are perfect with a wide range of foods so the sides go well with the wines and also with the turkey itself. I have both a white and a red at each side of my plate. Some examples of “good” Cabernet Franc (if you cannot find these, any Cabernet Franc with medium body, good fruit, and some acidity will do).Chinon AC [shee-NOHN] Located in the Touraine area, Chinon is one of the few villages in the Loire valley focused on red wines, which some wine lovers feel are the Loire’s best. Like its neighbors Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-De-Bourgueil, this picturesque village with its medieval hilltop fortress grows Cabernet Franc (known locally as Brenton) and minor amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon. Although, normally light and fruity with a heady raspberry aroma, these red wines have enough body to age a few years.

Sauvignon Blanc (Sauvignon Blanc with medium body, some fruit, and good acidity). Everyone knows that New Zealand makes great Sauvignon Blanc but most of the styles are too fruity to pair with a Thanksgiving meal. We offer several examples of “balanced” Sauvignon Blanc for the occasion!

If you are enjoying Cornish hen or other birds, these pairing should be great!

Pinot Noir is the perfect choice for ANYTHING! From ham’s smokiness and complex flavor to yard-bird and even “stone soup!”

For the high-end adventurer: Pinot Noir, Domaine Serene

Your Desserts

Cheese The simplest way to pair cheese is to consider the ‘style’ of cheese being used. Creamy, runny cheeses need a dry somewhat tannic wine to give them some structure and hard cheeses tend to need wines that have more fruit and soft edges. Big acidic or tannic wines match best with soft cheese. Fruity or “sweet” wines match best with hard cheeses. Fruity & sweet white wines and dessert wines work best with a wider range of cheeses. Champagne can work with the fat in heavy cheese. Sherries, Ports and dessert wines are great for blue cheese.

Apple Pie with its bright fruit and tart acidity, apple pie is actually a difficult pairing. The old term ‘buy wine with apples and sell wine with cheese’ is true. After much research, I have found the perfect match. Any ‘real’ sherry with medium sweetness should work well. As the cheese robs the fruit from the wine.

Pumpkin Pie With the dense creamy flavor of pumpkin pie a botrytized or late harvest fits quite nicely.

Chocolate anything! Chocolate is a very strong flavor, and dark chocolate works best with most wine. Consider flavors that complement (lemon, apple, orange, caramel) rather than compete when it comes to this type of pairing. Tawny Ports and ‘Late harvest’ tends to work best. Late Harvest Pinot Gris, Riesling, Hardys Whiskers Blake Tawny 8 Year Old Port, 10 year old, NV, 20 year old, or LBV

Wine and Cheese Pairing

Best to keep it simple with:
Hard cheeses like, Asiago /  Edam / Gruyere preferring soft fruity wines.
Soft cheeses like, Mozzarella Bufala / Humbolt Fog, Goat Cheese / Saint Andre preferring wines with more structure.
One amazing exception: Blue cheeses rob wine of it's fruit so a super fruity dessert wine or port makes an amazing match!

Champagne [Sham-Pain]

“Sham-Pain”
Current “rules of disgorgement” state that champagne and sparkling wines are “celebration only” wines. Served with the purpose of commemorating something and not to be enjoyed for what they themselves are…really good wine, yes wine.

With all of this ego and pride “flowing” it is no wonder that we only want to decide once a year what bubbles to purchase! Complicated by the fact that the “confused consumer” has dictated what is available for purchase. Extra-Dry, which would better match our American sweet tooth [since we drink colas like water] is very hard if not impossible to find. Why, we never bought it so they stopped shipping it; not to mention many people liked Brut better because Extra-Dry was “too dry.” Dam dam dam those labels! Think I am kidding, why you think they have animal wine labels, because they taste soooo cute! It is simply the power of suggestion. Also, our confusion and lack of consumption of Champagnes has kept others from entering the market. Australia for example has the French involved in producing great products in their country but they will not ship to the U.S. because they became worn-out just trying to get us to drink Shiraz!

Why drive a formula 1 race car in rush hour traffic? Going by sheer taste, it is hard to justify spending up to 5 times more for a producer’s cuvée de prestige versus a Non-Vintage. Non-Vintages are a blend on different years that enables each Champagne house to maintain its style or flavor on wine. The middle tier and harder to find but worth searching for is “Vintage” Champagne, made from a single year, this wine offers refined flavors for half the price of the cuvée de prestige or cuvée spéciale and tete de cuvee.

Yes, Champagne has a purpose and should be enjoyed often, but why not give some others a chance; sparking wines from California, Spain [cava], Germany [Sekt] and Italy [Asti] make great substitutes for Champagne. Offering a refreshing style without the price pressures of supply and demand! Even France has it’s own offering from other parts of the region that offer good value, Champagne-like wines called crémant from d'Alsace and crémant de Bourgogne [Burgundy] are the most popular. Called crémant because they are done in the Champagne style of a secondary fermentation in the bottle, which causes higher pressure and therefore smaller bubbles then you can get from any other methods like adding CO2 to a tank. The Champagne style or Champenois is considered the best and can be emulated by many other regions around the world, usually at a better price. Quality and preference are the other considerations.

I drink champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty. ~ Madame Lilly Bollinger

What to look for...

France
Produces non-champagne sparkling wines called Cremant. Look for:
Crémant d’Alsace- made mainly from Pinot Blanc; may also contain Pinot Gris, Riesling, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Rosés are made with Pinot Noir. Crémant de Bourgogne- uses thirty percent Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc or Pinot Gris. Aligoté is added to round out the final blend.
Crémant de Loire- the largest sparkling producer outside of Champagne- uses a blend of the Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc or Cabernet Franc

Italy
Makes several great sparkling wines from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but even more exciting varieties are made with the Prosecco grape and called Asti. Formerly known as Asti Spumante, the name was changed to distinguish it from cheaper U.S. brands. Sparkling wines from the Moscato grape are made in a frizzante style, which has slightly less bubbles.

Germany
Makes Sekt. The best examples are made from Riesling, and their labels state the following: “Deutscher Sekt” [made with German grapes.] The best of the best in this group are made in the méthode champenoise.

Spain
Makes sparkling wines called cava from grapes like Macabeo, Parellada, Xarel·lo, and Subirat. Wines made from Chardonnay were introduced about thirty years ago and add further refinement to these expressive wines. The traditional method must be used which is the same as in champagne, with the second fermentation taking place in the bottle.

United States
Produces sparkling wines made in both the champagne method and the charmont process. The latter is a less expensive style, made in a manner similar to the way soft drinks are made, with the occasional use of a concrete pit. YUMMY! Better versions range from brut to sec, but remember no hard and fast rules apply. If you have a taste for American sparkling wines but not the French, it is probably due to the fact that our version of brut often contains the same amount of sugar that French demi-sec has.

Hard Cider! - A rant!

We should drink more cider! 
Too sweet? Try French cider!
Too metallic?  Try an Irish!
Too plain? Try a British!

Hint at food pairing with cider is to think white wine!
Pairs well with most fish and can also handle stronger flavors like NC BBQ!


History:
As with many other beverages, were are confused because the term "cider" everywhere else refers to fermented apple juice! Until the mid 1800s, hard cider, was the most popular beverage in North America. Plentiful and as in keeping with most other beverages a great way to preserve a perishable fruit!

French and English colonists brought to the New World their love of cider and planted orchards in New England. Orchards also spread to Virginia and Massachusetts colonies,

John Adams, in 1796, wrote about cider, reporting that drinking a tankard of cider each morning put his stomach at ease and alleviated gas. Hence, "An apple a day ..." Thomas Jefferson made cider, as well as many other beverages, at Monticello and served it at meals regularly.

Cider was so well accepted in the American culture that even clergy, who denounced whiskey and ale, had cider for personal enjoyment.

You have not had a cider until you have had one of these... Cidre Bouche Brut

Excerpted from thier website:
http://www.bunitedint.com/information/brands/description/203/

Unfiltered & Unpasteurized
The orchard: There are now 6000 trees of typica Pay’s d’Auge apple varieties. The trees average twelve years of age. The older the tree, the less the yield, and the better the character of fruit. Also, the low trees contain apples with more sugar. Therefore, much of the orchard is composed of low trees. Apples are picked manually, making the quality of fruit consistantly high.

Shelf Life:
30 months from bottling (which takes place in April of the year following the vintage date). Aromatic persistence improves, and the cider becomes more flashy over time. The froth also becomes thinner. Must be stored upright between 8 - 12O C (46-54 F).
However the product can in some cases last far longer than this. More acidic vintages will tend to hold on longer. Great ripening vintages with higher alcohol in the end product will last a bit longer as well. Tartness and earthiness become dominant after a few years.

Accolades:
The only cider to achieve Ale Street News’ 5 stars (out of 11 ciders) “The 1997 Dupont was like biting into a fresh apple, lots of flavor that kept going to the end.” ***** Tony Forder - Ale Street News

Who is behind your cider?
Sam Adams - HardCore Crisp Hard Cider
Guinness Imports - Woodpecker and Strongbow Ciders
Gallo Wineries - Hornsby's Draft Ciders
Molson Breweries USA (a subsidiary of Miller) imports Dry Blackthorn Cider
Stroh Brewing owns fifty percent of Green Mountain Cidery - Woodchuck ciders


Things to do with cider...

Black Velvet - stout and cider

Snake Bite - ale and cider

Cocktails:

Caramel Apple
Ingredients
36 oz. Apple Cider
10 oz. Silver Tequila 
4 slice(s) Caramel Apples
Instructions:
Pour tequila over full pitcher of ice. Add apple cider and mix well. Pour into 12 oz glasses with the ice. Do not strain. Garnish each glass with 1 slice of caramel apple and drizzle a tsp. of caramel sauce.

Apple Cider Punch
Ingredients
6 Allspice (Whole) 
6 Cloves (Whole) 
6 oz. Lemonade (Frozen) 
6 oz. Orange Juice (Frozen) 
4 quart(s) Apple Cider 
3 stick(s) Cinnamon
1 cup(s) Brown Sugar (Packed)
1 tsp. Nutmeg (Ground)
Instructions:
Tie the cloves and Allspice in cheesecloth and heat the mixture. Stir occasionally.


Candy Apple
Ingredients
1 1/2 oz. VeeV Acai Spirit 
1 oz. Apple Cider 
1/2 oz. Apple Liqueur
1/4 oz. Simple Syrup
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake very well. Strain over ice into an old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a caramel covered apple slice. 

Diesel
1/2 pint lager
1/2 pint cider
1 dash blackcurrant cordial
Instructions:
Pour the lager first then add the blackcurrant cordial. Top up with the cider. The colour sholud be very dark approaching the colour of Guiness.

Holly Jolly Roger
Ingredients
2 oz. Apple Cider Spiced
2 oz. Cruzan Black Strap Rum
1/2 oz. Torani Hazelnut Syrup
1/4 tsp. Absinthe
Instructions:
Combine everything in a shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.


Mastering Mulled Cider
In a large soup pot, combine 1 gallon of apple cider, a bottle of dry red wine, 2 cups of orange juice, a 1/4 cup of lemon juice, about 7-8 cinnamon sticks, a tablespoon of ground cloves, and either 1 cup of rum or brandy.
Cook the mixture over a low flame until just simmering. While the mixture is being heated, core and slice 3-4 of your favorite red apples, and add to the pot once the mixture has just begun to simmer. Turn off the heat and serve.


Hard Cider’s perfect pairing! 
Harvest Apple Cider Stew
This recipe is for a hearty fall harvest stew using apple cider.
Ingredients:
2 pounds stew beef
2 parsnips or carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 red apples, cored and sliced into wedges
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 medium-sized onions, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 14 -ounce can of beef broth
2 cups of apple cider
1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

Optional: In a traditional stew you would also add about 2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and sliced into bite-sized chunks, but for the harvest stew, you can purchase a few baby pumpkins, which will need to have the pulp cleaned out, and then sliced into bite-sized chunks. Peeling the pumpkins is also optional.

To begin, season the beef chunks with the salt and pepper and coat with flour. Then brown the beef in either a dutch oven or a large stew pot in a tablespoon of olive oil.

Then add the broth, the onions, the cider and the vinegar. Bring the stew to boiling, then reduce the heat and simmer for 75 minutes, covered.

Then add the pumpkins or potatoes, and the parsnips to the stew. Bring to boiling again, then reduce the heat and simmer for another 20 minutes. Then add the apple slices and simmer for 5-10 more minutes.

This stew makes approximately 8-10 servings.


Home Brewing cider:
President Carter legalized home brewing in 1978, and beer and wine-making at home took off and now cider and mead making are on the rise!

My favorite Sangria recipe!

 

1 bottle of red wine - preferably Portuguese
...4 shots of brandy
1 shot of triple sec
...2 shots of Porto "ruby"
2 shots of Noilly Prat
1 apple, thinly sliced
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 orange, thinly sliced
1 quart of orange juice
1/2 cup of 7-Up
2 tea-spoons of sugar / simple syrup
cinnamon
3 mint leaves

White Sangria - My Favorite!

 
White Sangria

1 750 White Wine - Dry Portuguese
6oz Orange Juice
12oz Sprite
1 shot Triple Sec
3 shots Brandy
1 cup of White Porto
1 shot white rum is desired
2 apples & oranges sliced

Top Ten Candy Bars and Wine Pairings

Eating and drinking your sweets
They say "candy is dandy but liquor is quicker." Why not have both? The intensity inherent to dessert wine nicely compliments an array of sweets. Such boldness plays well with dark and milk chocolate, caramel, nuts, and more exotic flavors like coconut. Given the various innuendo that these yummy treats provide, these pairings are "sure to satisfy."

Pairing Hints:

● Nuts: wine, cream sherry, madeira, and tawny ports have nutty toasted nuances
that mirror nut flavors.
● Nougat: Late harvest or Sauternes dessert wines add to nougat's creamy
texture.
● Chocolate: Ports and chocolate both
● Nuts: wine, cream sherry, madeira, and tawny ports have nutty toasted nuances
that mirror nut flavors.
● Nougat: Late harvest or Sauternes dessert wines add to nougat's creamy
texture.
● Chocolate: Ports and chocolate both play the game of bitter and sweet.
● Coconut: Well-oaked wines such as aged tawny or vintage port reflect the
coconut in the wood.

Kinds of nougat: 

The first, and most common, is white nougat (which appeared in Cremona, Italy in the early 15th century and later in Montélimar, France, in the 18th century) is made with beaten egg whites and honey. 

The second is brown nougat (referred to as "mandorlato" in Italy and nougatine in French) is made without egg whites and has a firmer, often crunchy texture. 

The third is the Viennese or German nougat which is essentially a chocolate and nut (usually hazelnut) praline.

The most popular candy bars based on 

sales and libations to pair them with:

10. Hershey Bar
Basic pleasure can be a tricky match. Try a orange Muscat from Quady that turns a simple taste into the classic combination of citrus and chocolate.

9. Oh Henry!
Fudge, peanuts, and caramel covered with chocolate demands a complex and intense port such as Tawny 20 Year.

8. M&Ms
Not a candy bar, but the melt in y our mouth element cannot be ignored. Try Croft LBV with a handful of these candies.

7. Baby Ruth
Nougat, peanuts and chocolate are a match for sauternes or muscat

6. 3 Musketeers
All-chocolate nougat covered with milk chocolate is slightly complicated. Compliment, not contrast, is the key here, so use King Estate "Vin Glace" Pinot Gris or
Peter Lehmann Botrytis Semillon.

5. Milky Way
Chocolate malt-flavored nougat and caramel covered with milk chocolate needs good
intensity combined with a fruity edge. Try a Brachetto d' Acqui semi-sparkling.

4. Butterfinger
Butterfinger consists of a crunchy blend of butter and peanut butter covered with
chocolate. Peanut butter's creamy, nutty intensity combines well with sherry; enjoy
it with Alvear's Amontillado.

3. Kit Kat
Wafers, nougat and chocolate need a spicy Madeira like Sandeman "Fine Rich."

2. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Again, peanut butter needs a bold partner; try a cream sherry like with the Pedro Ximenez grape

1. Snickers
You can't go wrong with nougat, caramel, roasted peanuts, and milk chocolate. The
number-one selling bar deserves only the best: try it with a solera sherry.

For the adventurous, experience an Almond Joy or Mounds bar with A fine Vintage port.