"D" is for Dips and Wine

The ‘dip’ is a timesaving and easy hors d’oeuvre to prepare for BBQ dining this summer. When you’re pairing your favourite wine to dips, it’s more interesting to serve original recipes than to serve store bought versions.

Dips are easy to make and you don’t necessarily need a recipe. Use your taste buds as your guide.

Fresh fruit refresh the palate during the summer. If the dip has sweetness due to chunks of fresh fruit like pineapple or mango, even cranberry, be sure the wine offers sweetness as well. A sweet dip will make a dry wine taste offensive. Hot and spicy dips also require a matching wine with sweetness. Sweet and/or hot and spicy dips work best with an off dry white wine.

Just remember that light bodied wines work best with sour cream based dips, while heavier vintages complement cream cheese based ones. The same holds true for adding cheese. Add fresh cheese like feta and Chevre or salty cheeses like parmesan to dips that will be paired with light bodied whites. Use heavier cheeses, such as cheddar and blue cheese when matching a red wine to your dip.

If you’re beginning your party or event with a crisp, dry sparkling wine or brut Champagne or crisp, dry white wine, such as pinot gris and sauvignon blanc, create a yogurt or sour cream based dip. Sour cream is tangy, which is the same as the prominent taste sensation in this style of wine.

How about an avocado dip? Combine sour cream, avocado, finely chopped fresh cilantro, fresh lime juice, diced onion, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Artichoke and parmesan and spinach and artichoke dips also work with crisp, dry whites.

Complementary wines to serve with these dips include Henry of Pelham cuvee Catherine Brut (CSPC # 616441), $29.95 and Cooper’s Creek sauvignon blanc (CSPC # 957407), $15.45.

A riesling wine with a hint of sweetness works nicely with sweet, hot and spicy and/or cream cheese based dips. Fielding Estate riesling semi dry (CSPC # 36202), $15.95, and Vineland Estates riesling semi-dry VQA (CSPC # 232033), $13.85 both complement pineapple and ham dip. Combine cream cheese, chunks of fresh pineapple, diced ham, diced onion and salt and pepper. Hot and spicy and curry based dips also work nicely with this style of wine.

Asiago cheese dip is ideal to match to a big, fat white wine, such as a barrel fermented and aged chardonnay. Bring together mayonnaise, cream cheese, shredded asiago, and diced onion, salt and pepper. Flat Rock Cellars 2004, (CSPC # 681247), $16.95 is perfect to pair with this dip. This dip can also be paired with reds, as well.

Bacon blue dip is perfect for a red wine offering forward fruit character. Bring together cream cheese, chunks of blue cheese, minced onion, and crumbled bacon (include some of the bacon fat), salt and pepper. In fact, any dip highlighting bacon will work with red wine. Bacon has enough fat to stand up to the weight of reds. Pair this dip with Frog’s Leap 2005 zinfandel (CSPC # 593525), $37.95 or Henry of Pelham baco noir VQA (CSPC #270926), $13.75.

"C" is for Chicken Wings and Wine

Chicken wings and beer are natural partners. But what if you love wings and dislike beer? Or what if you simply feel like having a glass of wine with your wings? As much as I love having a bottle of beer on a hot sunny day (a bottle rather than a glass) or after working out at the gym, I find it filling and bloating. I dislike the idea of being bloated because of a beverage. If choosing to be bloated, I prefer this to be a result of too many French fries or chicken wings!

It also might seem rather frivolous to serve a quality vintage with something as casual as chicken wings? This may be true. However, there are plenty of delicious wines that fall into the ‘casual’ category. What makes a wine casual? Foremost it is the price. Casual wines, at least from my perspective, cost under $12.00 per bottle. Casual wines are also easy drinking, tasty but unsophisticated and drinkable today. Drinkable today means the wines are not complex and therefore will not benefit from time in your wine cellar.

Keeping price in mind, rose and blush are the best wine styles for chicken wings. Both offer good acidity that cuts through the greasiness of deep fried finger foods and a hint of sweetness that pairs well with most wing sauces. Honey-garlic, barbecue, sweet and sour, mango spice and other sauces contain some sweetness that pairs well with the sweetness in an off-dry rose or blush. When it comes to suicide or any hot and spicy versions made from hot peppers, the heat on one’s palate is subdued by both the sweetness and sourness (acidity) in the wine. So, we can refresh our palate with a rose or blush between delicious bites of chicken wings.

What is the difference between blush and rose wines? Rose is a traditional wine style. In the early 80’s, however, savvy winemakers started a new wine style called “blush” or Blanc de Noir. Blush wines were generally paler than roses. While some still exist, roses, like other legitimate wines, have never gone out of fashion. Rose and Blanc de Noir can be made with or without skin contact during the fermentation. The grapes may be crushed, leaving a bit of pigment in the juice, before the skins are separated and fermented. The grape skins can also be fermented with the juice for a short period, such as for eight hours to two days. The amount of time the skins remain in contact with the juice will determine the depth of colour in the blush or rose.

Chilling roses and blush wines makes them ideal for hot, spicy chicken wings. Even if you’re not a big fan of off-dry wines, you might still consider trying this combination. There are wines that shine when served alone and others that act as the perfect partner in food and wine pairing. Don’t underestimate the benefits of a lovely looking and refreshing rose!