Wine a Day

One of the more difficult pursuits in matching with food is with foods from outside of Europe. European culture has a long history of wine production and has since developed its collective pallet to covert meals which match well with wine. In other cultures where wine has not been produced through its history, their food tends to be tricky to find a wine that will compliment it as readily as the food and wine from Europe.

Foods from Asia, Africa and The Americas are traditionally made with complex tastes and many different spices. The food is great, however when you are choosing a wine it can be difficult. Trial and error, a fair bit of internet searching and some tips from friends often gets you to a good match in the end. With the amount of variations in wine production today, there is usually a good match to just about anything you care, or dare to eat.

I recently wanted to try something different with Mexican food. I tend to like my Mexican dishes spicy, often adding a few jalapeños to give it an extra kick. I set about making chicken burritos and was looking through the wine I had available at home. Often a slightly sweat rose is a common choice of mine with Mexican food. It is a safe option as it gives you just enough sweet and tangy notes to compliment the food. This day however the rose stocks were low – actually non-existent. I had to do some improvisation. A good way I find to match food with wine is to slowly narrow down the options until you have 2 or 3 you then have to take a choice from. It is the same at a shop and often there is someone there who can help you go for one over the other. I was left with a dry-ish Riesling, a Nebbiolo and a sweet white. I decided the Riesling was too delicate for the richness of the sauce I had made. The Nebbiolo would not have been a little lost among all the flavors, so the last option was the sweeter white from Portugal. I was not entirely sure it would work, but I thought I would try it anyway. The worst option was that if it didn’t match the main dish, then it could be saved for desert at least. As it turned out the match with the food was very good.

So this week’s Wine of the Week is the 2008 Jose Maria Fonseca Quinta de Camarate. It is a sweeter style of wine made from Moscatel de Setubal and Malvasia grapes. Young and fruity, with long finish, it is a good companion with light cheese or pate. Drinking it by itself it was a little too sweet for my taste, however with rich and spice Mexican food it proved to match with the various spices, the hot jalapeños and the tart sour cream.

It is a good value wine at around €10, however I think it must me matched with something spicy or sweet to get your money’s worth. Although not an obvious choice to match with many savory dishes, it is surprising good with Mexican and some rich hot Indian curries. I encourage you to try a few different types of wine than you would usually to accompany your food. You could find a surprising match that will make you evening.