"My wife and I enjoy exploring new recipes and pairing food with excellent wines; our schedules limit our opportunities to go out to restaurants so we have learned to enjoy the comforts of home cooking.
2021 Fred Loimer Gruner Veltliner “Lois” - Niederosterreich, Austria ($19.20)
Paired with a Dutch Oven baked salmon with scalloped potatoes. The Gruner Veltliner grape’s Bright melon flavors, with the pop of white-pepper spiciness, are a fine complement to the rich salmon flavor and creamy, starchy scalloped potatoes. The Loimer has less acidity and a little more body than the traditional pairing of salmon with sauvignon blanc. It is also a good match for lobster!
2022 Cantine Povero Barbera D’Asti - PIedmont, Italy ($12.00)
Paired with a beef ragu served over broad, flat pappardelle noodles, the Povere Barbera’s flavors of black cherry and blackberry provides a full-flavored and pleasantly acidic foil to the dense ragu sauce. The wine is savory and satisfying, without adding too much weight to the already heavy meat sauce.
2021 Francis F. Coppola Director’s Cut Chardonnay - Sonoma County, California ($16.00)
Matched with grilled Chatham scallops fresh off the boat (courtesy of Jordan Brother’s Seafood), Coppola’s chardonnay has the heft, ripe fruit (guava, pineapple, citrus) and creamy texture to complement the melt-in-your mouth scallops.
2017 Guastaferro Memini Aglianico - Irpinia, Basilicata, Italy ($32.00)
Matched with a sheet pan chicken dish, consisting of chicken marinated in harissa sauce, arugula, Yukon Gold potatoes dusted with turmeric, and a dollop of a yogurt sauce (NY Times recipe). The aglianico grape brings a dark fruited (wild blackberry), rose-scented quality, similar to the nebbiolo grape, that balances the spicy chicken flavors, with a crisp acidity to offset the peppery arugula and turmeric-laced potatoes. A very elegant yet robust wine.
