Best wine pairings?

D

DeadHeadHorn

500+ Posts
Ok, so I've only recently (last two years) gotten into wine, and I'm a bit of a foodie. I've always heard about good wine pairings and the synergistic ability of them, but had never actually experienced it until recently.

I made some lobster bisque while I was at home over the break and had a wine from Sonoma called Dulce. It was an excellent ($90 bottle or so) sweet, and when we paired it with the lobster bisque, it was unbelievable. It truly created a completely different flavor in my mouth when I drank it with the bisque.

What are some other good wine pairings I can try? I know certain wines go well with certain foods, but I want to experience the creation of a new flavor, like I did with the bisque.

Any suggestions?
 
I'm not kidding: raspberry wine and chocolate.

One day on vacation in Portland, OR, I saw a sampler bottle of raspberry wine open at the counter of a higher-end liquor store, and after I turned up my nose, the store owner told me to take a taste of the wine and eat a bite of chocalate bar he had open for samples. I did, and I've gotta tell you, the taste combination was absurdly good.
 
You would enjoy Andrea Immer's books. She sets up different wine tastings (even suggesting the wines) that highlight different aspects of wine. For her, wine pairings is a big emphasis.
 
A big red wine like a cabernet sauvingon with some kind of piquant cheese. The tannins in the wine are blocked by the tanginess of the cheese and all you really taste is the fruit.
 
Chinese food pairs surprisingly well with sparkling wine. Something about the crispness and acidity of the sparkling balancing out the oils in the Chinese food.

We'll often get take-out PF Chang's and have a bottle of Cristalino. Good times.
 
I received an excellent book for Christmas called, "What to drink with What you Eat." It is really an awesome reference guide and goes into great detail about why things pair well together. It really does pair every food you have ever eaten with some sort of beverage. It's geared primarily toward wine, but also pairs food with beer, spirits and even non-alcoholic beverages. I highly reccommend it.
 
Those books sound great, but I am invited to a wine tasting this Saturday. I have to bring a bottle of wine and an appetizer with 20-24 tastes that goes with the wine. The wines are tried one bottle at a time with the accompanying food. The paring with the Dulce sounds great, but I would like to keep the bottle price under $50. Any thoughts?
Last time I grilled some tenderloin with rosemary and cut it up into bites and paired it with a Bordeaux I had been keeping around. It went well, but I have not been able to plan for this one and I'll be working until late tomorrow.

Thanks for any help.
 
We just enjoyed a seven course meal at Jezebel for New Year's Eve. While there were some hit and miss things about the evening, by far the biggest hit was a lobster bisque with foie gras and Johnnie Walker Black scotch.

The foie gras was simply an ingredient of the bisque which even before the Johnnie Walker Black was one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth. They put about 1.5 oz of scotch on the side with the intent that you add the scotch to the bisque to whatever your taste. It was unbelievably good.

Not exactly a pairing, seeing as the scotch became part of the soup, but I thought it was worth a mention.
 
LonghornGirlie - that lobster bisque with foie gras is amazing. When we had it I don't think they had the Scotch on the side, though. It was byob then.
 
Maytag Blue Cheese and port. Amazing. I did some wine dinners/pairings at my previous job, and I had some great ones - Chateauneuf du Pape and Quail wrapped w/ bacon, peach tarts and German Riesling, Bisque and White Burgundy. These pairings were great, but the most remarkable was the port and blue cheese. The flavors together were just outstanding. I would recommend something like a 20 yr. Taylor Fladgate Tawny and the best Bleu Cheese you can find (which is usually Maytag).
 
Traffic, they still don't have their liquor license. Not quite sure how it worked legally to have the scotch on the menu unless it was some sort of trickeration by considering it an ingredient.

So is the bisque/foie gras something that they have on the menu intermittantly? The only time we've eaten there was New Year's. The service was spotty -- nice attention but WAY too long between courses. I think it was more a kitchen problem than a waiter problem.

Frankly, I kinda hope they don't get their **** together because the food was great and we were able to have much more and better wine than we would have had if they had their own wine or charged a corking fee.

To keep to the topic (and my own rule about restaurant reviews), there are lots of interesting things that can be done with bleu cheese and chocolate -- Vin makes an awesome bleu cheese/chocolate torte -- damn, there goes my rule again -- anyone know how to make it? It would probably be great paired with port.
 
We've eaten there once....just before Thanksgiving. I don't recall if it was on the regular menu or the daily "special' menu. My wife is who ordered it....maybe she'll chime in.

The valrhona chocolate and wasabi fondant (w/ raspberry-hibiscus coulis and five spice tuile) at Uchi is exceptional when paired with a port.
 
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