The Ideal Wines for Mexican Food
Wines? With Mexican food? Surely not! We all know that the best and only accompaniment to your quesadillas is a beer, right?
Well, sometimes, yes. Beer has always gone really well with Mexican dishes. This is because, however, what we think of as Mexican food is actually Tex-Mex. This food, amazing as it is, with the refried beans, the cheese and the coriander, was created by Mexican ranch-hands who worked hard to make the American south-west the produce powerhouse that it is today.
These guys found it hard to get the same spices and vegetables that they’d enjoyed over the border, so they worked with what they had. While Tex-Mex is great, it’s not as subtle as “real” Mexican food, so beer it is.
Authentic Mexican food has a lot more flavour and subtlety than Tex-Mex – less heat and more complexity – so it actually has more “room” for the many different wines we have.
There’s not as many books written about Mexican food and wine pairings, so here are the basic guidelines for you to follow.
You want some acidity
The most successful wine choices for Mexican food are light, crisp and with plenty of acidity. Stalwarts like Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc will never go wrong, and you can also try a very dry Riesling or a Spanish Albariño. This latter wine goes amazingly well with green tomato and chilli recipes. You can drink reds with Mexican food as well, but the acidity rule remains, so try a Rioja, a Chianti or a Pinot Noir.
Or some fruit
If you fancy a red instead of a white, then go for a jammy, fruity Zinfandel. This will complement an earthy red chilli sauce very well indeed. Shirazes and Shiraz blends will also hold their own against many of the assertive flavors of Mexican cuisine, but if you prefer lighter reds, go for a fruity, chilled Beaujolais instead.
You don’t need oaky
Oaky or tannic wines really don’t mix well with Mexican – they tend to clash and end up tasting bitter and smoky-in-a-bad-way. The same goes for Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, as their tannins increase the chilli effect and so that’s all you can taste.
All this said, however, feel free to experiment and let us know what heavenly matches you manage to make!
Image Credits;
Copyright for the image within this blog post is owned by ‘maksheb’, and has been licenced for use on this blog post through Big Stock Photo for editorial use (stock photo ID: 86398034). For questions relating to this image please contact the copyright owner directly.
Wines for Chinese Food
In recent years, the end of Dry January has coincided with the Chinese New Year celebrations (it’s the Year of The Rooster this year, just in case you were wondering). This means that many of us rediscover our love of Chinese food at the same time we rediscover our love of wine!
What’s not to love about this combination? Well, not much, really, but it does help if you get your wine and food pairings right so you can really enjoy both.
Conventional wisdom dictates that…
Chinese food goes best with aromatic whites like Riesling and Gewürztraminer. However, there’s not just one type of Chinese food. A seafood dish can be very delicately flavoured and so ends up being bullied out of existence by the Gewürztraminer, whereas a heftier duck dish can hold its own against it. When it comes to Cantonese food, the Riesling will work well as it’s off-dry, but it won’t pair up quite so snugly with the chillified Sichuan dishes.
What, no reds?
Many people wouldn’t consider drinking a red alongside Chinese food, but it’s becoming increasingly common to pair up a full-bodied red with the meatier, spicier dishes. It also matters where you’re getting the food from – if it’s from a top-notch restaurant, you want to honour it with a decent bottle. If you’re just getting street-style noodles (which are still fab, of course), then you can be a bit more carefree.
Here’s a quick cribsheet for you
Dim sum – you need a sparkling wine or a very chilled fino sherry.
For sweet and sour dishes – you should drink an aromatic white, even a blended wine. If you’re stuck, a Torrontes will meld quite happily with a wide range of flavors.
For Sichuan dishes – these are generally spicier than most Chinese foods and so you need an off-dry Riesling or a plucky off-dry rosé.
For crispy duck – you need a bit more heft here, so a decent Pinot Noir or a cru Beaujolais. If you like heartier reds in particular, then you could try a younger Merlot instead.
Image Credits;
Copyright for the image within this blog post is owned by ‘Kzenon’, and has been licenced for use on this blog post through Big Stock Photo for editorial use (stock photo ID: 52625860). For questions relating to this image please contact the copyright owner directly.
Spoons Don’t Keep Your Bubbly Bubbly
It’s a very old adage – dangling a spoon (preferably silver) upside down in the neck of a bottle of Champagne or any other sparkling wine helps to maintain the fizz factor.
Many people swear by it, and apparently,the effect comes from the spoon making the air in the neck of the bottle colder, therefore denser. This area of denser air acts as a blanket, pushing down on the fizz, helping to keep all those bubbles in.
Does this really work?
In a word, no. If there is any effect, it’s negligible. The supposed layer of spoon-chilled air (which probably doesn’t exist) simply won’t exert anywhere near enough force to create the pressure needed to keep the carbon dioxide in solution. The fact that the gas is in solution under pressure is the reason why it bubbles up as soon as the pressure’s off (when the cork is popped).
What does actually work to keep leftover fizz, well, fizzy?
The only thing that will have any sort of effect in keeping the bubbles in leftover sparkling wine is to not allow it to get warm. Carbon dioxide, like other gases, is more soluble in liquids at cooler temperatures, so as soon as the wine starts to warm up, it’ll lose carbon dioxide.
This isn’t a miracle solution, though, as the CO2 will still escape over time and by 24 hours after opening, most of the fizz will be gone. You can also try hermetic corks, but again, they can’t exert enough pressure on the liquid inside the bottle.
You can always cook with it
If it’s good enough to drink at least halfway through the bottle, then it’s good enough to drink with. You might not have thought of using sparkling wine in a recipe, but it works surprisingly well in risottos and granitas. If you’re making a granita – a posh slushie, basically, you may have the ideal solution because the freezing process will preserve a lot of the CO2 and you won’t have to thaw it out and lose it.
Image Credits;
Copyright for the image within this blog post is owned by ‘Scherbinator’, and has been licenced for use on this blog post through Big Stock Photo (stock photo ID: 156546992). For questions relating to this image please contact the copyright owner directly.
Using Leftover Wine
It does happen occasionally – there’s half of a bottle of wine left over and you might not know what to do with it. Don’t worry, and, more importantly, don’t let it go to waste. Have a look at these ideas for leftover wine so that, should the unthinkable ever happen to you, you’re prepared!
Freeze it
If you’re staring at the half-full bottle and you’re out of inspiration, just pour it into a clean ice cube tray and cover it over. It won’t be particularly drinkable once it’s thawed out, but it’ll work a treat in stews, risottos, ragus and many other recipes.
Cook pasta in it
Yup, seriously! Drunken spaghetti (or whatever other pasta you fancy) takes on an amazing light purple hue that looks amazing against, say, red peppers and bright green parsley, as well as a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. You start the pasta off in water as usual, then transfer it to at least half a bottle of a good red like Zinfandel and let nature take its course.
Make a granita
This is just one step up from freezing it, really. Just add sugar and, for example, orange juice or even crushed watermelon. Watermelon works better with fruity whites, and for reds, you could use raspberries or even coffee to go in the mix. Whatever you do, a dollop of top-notch vanilla ice cream alongside it is the order of the day.
Use it as a cleaner
This might seem sacrilegious, but as you know, white wine doesn’t keep long once it’s been opened and so if it is too late to save that bottle of zesty white, then you can still put it to service in the kitchen. Mix the wine with sodium bicarbonate and leave it to work on grease stains before the clothes go into the laundry.
Bathe in it
This is a bit leftfield, but the tartaric acid in red wine serves as a gentle exfoliator. You can either pour your leftovers into the bath, or mix it with your shower gel and let it work its magic.
Image Credits;
Copyright for the image within this blog post is owned by ‘Zoom-zoom’, and has been licenced for use on this blog post through Big Stock Photo (stock photo ID: 2665539). For questions relating to this image please contact the copyright owner directly.
2016’s Most Popular Wines
Now we’re just getting to grips with 2017, we can look back at 2016 and its wine trends. There were a few changes and surprises in the wine industry – although not as many as there were in other spheres! Let’s have a look at a few of the movers and shakers from last year.
Natural wines
Concerns about soil health in California (as well as in other regions of the world) have led to lots of wineries going back to basics and using old-fashioned ways of producing their wines. They’re not using additives or modern mechanical equipment, so the real taste and character of the region comes through in the finished product. It’s a real grower among wine experts and environmentalists alike.
American sparkling wines
Europe is no longer the hub for sparkling wines, with lots of American wineries starting to really embrace the fizz. Some pundits think 2016 was the start of a great era for American, and Californian in particular, sparkling wines. There are several Charmat-produced wines coming up through the ranks and taking their place among the Proseccos and the Cavas.
Small, specialist grower wines
This is a big trend in California, with smaller growers working with grapes from more unusual climate areas. These growers are also working with varieties like Tempranillo. Some of these producers are also joining the natural wine movement and forgoing new processing methods in favor of letting the terroir speak for itself through the grape.
Lesser-known wines
As the popularity of wine in general continues to grow all over the world, customers and consumers will get bolder and start to reach out for newer or more unusual wines. Everyone loves Pinot Grigio and Cabernet Sauvignon, but there’s been an upsurge in the lesser-known varieties like Vermentino and Mourvedre.
Pinot noir
This has been around for quite some time, but has previously been seen as a bit more challenging than most reds. As consumers become bolder, however, they’re choosing this tipple more and more – looks like it’s here to stay.
Image Credits;
Copyright for the image within this blog post is owned by ‘Yastremska’, and has been licenced for use on this blog post through Big Stock Photo (stock photo ID: 90032456). For questions relating to this image please contact the copyright owner directly.
Is Soil Health Under Threat?
Wine has become a huge business in California; it’s one of the state economy’s biggest contributors, in fact. However, the soils that make up the fertile grape-growing region that produces the ever-popular Chardonnay are undergoing some changes that may threaten the future of this industry if action isn’t taken soon.
Soil health is a thing
Soil has, for many decades now, been seen as a dead substance, it’s simply the setting, or the support structure, for whatever is growing in it. This couldn’t be further from the truth, though, as soil is actually a dynamic ecosystem in its own right and its balance and vitality needs to be examined and maintained at all costs.
A combination of climate change, intensive farming and new farming methods, including artificial pesticides, fertilizers and mechanical plows, have all led to the depletion of the soil in California.
A key indicator of this depletion is in the drop in the number of worms in the soils of the state. Earthworms have long been hailed as the farmer’s best friend, because they not only burrow through and aerate the soil, but by eating and excreting smaller animals into the soil, they continually enrich it with essential compounds. This so-called vermicompost effectively recharges the soil, making it ready for another growing season, and if there are fewer worms doing this, then there’ll be lower nutrient levels.
Not only do worms create vermicompost, but their presence also stirs up the soil, creating extra drainage so that rainwater can escape without dragging the vital nitrogen, potassium and phosphate compounds out with it.
What’s the solution?
First of all, the soils in a vineyard should be examined and analysed and if there are few organic compounds in it, as well as few living creatures (worms included), then there’s something going wrong. Even the tiny creatures in soil have a role, eating even smaller creatures, living, dying and decaying, all of which feeds the soil.
If the soil is becoming effectively sterile, then the vineyard must rethink its production methods. The organic and natural wine movements could save the day here, with their emphases on hand-weeding, natural fertilizers and low pesticide use.
Previously bulk wineries in California didn’t want to spend money on researching and looking after their soils, but it’s now a real priority.
All together now! Save the earthworm!
Image Credits;
Copyright for the image within this blog post is owned by ‘All-a-Shutter’, and has been licenced for use on this blog post through Big Stock Photo for editorial use (stock photo ID: 142372439). For questions relating to this image please contact the copyright owner directly.