Wines for Super Bowl Sunday

Yes, beer is probably the most go-to beverage on Super Bowl Sunday. But, not everyone is a fan of beer (gulp – concept this Texan doesn’t understand).  If looking for an alternative to serve at your party, you’ll score pairing these recommended wines with popular Super Bowl eats.  Go Niners!

All wines available at large liquor stores (BevMo, Specs, TotalWine), and retail for under $20.

Guacamole

Avocado consumption on Super Bowl Sunday is estimated at between 54 and 70 million pounds.  According to Hass Avocado Board, that’s enough to spread guacamole across a football field to a height of 12 feet.  Holy Guacamole!  To wash it all down, you’ll want a crisp white wine like a sauvignon blanc or an unoaked Chardonnay

Pick: Simi Sauvignon Blanc

Buffalo Chicken Wings

Wings are Sunday’s go-to plate.  This can be a tricky pairing – it all depends on high the heat is on the wings.  Avoid high tannic wines with hot foods – it only intensifies the heat!  For these tasty guys, especially if on the spicy side, go for a zinfandel or a rose.

Pick: Klinker Brick Zinfandel

Pizza

We love wine with pizza, and we love pizza while watching football!  Apparently, so do many other Americans as Super Bowl Sunday is the busiest day of the year for pizza restaurants.  So many options with pizza – pair it with sangiovese, zinfandel, syrah, pinot noir, or any solid red blend.

Pick: Menage a Trois Red

Cupcake Red Velvet – an any day wine

We are always on the hunt for an inexpensive, tasty wine to enjoy any day of the week ~ which means an easy drinker and under $20.  Many of our friends have shared with us that one of their go-to weekday wines is Cupcake Red Velvet.  We decided to pick up a bottle and give it a try. 

Red Velvet is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petite Syrah.  This wine has rich, fruit flavors (raspberry and black cherry), with chocolate undertones.  It is definitely a sweeter red, but it is not a ‘fruit bomb’.  The finish was a little rough around the edges, but softened up after it was open for about half an hour. 

Red Velvet is an easy drinker, and paired very nicely with our butternut squash and sausage pasta.  The winery recommends pairing with spicy Hoisin steak, bbq bacon cheeseburgers, or even dark chocolate fondue.  I’m not so sure about the fondue, but agree that this would pair very well with BBQ! 

It definitely fits our criteria on price.  Cupcake Red Velvet is widely distributed and runs for under $10! You can pick up a bottle at your local grocery, as well as BevMo ($9), Specs ($9), or TotalWine ($8).

For more recommendations on any day wines, check out our reviews of wines Under $20

Selecting wine in a restaurant when you know nothing

The other night we encountered a restaurant wine list that had absolutely nothing familiar. This rarely happens to us but we know what to do when it does. We immediately skip to number two on our list of three ways to select a wine from a restaurant wine list. (See the full list here.)

Number two is "try before you buy." The trick here is to look for wines that are sold by both the glass and the bottle. The restaurant will have bottles of these wines already open, so you can taste a few possibilities before making your final selection.

In our case, we narrowed our selection to two contenders. One was an Australian Shiraz and the other was an Italian Sangiovese. Both were reasonably priced and the varietals in theory would pair well with both our meals. Our server brought us a glass with a splash of each one and we picked the one we both liked best - the Italian.

The wine turned out to be a Terra Alta Red Wine. We took a picture of label thinking we could easily research the winery online at a later time, but our search has been fruitless. Does anyone recognize this wine?

Treat Your Host with Kristine’s Cuvee

Decorating, shopping, baking ~ the holiday season can get crazy, quick!  One way to simplify is to stock up on a favorite every day wine to have on hand for host gifts, or any last minute, ‘unexpected’ need. 

An everyday red we enjoy is Kristine’s Cuvee by Wattle Creek.  This is a Bordeaux blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and petit verdot.  It has great fruit flavors and well balanced acidity, exactly what you’d expect for a solid red blend.  This wine is an easy drinker on its own, and also pairs nicely with a wide variety of food ~ a plus when taking to a party with ‘potluck’ items. 

This is one of the few wines widely distributed by Wattle Creek.  You should be able to pick it up at a larger wine shop (such as BevMo and Specs), and retails for about $20…it is currently advertised at BevMo club price of $10.99 (a sweet deal!).   

When sharing a bottle as a gift, add a personal touch to make it even more special.  Include a little story about how you discovered the wine or a favorite recipe that would pair well with it.  

You can never go wrong with sharing wine as a holiday gift. One bit of advice ~ when selecting the wine, take note of the name and consider who may be receiving it… for example, while it is another great red blend, a couple may not want to gift their single friend a bottle of Ménage à Trois… 

Happy Holidays!

Aia Red Wine by Miner Family Vineyards

There are a number of winemakers of well known, widely distributed wines that craft specialty production side projects.  Under these alternate labels, winemakers have more flexibility to experiment ~ sometimes mixing different varietals than what you may typically find. They can be fun, and quite enjoyable discoveries! Some of our favorites are Days Off  (Andrew Murray), Conundrum (Caymus), and Small Block Series (Hess). 

We recently discovered another special production wine while dining at Lahaina Grill in Maui, HI (highly recommend!).  One of the Sommelier’s picks was Aia Red Wine by Miner Family.  With the mark-ups they have at restaurants these days, we typically don’t order wines we’ve never tried before. (Yes, we are spoiled by the freedom of corkage fees in California).  We haven’t tasted a Miner Family wine we haven’t liked…so, we threw caution to the wind and gave it a go ~  

The 2007 Aia Red is a blend of 35% Cabernet Franc, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Petit Verdot, and 15% Malbec.  Individually, the grapes are some of my favorites.  I was excited to see how they would taste blended as one.  The wine is very rich in color, and we both noted the pleasant floral aromas.  It was light and very smooth on the palate, with taste of plum fruits, and a little jammy on the finish. The balance in flavors and well-integrated tannins made it a great pairing with my mouth watering braised short ribs, and Jeff’s equally impressive veal chop.   

The fruit for this wine is sourced from a low-yielding vineyard in Napa Valley.  It is aged 20 months, 50% New French Oak.  They produced 2,730 cases ~ keep your eye out for it on restaurant wine lists, online, and in specialty wine stores.  It retails at about $27.