Summer Entertaining
Tips on Combining Friends and Flavors
Edited by Jennifer L. Price
 Most
people imagine enjoying a rich bottle of wine while cozy inside a restaurant
next to a fire, but Patrick Farrell, one of the country's only 26 Masters of
Wine and creator of the BevWizard magnetic wine and spirits smoother (
www.bevwizard.com), finds summertime the best time to experiment with new
wines from all over the world and showcase fun cocktails with friends at home.
His mixing of tastes and textures that compliment lighter seasonal summer fare,
don't follow traditional rules and help when guests have varied taste
preferences.
Because warm summer temperatures usually dictate a lighter
fare to be paired with lighter beverages, some white wines can taste "grassy" or
overly "oaky." Oaky wines may make for good cocktails; though tend to get in the
way of many foods. The hearty red wines that worked with winter fare seem
heavier and more tannic during summer. The same goes for the scotch, cognac or
Jack Daniels, but they all seem harsher during the dog days of summer. These are
problems that the BevWizard Wine or Spirits Smoother and a good food pairing can
cure. The smoother is a special pouring device that can help change the taste
of a strong wine or whisky and can help make these drinks more appealing to
everyone on your guest list.
Some examples of wine pairing that Patrick Farrell
recommend include:
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc
A crisp, chilled New Zealand sauvignon blanc can be a
delight on hot days. The grassy, citrus flavors pair well with blanched
asparagus, goat cheese or seafood. Farrell, who likes the aggressive, herbaceous
flavors of these sauvignon blancs acknowledges that some don't share that
passion. He's found that he can usually please all guests by using the Bevwizard
Wine Smoother to cut the herbaceous edge for those with less wild taste
preferences.
Oaky Chardonnay
Some love it, others less so. Bitter tannins get in the way
for many guests. Surprisingly, these heavier white wines can go well with a
burger off the grill. Using the BevWizard Wine Smoother will tone down the oak a
little while taming the bitter tannins, making for a better poolside drink. To
charm your oaky chardonnay loving friends, Farrell suggests grilling some fish
over an oak fire. The toasty oak flavors from the grill harmonize with similar
flavors in the chardonnay.
Chilean Reds
Chilean cabernet, merlot and carmenere offer very good
value though can have some weedy flavors and hard tannins that can get in the
way of summertime dining. The Bevwizard Wine Smoother will cut down the weedy
notes, enhance the fruit and smooth out the tannins, making these budget
friendly wines more summer friendly. Try them with a burger, a hot dog or ribs.
Zinfandel and Syrah
These wines can be pretty "big", big in color, big in
alcohol, big in flavor and big in tannins, getting in the way of lighter
summertime fare. Farrell gives a couple of suggestions. One is temperature:
serve at cooler temperatures during the summer, which will make higher alcohol
wines seem lighter. Both these varieties have plenty of berry flavors that go
wonderfully with barbecue.
Pink Wines
"These are fantastic summer wines" Farrell explains. They
go well with most summer foods and can be good values. "Some wine aficionados
have a problem with pink wine, though I don't, especially some of the wonderful,
dry rose wines coming out of Provence and Languedoc ," says Farrell. From fish
to salads to burgers to barbecue, pink wines are summertime captured in the
glass.
Brown Whiskies
Some delight in sipping scotch, cognac or Jack Daniels by
the fireplace after skiing, though many found the harsh tannins just too strong.
"When the temperature drops at night, the BevWizard Spirits Smoother markedly
smoothes out the cognac, or Scotch, or Jack so that all may enjoy," says
Farrell.
Great tastes come from mixing flavors that together are
better than apart. Food and beverage pairing can be daunting to some, but
needn't be an intimidating. "The true joy of entertaining is the combination of
friends and flavors that compliment one another," says Farrell, "The same is
true about food, wine and spirits." |
