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From time to time, you will see me add a Caribbean food and wine pairing post in here, as it is something I am pretty passionate about. In this post, I will pair a childhood favourite and time-honored culinary tradition with wine; Guyanese Souse. Souse is a dish that makes you think of historical peasant cooking, with off cuts of meat, but today we see souse cooked mostly on special occasion and events. The same could be said of many foods that started with a humble beginning and are deeply rooted in tradition. What was once simple is now seen as a delicacy! More on the allure of souse; if you talk to anyone from the Caribbean, they will tell you that souse is a must at any party where a lot of libations are going to be consumed. There is something about souse that sobers you right up and rejuvenates you! If you've never had souse before, the best way to describe it is to think of pickled meat that is obviously well seasoned, and in a nearly gelatinous broth. The meat used in souse can vary. It is commonly made with pig's feet, but some also use chicken feet and cow heel. The origin of souse is European, but the Caribbean version is a clear adaptation of the original. It is said that souse is modelled off of the dish head cheese. Let's get to how souse is made, so you get an idea of what to expect on the palate. The meat is boiled until tender and then left to sit in a mixture of vinegar, water, thyme, onions, scallions, cucumber and other seasonings. A bit of wiri wiri pepper is also added, but that is done to add to the flavour of the dish and not to dominate it. The meat sits in this mixture and gets to room temperature, which then turns the soup like sauce the meat was sitting in slightly gelatinous. On the palate, you'll note the salinity. The vinegar will give off a feel of a herbed vinaigrette with a kick. The dish steps up in complexity as you will also pick up notes of the meat used in your souse, along with any dominant spice, such as broadleaf thyme. The Wine Pairing When looking for a wine pairing for a dish, there are a few things I focus on The weight of the dish (thick broth consistency, richness, the meat used, etc...) Spices used in the sauce Acidity Sweetness Bitterness Understanding the elements above will help you to source the right wine! With souse, we know we're going to have a bit of a kick with the wiri wiri pepper, a bit of weight given the slight gelatinous nature, plus the acidity in the dish from vinegar. Given this flavour profile, I usually run with an off-dry Riesling. With an off-dry Riesling, you get: Enough sweetness to counteract the pepper in the dish Enough acidity to congruently support your high acid dish Enough weight in the wine from residual sugar to support the weight of your souse Aside from Riesling being a formidable grape, pairing it with a dish like souse really shows how food-friendly and versatile it can really be. Enjoy and cheers!

The next series of blog posts will focus on light reds suitable to take the distinguished position as your summer 'house red'. Oh, Dolcetto. What can I say about thee? Call me weird or raise a brow, but I love this Piedmontese grape. I know others would tout the praise of Barolo, and I love that too, but there is something about the fun and whimsical side of Dolcetto that has given it a special place in my heart! Though the name Dolcetto means 'little sweet one,' that by no means is a reflection of what you find in your glass. Dolcetto is a medium+ bodied red wine that is almost always dry, luscious ripe, and tart fruit with medium tannins and acidity. Black fruit dominates (blackberry, black currant, plum) with spice and almond noted as common traits. Dolcetto ripens early, and its minimum aging requirements make it the 'other' wine producers make in addition to Barolo, Barbaresco, and Barbera, the more notable wines in the region. However, Dolcetto's early readiness allows producers to monetize immediately while waiting for the finer grapes and wines to be ready for market. It could be the short maceration time that allows the fruit to shine on this wine and relative acidity to be noted; whatever it is, I am all about it. Dolcetto is my patio go-to for steak and burgers fresh off of the grill. Served at 15°C (I actually did an extensive geek thing with a thermometer to find the exact and right temperature), you'll find it refreshing while still showing sturdy tannins, noticeable fruit, and acidity. Given the thick black skin of Dolcetto, you will get more rustic flavours. A bit of a chill does allow that fruit to shine, a step above the tannins and non-fruit notes, and this is the refreshing edge you are looking for on a hot summer patio. Is your mouth watering yet?

The next series of blog posts will focus on light reds suitable to take the distinguished position as your summer 'house red'. I honestly feel that Cabernet Franc is one of the most underrated yet wildly important grapes there is. As one of the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon and a mainstay in Bordeaux blends, it deserves its due. Umm... fun fact that should be included here, it is also the parent of Merlot, and Carmenere. It's a busy grape! However, the style of Cabernet Franc I want to talk about today is not the blended kind. I want to talk about wines made from 100% Cabernet Franc; these beauties! Cabernet Franc is a red grape and, as a single variety expression in the glass, is most famed from the Loire Valley, specifically Anjou-Saumur and Touraine. It is an aromatic, red berry, tomato, and herb kind of wine. One of its tell-tale signs is notes of bell pepper or jalapeno, depending on where the grapes are grown. You will also find lively acidity and moderate tannins in this wine giving it the style profile fit for any meal on a patio. An area that cannot be overlooked when we talk about single variety Cabernet Franc is Tuscany, Italy. Though the climate is warmer than that of the Loire, low intervention expressions of this grape in Tuscany are undeniably winners. I recently had the 2019 Ampeleia Cabernet Franc, served chilled on a patio with grilled meat, and it was a match made in heaven! Like with Pinot Noir and Gamay, I serve these wines at either 12°C to 13°C, and just like that, Cabernet Franc has made it to my list of staple summer red wines, fit for any patio. It's high time you add Cabernet Franc to your list of summer reds!

The next series of blog posts will focus on light reds suitable to take the distinguished position as your summer 'house red'. Cool Climate Pinot Noir is a chameleon. It vibes well with many cuisines and can shine with a bit of a chill on it. For these reasons and more to come, it deserves a place on your go-to summer red wine list. Pinot Noir is a red wine famed from the region of Burgundy, France. Over the years, it has seen its value grow to hard to get levels for the average consumer. A Grand Cru from Burgundy can start in the hundred dollar range and go as high as $10,000 and maybe more, depending on vintage, producer and condition. (Scroll down here to see how much Domaine de la Romanée-Conti's Grand Cru sold for in 2018.) Lucky for us, great expressions of Red Burgundy can also be found in the Premier and Entry level wines too! While Pinot Noir's famed location is Burgundy, it is essential to note that this finicky grape is grown worldwide. The more Pinot Noir you drink, the more you will see there is a fundamental difference between Cool Climate Pinot Noir and Warm Climate Pinot Noir. The cooler the climate, the lighter the wine and crisper the acidity, and the warmer the climate, the fuller the wine, which generally comes with considerable alcohol. This distinction is vital when determining your summer 'red'. You will want to buy Pinot Noir from the following cool climate areas: Burgundy Canada (Ontario) Germany (called Spätburgunder here) New Zealand (Central Otago region is a must) The above all give you a cool climate expression of Pinot Noir, and pairs lovely on a patio and with the foods you take off the grill. You can expect to find a lot of red fruit, some spice, bright acidity, moderate tannins, and alcohol. Served at 13°C, you will see why a cool climate Pinot Noir sings on a summer patio. It's about time you add Pinot Noir to your summer reds list.

With summer, we often gravitate to quaffable rosé and white wines that are fit for balmy days and patios, and we do this because a chilled rosé or white wine can be a welcomed summer day accompaniment, with or without food. While I will support this mode of imbibing, I think it is essential to keep a handy red on your summer roster. One should always be prepared for whatever the palate and the food gods throw at you! The next series of blog posts will focus on light reds suitable to take the distinguished position as your summer 'house red,' and we're going to kick this series off with Gamay. Gamay is a red wine, famed and primarily produced in Beaujolais, France. It is a light-bodied red wine with low tannin, high acidity, and medium alcohol. Many align Gamay with candied fruit and banana notes, which come from the winemaking process used in the region, called Carbonic Maceration. In Beaujolais, you'll find these wines classed at different levels, allowing you to get a sense of what you can expect in the bottle before even buying it: Beaujolais Beaujolais Villages Beaujolais Cru Beaujolais These are entry-level Beaujolais wines, but do not let that discourage you from exploring wines in this category. I have had some lovely Beaujolais AOC wines in the past, and they prove to be an affordable way to start your exploration. As expected, these wines are simpler than the coming two categories of Beaujolais wines and go through shorter winemaking processes. However, the previous is not the case 100% of the time, as winemakers in the Village and Cru level can choose to declassify their wines and simply designate them as Beaujolais AOC. Here, expect to find light, fruit-forward and fun wines, meant to drink young! Beaujolais Villages As you probably guessed, these wines are a step up from Beaujolais AOC wines. The Beaujolais Villages AOC is north of the Beaujolais AOC and found on more hillside terrain with complex soil structure. While like Beaujolais AOC wines, most of the Villages wines are meant to drink early, but some are age-worthy. Note that you may see the word Villages interchanged for the actual village name (there are 38 villages in this AOC), so don't be confused when you come across this. The village name on the bottle indicates that the grapes used came from that singular village only. My personal preference has wines from the Lantigné Village as one that I would happily drink now and lay down for a few years. Beaujolais Cru These are spectacular wines that can, in some cases, be mistaken for Red Burgundy (Pinot Noir). This area of Beaujolais is granitic soil rich, which Gamay thrives in. You'll find Beaujolais Cru in the northern part of the region, and the Crus themselves vary in expectations. You will find some of them to be boundless in fruit, Fleurie for example, while others give additional texture coming from non-fruit notes and tannin, Chénas and Moulin-À-Vent for instance. The added complexity allows you to age these wines for 5 to 10 years, but they are also enjoyable right now. The 10 Crus of Beaujolais are, in order of North to South Saint-Amour Juliénas Chénas Moulin-À-Vent Fleurie Chiroubles Morgon Régnié Côte De Brouilly Brouilly Expect to pay more for wines from this category, but it is worth every penny. What I have failed to mention thus far is Beaujolais Nouveau and Beaujolais Nouveau Day, and no post on Gamay would be complete without this mention. The day is an annual fete marked by the release of newly fermented young wines called Beaujolais Nouveau, which are released the third Thursday in November. Pressed in September and ready to serve in November, these wines and its namesake day are meant to mark the end of harvest. (We've got Georges Duboeuf to thank for this.) Over time, regulations have been introduced to govern where Beaujolais Nouveau can be made and how. For example, Beaujolais Nouveau cannot be made from Cru Beaujolais grapes. Expect to find extremely pale and light wines given its short (2-month) winemaking period, high acidity and red fruit. While Gamay may be famed due to its origin region, Beaujolais, France, it is essential to mention that other parts of the world produce great Gamay, namely Ontario, Canada. Ontario Gamay holds notes of red fruit that we know Gamay to bring to the senses, but you'll often find more violet, peppery herbs, and mineral here. These wines are astoundingly food-friendly and worth the try should you come across one. It's about time you add Gamay to your summer reds list.

We've been doing a lot of food and wine pairing together, primarily pairing Caribbean food and wine. To many, this concept is strange, especially when they hear me talk about spice in the food. I think the challenge is that spice has gotten a bad rap and is believed to be synonymous with heat; heat that you get from things such as: Scotch Bonnet Pepper Ghost Pepper Habanero Pepper Etc ...and that is not the spice I am talking about here, and truthfully not spice in its true form at all. While researching hot (heated) peppers from different parts of the world, many articles used the word 'spice' or the descriptor 'spicy' to describe the peppers above, which is wildly misleading. Peppers such as these give off heat in your food and not spice, as the spice used to flavour your food. Though it can be argued that the capsaicin in these peppers provides flavour, the ratio of heat to flavour, in hot pepper, do not land in balance on the palate. I argue that if I were to season your meat solely using scotch bonnet pepper, the only thing you would detect is that your mouth was on fire, and not flavour. Whereas, if I seasoned your meat solely using something on the list of spices below, you'd have a different experience. I am not saying it will taste great, but you will be able to 'taste' and envelop flavours on the palate. Spice adds flavour to enhance the edibility of your meal. It's not meant to mimic an inferno in your mouth. I even take incident with the Merriam-Webster definition of spice, which reads: any of various aromatic vegetable products (such as pepper or nutmeg) used to season or flavor foods Where did we, the general populous, go wrong? While I am not sure if Merriam's was referring to black pepper or Scotch Bonnet pepper, the ambiguity is an issue in the lexicon that we, with roots in countries where spices are grown and cultivated, innately utilize. The ambiguity and having one group of people set the vocabulary around food in North America and Europe have led to misinterpretation and misunderstanding. Going down the fact find path for this rant, I found 552,000,000 search items that referenced hot peppers as a spice and or used the descriptor 'spicy' to talk about them. From just this one search exercise, I can see why some people look at me with one raised brow when I speak about pairing Caribbean food and wine. Regardless of history, the differentiation of spice versus hot pepper must be acknowledged in the world of food and wine pairing. In essence, this really is one representative equation of the European Age of Discovery (The Spice Route and Trade / the advent of the age of modern colonization), which requires more profound thought as its concepts bleed into today's institutions. West Indian's use spice when cooking for flavour. It is common to see our meats seasoned for at least 24-hours before cooking to ensure flavour through and through. The spices I am referring to are things like: Black Pepper Cumin Masala Allspice Clove Ginger Paprika Nutmeg Etc All of the above are elements that we've picked up in one wine or the other, while not all at the same time, but I for sure do not have enough fingers to count the number of times clove, nutmeg, or allspice was used in a globally recognized wine tasting note. With these parallels in food and wine flavour, it becomes easier to see why many West Indian foods have many fantastic wine pairings. Spice, as we use it, and know it, brings out elements in the food and in the wine. So, the next time you contemplate pairing wine with your curry or oxtail, have at it! Take this article into consideration and start to change vocabulary and understanding. Perhaps the more of us that start to clarify the use of the word 'spice' or descriptor 'spicy', the easier the total comprehension of food and wine pairing for all cuisines.

I cannot tell you how much fun I had pairing these delicious Caribbean foods with wine. I brought my two loves together and they more than got along! Check the slider above for a quick view of the food and wine pairings, but I will add my notes and impressions for each below, starting with the most recent pairing. 12 Days of Caribana: Caribbean Eats & Wine Pairing Thoughts 1. Macaroni Pie + Blanc de Blancs If you have never had Macaroni Pie, I am sorry. Macaroni Pie encapsulates a juvenile food passion and spices it up to make it adult. This is the Caribbean’s version of baked mac and cheese, but it’s even better! Our Macaroni Pie is made with elbow pasta, cheese, of course, but then we do a BAM and add the seasoning. Thyme, garlic, onion, clove, paprika, dry mustard, and of course, I add a pinch of masala. I guarantee if you eat Macaroni Pie, you will never want a generic old baked mac and cheese again. I am pairing my Macaroni Pie with a Blanc de Blancs. Blanc de Blancs is a sparkling wine made 100% of the Chardonnay grape. With this, you’ve got crips acidity that will cleanse your palate between each cheesy bite and a roundness of citrus and ripe apple. Plus, being a sucker for texture on the palate, there is something to be said about those bubbles dancing on the tongue just after that cheesy macaroni had been there. Whoever said carbs were bad for you clearly never had a piece of Macaroni Pie. — 2. Patties + Pinot Noir No Carnival Eats & Wine list could be complete without adding the age-old Patty in there. Whether it be a Jamaican style Patty or a Guyanese one, ALL AH DEM belong on the list. Yes, it’s not as extravagant as the other foods we’ve eaten on this 12-day journey, and I went back and forth with this pairing, but if I stay true to our Carnival Eats theme, I can’t ignore this staple snack. Since we all know what a Patty is, I am moving straight into the wine because this is where things could go wrong. As you saw on days 6 and 7, a grape can be made in different styles, depending on climate and winemaking. The same is true with Pinot Noir. I won’t get into what wine styles you’d find in the popular regions that grow Pinot Noir, but I will say here that this paring calls for a Pinot Noir from Burgundy. Red Burgundy (another way to say Pinot Noir from Burgundy) is a light-bodied red wine with stand out acidity which is balanced by bright red fruit, herb, spice, and earthy notes, making it a good match for not only the beef filling in your Patty but also that flaky pastry Patty shell. There are a ton of village level Burgundy that are wildly impressive and enough to get you and your Patty started in this region. No need to reach for Côte d’Or Premier Cru or Grand Cru, but if you do… call me --- 3. Cassava Pone + Chardonnay Musqué Cassava Pone is a dessert that brings back so many childhood memories. Every family and crew has a ‘pone man’ or ‘pone lady’ - meaning the one person who could make pone perfectly! That will never be me… Anyway, Cassava Pone comprises of grated cassava, coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, milk, and sugar. When it comes out of the oven, you get a semi-sticky texture of spiced sweetness. If you want to get wild, heat up the pone and have it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream - EHHHH Now onto the wine… The only wine-splaining I will do in this post is this; Chardonnay Musqué is a clone of Chardonnay. You need to know that Chardonnay Musqué is: Primarily grown in Ontario (45% of global Chardonnay Musqué production), but more and more can be found in France (36% of production) Off-dry (10+ g/l of residual sugar) Highly aromatic and will have ripe plush fruit quality on the palate and crisp acidity This flavour profile is excellent for Cassava Pone as you need a wine that is sweeter than the dessert you are having, and this was it. I specifically paired my Cassava Pone with Malivoire Wineries Chardonnay Musqué Spritz, and that effervescence from the wine added an extra textured experience in the mouth. — 4. Slat Fish Cake & Dahl + Sauvignon Blanc Yes, you are correct. We kicked this thing off with a Salt Fish dish (salt fish and bake), but what you need to understand is that IT IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN Salt Fish Cake and Dahl… West Indian Salt Fish Cakes are made with codfish, potatoes, onion, scallion, garlic, thyme, cilantro, and I personally add a dash of masala in there cause I love what it adds to my food. Many top their fish cakes off with mango chutney, but the Guyanese in me just cannot eat them without a good dose of Dahl. Dahl is simply split peas, cooked to a smoothen texture, garlic, cumin, a little turmeric, onion, and black pepper. **I don’t put salt in mine if I am going to eat it with Salt Fish Cake. Now that we’ve talked about the food let’s chat about the wine. Sauvignon Blanc is highly food-friendly and a mainstay on most menus. Depending on where your Sauvignon Blanc is from, you will get different styles of this wine in your glass. I chose to stay classic Loire Valley (France) and paired my Salt Fish Cake and Dahl with a Pouilly-Fumé (Sauvignon Blanc). Sauvignon Blanc’s from the Loire are not as ripe on the palate as the ones you find in New Zealand, and the vegetal notes are slightly more rounded. I needed a food-friendly wine that would compliment my food and not try to upstage it. Loire Sauvignon Blanc is aromatic and comes with great citrus, peach, pear notes balanced with crisp acidity, vegetal notes, and minerality (key in food pairing). Dahl largely takes on the taste of what you add to it, and you may note that the cumin stands out and gives the food a smoky feel on the palate. Sauvignon Blanc, paired with this, heightens the tree and stone fruit in the wine and gives you a perception of hazelnut on the finish. I am literally eating a little ramekin of Dahl and drinking Sauvignon Blanc while I write this, and am in a state of bliss. I did not talk about how splendidly the Pouilly-Fumé goes with the fish cakes, but that would be a natural pairing for this type of wine and not as exciting as talking about a pairing with Dahl IMO. — 5. Doubles + Crémant d’Alsace Where should we begin? Ok. If you’ve never had Doubles before, let me explain it by saying it is channa (chickpeas) well seasoned and boiled down to get a thick consistency between two fluffy baras (fried flatbread). Doubles is one of the ultimate street-style snack foods that you would easily find at any festival. So no Carnival Eats list could have been complete without adding a pairing for it. Crémant d’Alsace is a sparkling wine from the Alsace region of France. It is made the same way champagne is, but cannot be called champagne because, well, it is not made in Champagne. For this pairing I went with a rosé Crémant d’Alsace (100% Pinot Noir). I wanted enough acidity to counteract the fried bara I wanted that red fruit profile to play with the mango and cucumber chutney I had mixed in with my chana. I wanted a dry sparkling wine, but something with enough of a fruit profile to give off a perception of sweetness on the palate without going the off-dry route. The creamy texture from lees aging also provides a roundness to the flavours of the food filling In the end, you have the perception of sweet texture on your tongue along with cream - all coming from your wine, and this combination envelopes the flavours in your Doubles like no ones business. I was looking for a balance between food and wine and found it here. Pro tip… if all you have are Aloo Pies at home, Crémant d’Alsace will do nicely here as well. — 6. Jerk Chicken + Pinot Gris I know you were expecting Jerk Chicken to show up in this list, and really, if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll all agree that there would be a ton of vendors selling this on the parade route, so there is no getting away from it. But NOTE what I didn’t do here was pair Jerk Chicken with Riesling, which is commonly done. Riesling and Jerk ‘whatever’ is a great pairing, but I wanted to go with a different grape today to show that we have options with Caribbean food. So our countdown brings us to day 6 of Carnival Eats & Wine, and I am pairing Jerk Chicken with Pinot Gris and NOT Pinot Grigio. While Pinot Grigio (Italy) and Pinot Gris (France) are the same grape, the wine styles are different. Pinot Grigio is a lighter body white wine, and it is bone dry. Pinot Gris, even when dry, will have enough residual sugar to be picked up on the palate, and this wine is also produced as an off-dry or even sweet wine. Just an FYI, the sweet wines made from this grape are pricey and not required for this pairing, BUT if you are so inclined to buy a bottle of ‘vendange tardive’ Pinot Gris to go with your Jerk, please do give me a call. Nonetheless, it’s Pinot Gris’ palatable sweetness, amongst other things, that make it the perfect match for Jerk Chicken. Pinot Gris comes with notes of citrus, tropical fruit, honey, spice, and a lovely texture (viscosity) that further helps to balance the jerk seasoning in your mouth. Truly a match made in heaven! ** side note… Day 7 and Day 6 pairings really give you a chance to see how climate and winemaking can really change the expression of a grape. Neat huh!?! — 7. Pholourie + Primitivo The best way to explain Pholourie, if you’ve never had it, is to say that it is a fritter, round in shape, and the dominant ingredient in the batter is split pea. Primitivo is from Italy, particularly Puglia, and is the same grape as Zinfandel, which you are probably more familiar with. Though the same grape, there are differences between the two due to climate and overall winemaking style. Primitivo is generally lower in alcohol, and while still fruit-forward (red and black fruits), it is not as fruit hearty as its American expression (Zinfandel). What you can expect: The spice in the Pholourie make the fruit in your Primitivo more pronounced, forming a pleasing mouth experience While Primitivo only has medium acidity, it’s enough to lessen the impact of the fried element of your Pholourie, making it feel like a light and delicious snack. You’ll often find baking spices in Primitivo, and that only enhances the flavour of this split pea delight — 8. Oxtail + Chenas Chenas is a region in Beaujolais that produces wine from the Gamay grape. Gamay is a light to medium-bodied red wine known for its red fruit profile, soft tannins, and medium to high acidity. The winemaking techniques used in Beaujolais (semi/carbonic maceration) cause the fruit profile to become slightly candied, and you may even pick up notes of banana! I picked Chenas for this pairing as the wines from this region still give you that fruit profile, but they are more earthy, making it a lovely match for Oxtail. So as you ask for extra oxtail gravy on your rice (I know you do!), you can rest assured that your Chenas will: Stand up nicely to the cuts of Oxtail on your plate with its tannin structure The red fruit profile will go well with the seasoning used in your dish Because Oxtail is usually seasoned with brown sugar and allspice, along with other ingredients, your gravy has a slightly sweet taste. When this sauce is paired with Chenas, that high acidity will not be so high anymore, but just right! … and now my mouth is watering… — 9. Corn Soup + Gewürztraminer If you read the above and think quaffing down thick hot soup in the middle of summer is a crazy idea, that means you’ve never had a styrofoam container of corn soup after an evening of a bit too much merriment (wink wink). There is something about corn soup that shakes life back into you; kind of like a slap in the face to help you get your wits about you, and this is why it made on the Carnival Eats & Wine list. My wine choice for Corn Soup is Gewürztraminer. With this pairing, you are in for an aromatic orgasm of sweet herb and spice. I am talking about the food and the wine. Going back and forth between bowl and glass will place your nostrils on an epic euphoric trip. On the palate, Gewürztraminer’s ripe fruit feel and residual sugar will work nicely with the scotch bonnet or wiri wiri pepper that was commingling in the soup pot. — 10. Curry Goat + Xinomavro Xinomavro may be a grape some of you have not heard of before, but get familiar. This Greek grape will keep you on your toes with its expressions. So, to be clear, when I am suggesting you pair Xinomavro with Curry Goat, I am talking about the new style and more approachable versions of this wine that later-generation Greek winemakers are putting out. In contrast to the original style of Xinomavro, which was in your face tannin and herb, what we’re seeing in our market today are expressions that are ready to drink now or within a minimum amount of age time. Some wineries are using micro-oxygenation techniques (softens tannins) or are releasing blends where the dominating grape is Xinomavro, and the blending co-stars are just there to s-m-o-o-o-o-t-h things off. What this new expression of Xinomavro brings is: Plush red and black fruits on the palate Elegant tannin Bright acidity Xinomavro is a medium to full-bodied wine, and it needs a food that can stand up, and that’s where Curry Goat fares best. This wine’s balance of fruit, acidity, and tannins will make that goat melt in your mouth and further fluff up that roti skin it’s wrapped in. — 11. Cheese Straw + Chardonnay I have never met a Cheese Straw I did not love, and pairing it with Chardonnay will rock your world. Cheese Straw brings cheddar cheese, herbs and spices packed in a medium-weight pastry, and when you add to the mix Chardonnay with its yellow apple, lemon/lime, and pear, beautiful things start to happen on the palate. For a true understanding of how great this could be, get a Chardonnay from Margaret River, Australia. These Chard’s are between Chardonnay’s found in California and France. They bring: Crisp acidity (fantastic with medium to heavy density baked goods) Riper citrus notes like a ripe red grapefruit Enticing aromas like orange blossom …and a touch of oak that will make that cheesy pastry goodness feel like a smooth serving of a gourmet cheese spread …. like if the Caribbean decided to make and bottle our own version of Cheez Whiz…. EHHHHHHH If you’ve never had Cheese Straw before, it is a savoury pastry snack that is a mix of cheddar cheese, flour, butter, and seasoning to taste that is then baked in the oven. In the end, you get a well-herbed snack that you can eat on the go! — 12. Salt Fish & Bake + Sparkling Wine Salt Fish and Bake and Sparkling Wine go together like a match made in heaven. The crisp acidity of the sparkling wine will not only act as a palate cleanser, but will cut through the saltiness of your salt fish (salted cod) and make the fried bake lighter in the mouth. Bonus if you get a sparkling wine where the fruit comes off as ripe on the palate or the residual sugar peeks through. If your fish is well seasoned, this hint of sweetness will meld nicely.

I recently did an experiment that took Karela, also known as Bitter Melon, and paired it with wines, and in case you have never eaten this fruit, you should know that it is extreeeeeemely bitter. I grew up eating Karela in my Guyanese household, but we pronounce it, and still do today, Kah-rye-lah. It was quite the challenge to get me to eat it as a child, but now I recognize the health benefits of Karela and will gladly eat it and, yes... cook it. Thanks to its potent medicinal properties, bitter melon has long been used by indigenous populations around the world to help treat diabetes-related conditions. In recent years, several studies confirmed the fruit’s role in blood sugar control. HealthLine Managing blood sugar is just one of the many items on the long list of 'do good' that Karela is known for. The Pairing While this started out as a way to ensure that I can pair wine with anything I choose to eat, it really is a lesson on how to pair wine with bitter foods, period. When pairing wine with bitter foods such as Karela, endives, grapefruit, arugula, etc... there are a few things to remember and consider. Congruent Pairings Stay away from pairing bitter wines with your bitter food. An example of this would be taking a highly tannic wine and pairing that with Karela. Pairing highly tannic wines with bitter foods will cause the bitterness to build and be more pronounced on the palate. Residual Sugar Consider an off-dry wine or one with noticeable residual sugar. Pairing a wine such as this with bitter food will cause the bitterness in your dish to appear subdued. Wines to consider here are Alsatian Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, and Gewürztraminer to name a few. Acidity Consider a high acid white wine. The acidity in the wine will interact with bitter foods much the same as residual sugar in wine would. The acidity will lighten the feel of the bitterness in your food. I usually choose dry, high acid white wines to avoid a heavy presence of tannins in this kind of pairing. Wines to consider here are Chablis, Etna Bianco (Carricante), Sauvignon Blanc, and Sparkling Wine. In the end, I went with an Etna Bianco, which was made 100% from Carricante as my pairing wine. I chose this wine given Carricante's known high acid and ripe citrus profile. I certainly hope that seeing our Karela food and wine pairing experiment encourages you to further explore cuisines off the beaten wine path, and pair those with wine. As I always say, if you eat it, there's a wine for it! Cheers.

With it being National Rosé Day, I thought it fitting to expand our rosé coverage and speak about how rosé wine is made. For a more detailed view of rosé, you can read our post here. How Rosé Wine Is Made Step 1: Grapes are picked and crushed with their skins. Usually, red grapes are used, but you can find some rosé wines blended with white grapes to enhance the wine's aroma and flavours. Step 2: The grape must, and skins are left together to macerate for anywhere between 2 to 24 hours. The longer the must and skins are left together, the deeper the colour of the rosé wine. Step 3: The juice is then strained from the skins and other solids and placed in tank to further ferment for a period of time determined by the winemaker. The fermentation time really depends on the end result the winemaker is looking for. You can also find some rosé wines aged in oak, but the most common process sees it in tank. Step 4: After fermentation, the rosé wine is bottled and ready for consumption. Most rosé is meant to be drunk young, with a maximum aging potential in your cellars for roughly 3 years. Now that you know a little more about how rosé is made, I certainly hope you are sipping on something pink today to celebrate National Rosé Day. Cheers!

Champagne and all sparkling wine, really, have been synonymous with celebration for as long as anyone can remember. In fact, the whole celebratory label placed on sparkling wine was done so by royalty in the 18th century. Back then, the effervescent drink was expensive (and some still are today) and seen as a status symbol, so it would only be brought out at celebrations like coronations. Kolleen M. Guy, associate professor of history at the University of Texas at San Antonio and author of When Champagne Became French, states that After the French Revolution, it became a part of the secular rituals that replaced formerly religious rituals. You could 'christen a ship' without a priest, for example, by using the 'holy water' of champagne Fast forward to today, we carry on the tradition of opening a bottle of bubbly on special occasions; marking a new year, weddings, birthdays, and so on. While some may think the title of the Grand Vino of Celebrations would be a good thing, I argue that the title gives sparkling wine an air of unnecessary aristocracy and unapproachability. There once was a time where I, too, would only have a bottle on hand for special occasions. This was my sparkling wine approach until I realized how well it paired with a ridiculous amount of foods from a bevy of cultures! Not every fermented drink can say that. Nonetheless, this was an 'ah ha' moment for me! It was like if the clouds from above disappeared and the rays from heaven bestowed upon me. What was I doing all this time? What was I thinking? How many meal pairings have I missed out on because I was holding my sparkling wine as a coveted beverage that no one, I mean no one, could touch until a calendar event came around! Well, we live, and we learn as they say... Let's now look at why sparkling wine proves itself to be a killer food pairing. Palate Cleansing The most significant reason sparkling wine and Champagne work so well with food is its high acidity, and acidity works as a palate cleanser. Champagne is the northernmost wine region in France, and because of that, the climate is far cooler. The cooler climate means that the grapes do not ripen as much as the grapes to the south, and you end up with a grape that is more acidic than it is pumped with natural sugars from ripening. Early Champagne was known to be highly acidic and dry until winemakers started adding 'dosage' (sugar) to the wine before corking it to give it a sweeter taste. (You can read more on dosage in the Balancing Spice section.) We owe the early Champaign profile for the crisp acidity found in most sparkling wines today, even those made in warmer climates. Cut Through the Fat Yep. Back to that acid again. Acidity in wine is excellent when eating fatty, fried, or rich foods as the acidity helps balance the heaviness you feel on the palate from dishes such as these. It is important to note here that acidity also helps to balance salty dishes. All of a sudden that salted cod will appear to be not so salty on the palate, after a sip of sparkling wine. Balancing Spice Several things are happening in your bottle of sparkling wine that makes it a formidable pairing for spicy dishes. I am going to start off with dosage, as it was already introduced in our first point. To further explain, Dosage is a mixture of the base wine and sugar, and it is added to Champagne to enhance drinkability. Winemakers play around with the sugar content of the dosage to give you either a Brut, Extra Dry, Sec, Demi-Sec, or Doux wine, with each level increasing in the amount of sugar. In the end, you have a bottle of sparkling wine with an element of residual sugar, and that plays a big part in why many sparkling wine pairs nicely with spice. The bubbles also help create texture on the palate, and that too aids in balancing spice notes from foods. Lastly, during second fermentation, sparkling wine spends some time on its lees. I am not going to get into what lees aging is, but I will tell you the result of it gives the wine nutty, baked bread aromas and on the palate a light creamy sense, and this too helps to temper and balance spice. Sparkling Wine Pairings Not to Be Reckoned With Fried Chicken: I like to pair this with Cremant d'Alsace, following the Cutting Through the Fat rule, and of course, who doesn't love wines from the Alsace region. Ackee and Saltfish: I like the sparkling rosé pairing with this, mainly because the fruit-forward palate and aromatic nose pairs wonderfully with the spice generally found in this dish. Oysters (could not leave this one off the list - this is an oldie but goodie): brut or extra dry sparkling wine. The briney nature of an oyster not only benefits from the acidity in sparkling wine, but also the mouthfeel you get from lees aging. Potato Chips: I like to pair this with Blanc de Blancs sparkling wines. Blanc de Blancs simply is an indication that the wine was made from Chardonnay grapes only. Note that three main grapes are used to make Champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. A winemaker can use all of the designated grapes or just one. A sparkling wine made purely of Pinot Noir is called a Blanc de Noirs. Fish and Chips: My go to here is Cava. What's good is that today the quality of sparkling wine continues to improve and act as viable replacements for the pricier Champagne. In some markets, Ontario included, you can find delectable sparkling wines in the sub $30 category. Ontario wineries do a fantastic job in the production of sparkling wine, and the wines are highly affordable. If you have the chance to try a bubbly from Ontario, I highly encourage it. Cheers.

In the grand scheme of things, the Canadian wine industry is merely an infant. I mean, yes, early settlers were making wines as far back as the 1600s, but it was not until the 1970s that the very fabric of Canadian wines that we identify with today was formed. Early vinification saw winemakers using Vitis Labrusca or Riparia, and other grape vines that were not the European Vitis species of choice, Vitis Vinifera. I should mention now that there was an effort in the 1800s to plant Vitis Vinifera here in Canada, but the vines could not withstand pests and low temperatures in the winter. With the aggravation Vinifera caused, early wine enthusiasts thought it best to work with the native vines that seemed to flourish in the Canadian environment. The Canadian wine industry seemed to have battled through and through. With prohibition's adjournment in the 1920s came much state governance on all aspects of consumer liquors. In fact, it was the end of the ban on alcohol that sparked the formation of the LDB (BC Liquor Distribution Board ~ 1921) and the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario ~ 1927). The creation of these two boards was the beginning of heavy-handed government control over the wine, beer, and spirits industries and the start of a lucrative government coffer. In 2019, the LCBOs net income was 2.28 billion dollars. In truth, there were several factors (government, limited wine consumption, use of lesser vines than those on the world stage) that led to Canada's slow transformation. In 1970 there were only seven wineries in British Columbia, and the number of wineries in Ontario dropped from 61 to six in 1974. With that said, 1974 was a pinnacle moment for Canadian wines. It was here that a federal government funded Vinifera planting trial proved that this species of vine could indeed thrive, and now we're off to the races. This was also the year that Ontario raised its moratorium on new wineries and granted Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser a winery license, and they then formed Inniskillin Winery. More and more vineyards started to spring up in Ontario, and some of this new breed of vineyard owners were willing to go against the grain and plant Vitis Vinifera. The drive to move from native Canadian Vitis species reached a highlight with free trade. You see, in 1987, Parliament moved to stop the ban on imported wine and beer, and this made everyone concerned that the Canadian market would be flooded with cheaper, and dare I say, more ameliorated wines. So, in 1989, the Canadian government used monetary incentives to get vineyard owners to pull up their Labrusca vines and replant with Vitis Vinifera. They were determined to elevate Canadian wine so it could compete, and that it did. While there are still a few using Concord grapes (a Labrusca vine) to make wine in Ontario and Nova Scotia is known for their generous use of hybrid vines, it is Vitis Vinifera that dominates vines today in Canada. Vinifera has shown its blissful side, and the Canadian wine industry boasts of incredible wines from the noble varieties (Chardonnay, Riesling, and Pinot Noir in my books) and is a force to be reckoned with in sparkling wine. Yes, there is more to Canada than Ice Wine.

There is no denying that the first sunny Spring day brings to mind patios, friends, and light 'sippers'. For those of us who enjoy a good bottle of wine, that sipper will often be a white or rosé wine. Today, I want to focus on rosé as it seems to have a short lifespan within our year, but it doesn't need to be like that. More and more producers are making complex rosé wines that can now arguably age and be paired with food items throughout the year. How Rosé Wine Is Made The most common way to make rosé wine is through skin contact. In this method, red grape skins are left in contact with the grape must for a short period of time. (Generally, less than 24-hours and that timing will vary based on the winemaker's desire for the intensity of the wine.) Grape skins are then removed, and the grape must is left to ferment on its own. A second way to create a rosé wine is through a process called Saignée. This occurs when a winemaker wants to impart more tannin in their red wine. To do this, they will release some of the juice early, while still pink in colour. The released pink juice is then fermented into rosé wine on its own, and the remaining skin and must from the red wine will continue to ferment in a higher concentration state. Rosé Styles Though you will commonly see this wine labeled as rosé, in Spain you will see it as rosado, and in Italy, rosato. The variation in labeling is important to note, as we are seeing more and more producers create rosé wines from grapes not commonly used for this wine style and from areas not commonly acclaimed for making rosé. Today, it is not uncommon to see rosé made from the Italian Nebbiolo grape or Tempranillo in Spain, and things like Cabernet Franc in other areas. Wine styles will vary from the super dry to slightly sweet to really sweet. Understanding the producer and, to a larger extent, how alcohol impacts the presence of sugar on the palate will help. If you like dryer styles of rosé wine, then you will want to stick to wines with a 12.5% ABV or greater. What's important to take away about rosé wine is that it is being produced in varying ways today, using exciting grape varietals and stemming from differing terroirs. To find a rosé with incredible complexity is not as hard to do now as it once was. These new-age rosé wines are also the ones that can stand up to a few years of aging and an array of foods. I encourage you to explore the expressions of rosé available today.