Drink Wine with Dinner #Dw2d2

If she had still been with us, Today would have been Julia Child's 99th birthday! To commemorate, the fabulous Rosina Wilson, (who actually met Julia), is suggesting we all drink wine with dinner tonight and honor Julia in personal ways. So we BrixChicks are getting together and celebrating with paired wine and dinner. With the Dow giving us all whiplash and the days getting shorter, we thought what more fun way than to challenge ourselves, by focusing on paired course where all the elements come from Trader Joe's.

We used some of the principles from Rosina's cool mini eBook, which she summarized for us here:

1) Geographic ~ where food & wine evolved together: Chianti and Tuscan game, steak, pasta; Alsace/German whites with quiche, trout, sausages; Oregon Pinot with alder-planked salmon...


2) Similarity ~ where food & wine have *matching* flavors, textures, etc.: A herbaceous Sauvignon Blanc with herbed goat cheese; a malolactic Chardonnay with a butter sauce; a berry-like Zin with duck/berry sauce; Champagne/sparklers with caviar (texture: "tiny bubbles")...

3) Contrast ~ where food & wine have *different* characteristics that you know will work well together (like harmony in music): Acidic wine (e.g. sparkling wine or Sauvignon Blanc) with butter/cream in food; sweet/fruity wine (e.g. Riesling, Grenache, Zin) with spicy food (e.g. curry, BBQ)...



4) "Equal Intensity" ~ Food & wine have approximately the same strength. Pinot Grigio with sole; Cabernet with roast lamb. (If one partner is slightly *less* intense than the other, it will play "supporting actor" and make the other partner the "star.")

5) Personal Preference ~ Whatever you like! Traditional: Champagne/sparkling wine with caviar; Burgundy/Pinot Noir with roast beef. "Daring pairings": Champagne/sparkling wine with KFC or popcorn; Burgundy/Pinot Noir with BBQ ribs/pulled pork.

Here is the menu so far:

Julia's potato Leek Soup

Mastering the Art of...Monday Dinner!

Happy Birthday Lambrusco Cupcakes!

We will be interested in reading about what you plan at #DW2D2. Stay tuned for our updates later this week and

Happy birthday, Julia!

Bon appetit!