By Joseph Temple

Next Friday is Halloween!  And if you’re handing out candy to all the trick or treaters knocking on your door, you might want to consider putting aside some of your sugary stash for later.  That’s because we’ve concocted ten wine pairings in our labratory to go with your all-time favorite sweets.  Of course, if you have any additions, post your own graveyard smash in the comments section.  Enjoy!
blank

By Windell H. Oskay from Sunnyvale, California, United States (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

1. Red Licorice and Pinot Noir
blank

2. Chocolate Wafer Bars and Malbec
blank

3. Peanut and Caramel with Grenache
blank

4. Coconut Dark Chocolate and Syrah
blank

5. Caramel Squares and Port
blank

6. Milk Chocolate and Moscato
blank

7. Peanut Butter Cups and Chardonnay
blank

By liz west [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

8. Candy Corn and Sparkling Wine
blank

9. Fruity Candies and Riesling
blank

10. Chocolate Covered Raisins and Muscat
blank

You might also like:

 Loading ...

Uri Tours (uritours.com) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Question:  What are your thoughts Sid on pairing craft beer with food?

Answer: Just go with the potato chips and beer nuts. Just kidding! Craft beers are a strong market and often the beverage of choice particularly with the younger crowd. Having a beer seems to be a more casual relaxed and less intimidating activity for them than the more formal wine service. Small independent traditional microbreweries continue to explore different experimental brews so there is always a brand new one to try. Craft beers are very diverse from dry to sweet and subtle to assertive – just like wine. Certainly quality craft beers can work very well with different foods – especially where you want to refresh your palate with a gulp. Wine is more suited to sipping and consuming less liquid volume but this is only a generalization. Some craft beers now are nearly the same alcohol as wine and in the same 750 ml size bottle. Be open minded and experiment yourself as to how you enjoy craft beers with food. There is a lot to learn.

Also check out the dinner party fare served with beer at www.brooklynbrewery.com/blog.

I participated with their Brew Master Garrett Oliver in a competition where chefs prepared the same food for both beer and wine pairings. The large audience vote was for beer but many of the dishes were quite hot spicy and BBQ styled. Tomorrow they are matching beer with sustainable seafood including oysters. I already know that I prefer top Chablis with that matching!

You might also like:

 Loading ...

Which cruise line offers the best food? This question is no longer an oxymoron! Not just the Buffet Table now. Since Norwegian Cruise Lines first started providing specialty restaurant choices at sea this concept really has taken off. Many lines now offer this. Perhaps the most well known one is Oceania with their Executive Culinary Director the renown Chef Jacques Pepin orchestrating top French Cuisine on the Marina. There are lots of others to choose from including Silversea (Relais & Chateau Le Champagne), Celebrity on Silhouette and improved Disney. Even Carnival “Fun Ships” & Royal Caribbean are battling it out for the best burger at sea. Smaller ships like Seabourn and Windstar offer outstanding culinary standards with wonderful service.

All this was brought to mind yesterday when I was invited on a Crystal Cruises preview 3 hour cruise in Vancouver with good friend talented Chef Darren Brown www.chefdbrown.com. He has an impressive resume of Executive Chef positions including Fairmont Pacific Rim and was the personal chef for Merv Griffin on a mega-yacht. He is leading a 12 day Mediterranean Tour on the refurbished Crystal Serenity October 25, 2015 roundtrip from Monte Carlo through Italy and Barcelona with daily market shopping and cooking on board. Should be an interesting amazing culinary adventure I highly recommend. Crystal also are proud of their specialty Silk Road “Nobu” Matsuhisa & Prego Piero Selvaggio Valentino restaurants on board.

What has been your most memorable food experience on a ship? Which Cruise Line would you recommend for high culinary standards?

You might also like:

 Loading ...

Question: What’s the best way to cool wine quickly?

Answer: Always seems to be a continuing interest in this topic. I ponder why aren’t you following the Scout Motto of “Be Prepared” using some cold bottles already in your frig.  However I understand there are occasions where you need to act quickly. I explored related temperature issues in two posted IWFS blogs last year on July 22 “Best wine serving temperatures” & on September 2  “Tricks to improve wine temperature service”. I usually wrap the bottle in an ice pack and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Don’t forget you put it there! Better and even faster is filling a bucket with ice and just adding cold water – even colder and more efficient if you add some salt. If you have already poured the wine into a glass you might use CoolBlues Reusable Ice Cubes, Whiskey Stones, Wine Pearls or the like to bring down the temperature without diluting the wine. Not a bad idea to keep some frozen red and white grapes in your freezer and pop one or two of them in the glass to cool the wine as well as being a fun conversation stimulant.

You might also like:

 Loading ...

Photo credit: @greywacker

Most of us have tried the vibrant herbaceous sauvignon blanc from Marlborough called Cloudy Bay. What many of us don’t know is that their founding winemaker was Kevin Judd www.kevinjudd.co.nz who directed that company’s first 25 vintages. Since 2009 he is producing his own wine called Greywacke www.greywacke.com  – named after New Zealand’s prominent bedrock layers. I have been fortunate to taste with Kevin on several occasions and I am impressed with his passion to produce low yield quality wines that express their specific regions. His main varieties are sauvignon blanc and pinot noir but also has some super pinot gris, riesling, and chardonnay. His regular Sauvignon has that typical Marlborough zip but with more subtle balance of flavours. The more luscious textured Wild Sauvignon uses 100% wild yeast, mostly old French oak with lees stirring and went 2/3 through malo. Pinot noir 2011 utilizes mainly Dijon clones 115, 777 & 667 with 100% wild ferment in 40% new French oak to capture the pure red perfumed fruits, supple tannins and textbook cool climate lift. Wine Spectator scored it 93 points and ranked #48 in their Top 100 most exciting wines of 2013. Kevin is contributing so much to the dynamic New Zealand wine scene. Along with his winemaking Kevin is a well known acclaimed wine photographer with The Colour of Wine on the vineyards of Marlborough and his newer The Landscape of New Zealand Wine (published by www.craigpotton.co.nz)  on all their wine regions with an introduction by Bob Campbell MW. I admire how Kevin brings such focused intensity of high purpose to both his winemaking and his photography. His wines and his books are both highly recommended.

You might also like:

 Loading ...