Beach House
Barbecue
Poppy Cheese
Diamonds
2006 Pampelonne
Rose, Cotes de Provence……$13.50
Every
summer meal should begin with a glass of ice cold Rose. The best
for backyard summer sipping come from the south of France where they
are made in a bright, fresh style; bone dry and redolent of
watermelons and wild strawberries. There is also enough acidity to
cut through the salty, dough-y cheese diamond.
Other
choices: NV Ariola Sparkling Malvasia ($19.97) or NV
Adami Prosecco ($12.97), sparkling wines from Italy.
Linguini with
Brie
2006
Moncaro Ca’Ruptae Verdicchio di Castelli di Jesi….$12.97
What you want here is a fresh,
lively white with enough weight and acidity to get past the Brie and
this lovely Verdicchio (that’s the name of the grape variety) from
the Marches in Central Italy really fits the bill. It’s a lovely
wine on its own, but with the fat in this dish, it seems even
richer.
Other choices: 2006 Vietti Roero Arneis ($20.97)
from Piemonte in northwestern
Italy, this is
even sleeker and more aromatic than the Verdicchio. 2006 Clelia
Romano ‘Colli di Lapio’ Fiano di
Avellino
($27.50)
comes from the highest vineyards in Campania, near Mount Vesuvius.
This is an impressively nuanced wine with subtle flavors that
develop more and more character the longer it is open. Pricey for a
Southern Italian wine but very much worth it.
Spicy Shrimp
with Pineapple Relish
2006 TAZ
Chardonnay,
Santa Barbara
County $14.97
Rich,
buttery Chardonnay has few peers when it comes to flavor intensity
and the tropical fruit flavors you find in the wines from
California’s
South Central Coast will really marry well with the pineapple relish
in this dish. The rich shrimp, especially as it comes smoky off the
grill only adds to this luxurious combination.
Other
choices: 2005 Babcock Chardonnay, Saint Rita’s Earth,
Santa
Rita
Hills
($19.97)
Ribs with
Passionate Guava Barbecue Sauce
Roasted Peppers and Red Onions
2005 DeLisio Grenache, McLaren Vale, South
Austrlia….$28.97
Grenache can make a plummy, blueberry-rich wine
with a lovely, silky mouthfeel. It also has enough chutzpah to
handle both the sweet and the spice in this dish. The oldest
Grenache vines in the world are in South Australia and this is one
of the best we’ve tasted. An outrageous treat with ribs!
Other
choices: 1995 Opolo Zinfandel, Summit Creek Vineyard, Paso
Robles ($20.97) same parameters as above. Great berry fruit and
a lot of horse power. 2004 Penfolds Bin 2 Shiraz-Mourvedre,
South Australia ($11.99), 2003 Rosemount G-S-M, South
Australia ($23.97)
White
Chocolate Mousse with Fresh Berries
Chocolate Macaroons
2003
Badia a Coltibuono Vin Santo di Chianti Classico….$29.97 375 ml
bottle
Vin Santo, the
wine of the saints, is a semi-sweet dessert wine in Tuscany from
dried grapes that are fermented and aged for a long period. The
process is very painstaking but the results are stunning! With dark
chocolate I would go a whole different direction but the subtle
flavors of white chocolate demand a different sort of wine.
Wine and food
pairing tip:
As a rule, always make your dessert wine sweeter than the dessert
against which you are going to pair it!
