What to Pair With Your Favorite Wine?
Are you a wine aficionado? Do you like an occasional glass or tumbler of the fermented grape juice? Then you’ll like this guide to gadgets and accessories, plus food pairings and recipes! The tools make great gifts, the pairings offer the rationale behind taste complements and the recipes are perfect for your favorite wine time.
Pairing Food with Complementary Wines
We consulted Wine Folly for these nine tips about pairing food and wine, including the wine should be more acidic and sweeter than the food and have the same flavor intensity. You’ve heard that red wines pair best with bold flavored meats (e.g., red meat) and white wines pair best with light-intensity meats (e.g., fish or chicken) and one more tips about pairing – it’s better to match the sauce with the wine (rather than the meat). And, Wine Folly has a simple food and wine pairing poster to help you match the wine with the food, including cheeses, starches, veggies, sweets and seafood.
And for the ultimate 15 rules for pairings, go to Food & Wine, where you’ll learn specifics like, which wine goes best with a Leek and Pecorino Pizza (which by the way includes a spicy Oregon Pinot Noir), and what to serve with Triple Decker Baked Italian Cheese Sandwiches.
If, rather than matching the wine to the recipe, you’re looking for the best dish to piar with your favorite wine, check out All Recipes where you can find the perfect dish! Say you’re a Malbec man, according to All Recipes the best dishes to enjoy with your wine are Carne Asada Tacos and Marinated Flank Steak. More of a Pinot Grigio gal? Try the Chili-Lime Chicken Kabobs or Bodega Bay Fish Chowder.
Gadgets and Wine Accessories
When it comes to getting the cork out of a bottle of wine, the manual openers work just fine, but this rechargeable battery-operated opener makes the task so easy, it’s a wonder anyone still owns the kind waiters use! At the push of a button the tool does all the work, removing the cork, and then spinning it back into your palm to recork after pouring. Wine Enthusiast showcases four different versions, ranging in price from $30 to $70. The more expensive versions have foil cutters and the leading wine opener comes with a stand, two bottle stoppers and an aerator/pourer.
There are also corkscrew stands, wall-mounted corkscrews and corkscrews that clamp to a table edge, along with the sommelier corkscrews, some with stag horn and rosewood handles, and one made of titanium that sells for $625 – with free shipping. ☺
For the fanatic fruit-of-the-vine drinker, Wine Enthusiast also carries unique vintage wine barrel furniture – everything from repurposed sink vanities and bistro sets, to coffee tables and pet beds!
Sitting outside on your patio can heighten the enjoyment of a quiet evening at home and that includes enjoying a glass of wine. But stemmed wine glasses can be a tipping risk. Yeti makes wine tumblers that keep the wine chilled at the perfect temperature.
Another way to keep wine cold (white chilled and to cool down room temperature red), are the Chillers and the Corkcicle Air, from Corkcicle. These not only chill your wine with a unique freezing gel, the corkcicle has a built-in aerator and easy pour spout – through the cork. Corkcicle also has stemless tumblers in a variety of sizes, and totes that give new meaning to the term “wine bag.”
Wind Down on the Hill
The the master-planned community of Colliers Hill is a refuge for residents. Not only is it one of Northern Colorado’s fastest growing community, life’s just better on the Hill! With an amenity-rich neighborhood minutes from historic downtown Erie, why not stop by and tour the beautiful model homes from KB Home, Century Communities and Richmond American Homes – and coming soon, Boulder Creek. Priced from the $400s, you’ll find two-story and ranch-style homes, plus paired offerings, too!
