Wine and Comfort Foods

A wine drinking friend recently asked, "what wine do you pair with comfort foods?"  I thought this was a great question and decided to do some investigating into this issue.  Obviously, any true Wino knows that wine goes with virtually anything.!

What I thought I would do, would be to offer a few of my favorite recipes and locate the wine pairings.  Normally, this would be a good topic for the fall season,  however, many people eat comfort foods year round.  So, here we go!

1.  BEEF STEW

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-beef-stew-i/detail.aspx

WINE:  Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
Obviously, with a red meat dish such as beef stew, a red wine would be your best choice!  This dish needs a fuller-bodied wine that will stand up to the flavored in the stew.  A fruity, we'll-balanced wine like one of those suggested above would pair well and would not overpower the stew.

2.  CHILI

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Boilermaker-Tailgate-Chili/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=boilermaker%20chili&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i1

WINE:  Red blend (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre) is recommended by Somm Cara Patricia.  She believes the chilies require the fruit, the meat and fat needs the tannins and he wine needs to be fuller-bodied.
Somm Carlin Karr suggests a Rioja, made from the Tempranillo grape.

3.  CHICKEN POT PIE

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-pot-pie-ix/detail.aspx

WINE:  This dish would be amazing with a buttery Chardonnay.  This style of Chardonnay can be found right here in the US, out of California.  The malolactic fermentation and oak aging of this wine would be a delightful complement to this meal!

4.  TUNA CASSEROLE

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tuna-Noodle-Casserole-109434

WINE:  Several sites suggested an unoaked Chardonnay, and stated an oaked would be off-putting.  However, I think this depends, significantly, on the recipe you use.  There are a large number of different types of tuna casserole recipes out there, it really just depends.  It may be that one could split the difference and get a mildly oaked Chardonnay.