Thirsty Thursday
Wine is a good thing to know about. Being knowledgeable of it can make your meals more pleasurable, travels more interesting and it certainly isn’t going to hurt your dating life 
We’re not going to go into a big, long article about all the different kinds of grapes, how its made, wine regions, etc. However, if you don’t already, by the time you finish reading this, you’ll understand the three most popular types of red wines and what foods pair best with them.
There’s three main red wines: Cabernet Sauvignon (ka-bur-nay so-vee-nyon), Merlot (mare-LOW) and Pinot Noir (PEE-no nwahr).
On a scale of “roughest” to “softest,” Cabernet Sauvignon would be the the “roughest” and Pinot Noir would be the “softest.” Merlot sits in between the two. These adjectives might not be the best so I’ll try to elaborate…
Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine that when you swallow it, it commands attention. I’ve heard it described as a very bold and assertive wine that has potential to overwhelm light and delicate dishes. Steak, lamb, bleu cheese, dark chocolate and other hearty sort of foods go very well with this wine. Now the foods pairing are suggestions. I encourage you to experiment yourself and see what combinations you prefer. Cabernet Sauvignons, with their higher alcohol levels, do not pair well with spicy foods due to hotness levels of the capsaicins (chemical makes foods spicy) present in spices like chili peppers being enhanced by the alcohol with the heat accentuating the bitterness of the tannins. Tannins are a chemical found in wine that leave a dry, bitter sort of feeling in your mouth but also act as a natural preservative.
Pinot Noir on the other hand is much more elegant of a wine. It has slightly less alcohol usually, a little more expensive and is frequently described as a more delicate taste. Joel Fleischman of Vanity Fair describes the wine as “the most romantic of wines, with so voluptuous a perfume, so sweet an edge, and so powerful a punch that, like falling in love, they make the blood run hot and the soul wax embarrassingly poetic.” Pinot Noir is well-suited to pair with poultry, beef, fish, ham, lamb, pork and swiss cheese. It also plays nice with creamy sauces and spicy seasonings. This wine does not have the longevity in the bottle of the darker red wines and tends to reach its peak at five to eight years past the vintage. So if someone is pedaling 30 year old Pinot for $3,000, be skeptical.
Merlot right in between those two; softer than Cab Sav but more bold than Noir. That being the case, there is little that pairs poorly with Merlot.
Now go out and enjoy a nice red on Valentine’s Day! Next week, we’ll take a dive into the world of white wines…
