Red wine works with bacon wrapped dates
Which wines for dinner?
Make it easy to decide. Stick to these top seven wine varietals of California Wine.
- Buttery Chardonnay for dishes with cream sauces, cheese, shellfish
- Sauvignon Blanc for light foods, fish, chicken; good aperitif wine.
- Pinot Noir – Red wine, goes with moderate to heavy foods, salmon, pork
- Zinfandel – pizza, pastas, grilled red meat
- Merlot – Red wine, beef, pork, lamb
- Cabernet – Red wine, the ultimate juicy steak wine
- Syrah – Red wine, BBQ red meats, pork ribs
Tips
- Easy rule: Sauvignon Blanc goes with most light meals. Pinot Noir goes well with lots of red meat dishes, chicken, and salmon. These are versatile food wines.
- Merlot, Cabernet, and Syrah go with meaty dishes
- If you open a bottle and it smells like wet cardboard, it’s bad. Bring it back to the wine shop.
Serving the Wine
- Make sure you have a good corkscrew. Use a knife or foil cutter to cut the very top of the foil on the neck of the bottle just below the top rim.
- Use clear medium-sized wine glasses.
- Pour the wine about one-third high in the glass.
- When serving white wine, it is a good idea to have a wine cooler.
- White wine is served chilled.
- Red wine is served at room temperature but better around the low 60’s.
- Make sure you have enough wine for your guests.