Food Pairing Example

Just a quick follow up to my wine and food pairing post. If you read the pairing blog, you may recall some discussion on congruent and complementary pairing methods. Well, I got both in the same bottle tonight. Got home from work and was feeling like a glass of wine would take the edge off a long day. Pepper steak in the crock pot was on the menu, so I thought a dry red would be good to sip on before dinner and also go with the meal. I selected a Tempranillo I made about 5 years ago for my son's wedding. The dry red was a really good enhancement to the flavors of the meat, the peppery flavor of the Tempranillo blending well the spicy flavor of the pepper steak, and the tomatoes enhanced the acidity in the wine, adding some complexity to the taste. Congruent pairing success! Then after dinner I wanted something a sweet to top off the meal, and settled on some vanilla cream pirouette cookies. The sweetness of the cookie really contrasted with the peppery flavor of the wine, strengthening both. The wine got bolder and the cookie got sweeter and the contrasting flavors were delicious! A bolder red like a Tempranillo is not something I normally would have thought to pair with a cookie but it is a great example of complementary pairings. That's what I mean when I say experiment. If you have a dry red open but feel like a little something sweet, go ahead and try it. It may curl your toes, or you just might find a nice pairing that you will use again. Cheers!