"WinePairings" news and stories

Do you serve red or white wine with Thanksgiving dinner? After all, the wine served with dinner can sometimes make or break your turkey feast.

The editors over at YumSugar have asked wine expert Eugenio Jardim for his suggestions. From mashed potatoes to pumpkin pie, he's got you covered.

10 Exceptional Thanksgiving Food and Wine Pairings

Deep-Fried Butter. Photo: State Fair of Texas

Behold the deep-fried butter!

Last week, Slashfood reported that Abel Gonzales planned to best his fried-food record at the State Fair of Texas with a concoction that shuddered even those with the most hardened of arteries -- Deep-Fried Butter.

The dish -- which comes in four flavors: original, garlic, cherry and grape -- took top honors on Monday when fair officials gave it the Most Creative nod in the Big Tex Choice Awards.

"It's similar to having a dinner roll with a lot of butter," Sue Gooding, a spokeswoman for the fair, told us last week. "It's very good."

Ubuntu Sommelier Daniel Sarao Photo: Michelle Branton

At Ubuntu, Napa Valley's acclaimed vegetarian restaurant slash yoga studio, it falls to wine director and general manager Daniel Sarao to find harmony between the lush bounty of on-site gardens and a vino list sparkling with biodynamic sips.

The son of Italian immigrants who taught him an appreciation for wine, Sarao put himself through college and grad school working at restaurants, cutting short a trajectory towards a liberal arts Ph.D. for the life of a full-time oenophile. We chatted with him about the myths around pairing wine with veggies (yes, you can drink red!), the wonders of caramelizing and five inexpensive summer sippers to pair with grilled veggies.

Are you a vegetarian?
I am not a vegetarian. The chef is not a vegetarian and neither is the owner. But we believe that vegetables can stand on their own. We are breaking the stereotype.

How much of what you serve comes from your garden?
Right now we get about 75 to 80 percent of our ingredients from [our garden]. Our goal is to get almost everything from there. It makes an amazing difference. Squash and peppers are [in season] right now.

Learn more, plus five great wines for under $25 to pair with vegetable dishes, after the jump.

In just two years as the sommelier and wine director at New York's world-renowned Le Bernardin restaurant, 37-year-old Aldo Sohm has become a wine world heavyweight, having been recognized as "Best Sommelier in the World" in 2008 and earlier this month for "Best Wine Service" at the James Beard Awards. Trained in his native Austria, Sohm came to the United States to improve on his then "dumpy" English so he could better compete at wine competitions. We caught up with Sohm this morning to chat about the unwritten rule of pairing fish with white wine, which vino goes well with grilled salmon and that other reason why he now lives in America.

How did you become a sommelier?

Ever since I was little I had a thing of smelling food and wines. At first I didn't really like wine when I entered the industry. This was [when I was ] 16 or 17. People in the restaurant would ask me what you could recommend and I didn't know and thought this was embarrassing. [Then] I went on a wine trip with my father -- he invited me. I was 20 and I saw it, and it was kind of interesting and just went from there.

You said you moved to the United States to improve your English, but I get the sense there was another reason?

Austrians love to complain. I hate to complain so I figured it is easier to change a country than to change myself.

More about pairing rules -- and how to break them -- after the jump.

The Washington Post has an article on pairing wines with fast food. Of course, you can't drink wine in the restaurants but if you are bringing your meal home why not enjoy it with something tastier than the supersized soda?  Matt Hopkins pairs off wines with some of his favorite treats include the 2002 Vina Alabra Old Vines Grenache with a pepperoni pizza, pairing shiraz wines with Baja Fresh burritos and drinking the 2004 Penfolds Merlot Rawson's Retreat with your Roy Rogers Roast Beef with Cheese or with a Quiznos sub.  It's a interesting article and I was completely with him until he suggested the pairing of a pinot noir with a KFC chicken bucket. I haven't tried it but it sounds odd. I think I'll keep the pinot noir with the burger.

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