Hard to believe November is here! People I work with are starting to put on their winter tires and I bought my first pack of Christmas cards the other day. Yes, November is here, with its cool days and chilly nights. And although right now, it looks like the top picture here in Nova Scotia. It’s won’t be long before it will look like this.
Yes, November is here. And for me it means comfort food and great wine!
Wondering which wines works with your favorite comfort food? Here are a few of my favorite comfort foods and the wines I love to have with them.
1. Chicken Pot Pie & Chardonnay
Chicken pot pie tops the list because it’s on the menu for this weekend. And for me, nothing compliments a delicious chicken pot pie than a creamy California Chardonnay. The buttery flavors that usually go with a California Chardonnay and the hint of oak, combine to make a great pairing, but it still has enough acidity to cut through the creamy sauce. You won’t want to come out of your comfy pajamas and this could become your favorite winter combo.
2. Roast Beef (Beef Stew) and Cabernet Sauvignon
Funny story. My mother makes the best beef stew ever. The meat is tender and the gravy in the stew is to die for. Her pot roast on the other hand, is so well cooked and dry that it flakes. Go figure, same meat – totally different outcomes. Here’s a pairing that works two ways… first of all, any roast beef recipe is enhanced when a good Cabernet Sauvignon is added. And then it’s the perfect wine to enjoy the roast beef with. I love a good flavorful California Cabernet Sauvignon as well, and the one pictured is a new one I have tried this week. It’s the Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and it is so good. Knights Valley is land about 17 miles from the Beringer vineyards that they have been farming for years. And top quality soil means exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon. Gorgeous rich flavors of blackberry, blueberry, nutmeg and maple. This wine has comfort food written all over it.
3. Pasta & a Wide Variety of Italian Wines.
The pasta on the left is a linguine that I make with a homemade green olive paste and 4 cheeses. Oh, and did I mention there’s real bacon in there too… yeah, it’s one of my favorite. The Lucente wine you may remember from my blog a few weeks back when I wrote about the Port of Wines show… it was one of my favorites from the show. Glossy tannins, great structure and an exotic finish on the wine.. this wine is the reason I want to visit Tuscanny one day. The other wine is a Canadian wine but a grape with Italian origins. It’s the Sandhill Sangiovese from the Okanagan Valley. Winemaker Howard Soon, who I wrote about after seeing him in Halifax, makes a spectacular Sangiovese. Here’s what winemaker Howard Soon had to say about this wine
“Our Sangiovese is the first Sangiovese grown and produced as a VQA wine in Canada. We did this to prove the value of the Sandhill site – intense heat, dry desert conditions, and sandy soil. Use of traditional Brunello yeast, classic winemaking methods, and aging in small French oak barrels all contribute to a special wine experience. Bottle aging for 1 to 2 years should reveal even more subtle complexities.”
If you haven’t tried this Sangiovese, I highly recommend it.
I would love to hear what’s on your menu this first weekend of November? And which wine you are pairing with it. Please feel free to drop me a message. Or you can join me on Facebook. Find us here Wine In My Opinion
Till next week, Cheers
Darlene
Wine-It’s Just My Opinion 