Food And Drink

Drink this … eat that! Relieve your boredom with a Taste of Junk Food

Bored? Nothing fun to do? Well, it is time for a Junk Food Tasting. Of all the food and wine seminars I teach, this is by far the most popular. You can gather with friends, hopefully in person soon, or virtually. That can be fun too!

Many people think that wine is for dinner, or paired only with savoury dishes, i.e., steak with red wine, fish with white. Heck no! Red licorice with Pinot Noir is amazing!

This can be quite simple.  Once you have a  bit of synergy knowledge under you belt, the experience is quite exciting — according to this wine geek, of course.

Here are some things to consider:

Always taste your wine first.
Then the food, back to the wine. See how the synergy of the two change the taste/feel of the wine.

Fortified wine such as port is a natural match with milk chocolate.
This will be a complement. Remember to try to match the wine’s weight with the weight of the food for an enjoyable mouthfeel balance.Anything lemon will pick up the acid in a wine.
Try zesty lemon segment candies, or tart lemon squares with a Riesling. The acid in the wine will be much more evident after the lemon treat.

Anything cherry is a perfect pair with Merlot.
Cherry nibs, or cherry cordials bring out crazy cherry notes of a new world Merlot.

Something out of the box is always exciting.  Try some chocolate covered bacon with a local Cab Franc.
Our Cab Franc from this region can be quite earthy, but can also have luscious raspberry notes. I chose the bacon for the salt factor to make the wine taste sweeter. Plus, the chocolate coating complements the berry notes of the wine. And because it is just fun! Awesome flavour profiles to play with.

Oh, my precious chardonnay! Especially California Chardonnay. Buttery theatre popcorn is calling  you. 
The richness of the butter is a perfect match in both weight and mouthfeel. Add a sappy, tear jerker movie and voila! A fabulous Friday night!Pair smoky hickory sticks with a smoky big red. 
Zinfandel would work here. If barrel-aged, the wine will have some smoky notes from a charred barrel. Plus the natural sweetness of a hot climate red will taste even sweeter with the salty little sticks.

Salty foods will make your wine taste sweeter.
Try some sea salt kettle chips with an off-dry white anything, and see how the salt changes the notes of the wine.  A Vidal would work here.One last idea would be pairing with the Fig Newton.
Chenin is a light white wine with unusual lanolin and dried date/fruit notes. This pairing is quite nice as the fruit filling is a natural fit. Trust me.

So, so many ideas!
I could go on for days. Just play with some of your favourite junk food items and some favourite wines and see for yourself. It just works.

Cheers!

Top image by cottonbro from Pexels
All other images from Pixabay

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