I never understood wine pairing until I started drinking wine with dinner. As I mentioned before, living in Italy opened my eyes to the wonderful world of wine. I used to be what I call the "fu-fu" wine drinker. You know the sweet wines, mostly whites or rose, something you can put in a solo cup with ice. LOL
I prefer table wines that I can drink whenever I feel like having a glass, but every so often I run across a wine that I like that must be paired with a certain type of food. Old Moon Zinfandel is one of those wines. When I first tasted it, I thought it was gross. It was "too red" and had a bitter taste. The label describes the wine as a "luscious nose of spice and black cherry, revealing plum and cherry flavors with a hint of vanilla on a finish of soft tannins." (BTW, tannins come from the skin, seed, and stem of the grapes that adds the bitterness to wine.) I did not taste vanilla or any fruit flavors at all.
Because I never, ever, ever, EVER waste a bottle of wine, I thought I would give it another try. This time I paired it with a buffalo bleu cheese spread that had chunks of blue cheese mixed with a spicy buffalo sauce. To make it even more rich and spicy, I put the spread on buffalo wing flavored Pretzel Crisps. O...M...G! What a difference a cheese makes!
Maybe I should have saved this ensemble for guests. Oh well.
Old Moon (Old Vine) Zinfandel, California 2011
Store Bought: Trader Joe's
Price: $5.99
Enjoy! Don't forget to pair it with something or you might be disappointed.
MommyReserve
