• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Food & Wine Trails Magazine

BC's most thorough wine touring guide

  • Columns
    • Grape Expectations
    • Editor’s Note
    • Naramata Blend
    • Confessions from the Vineyard
  • Features
  • Events
    • Submit an Event
  • Winery Regions
    • Creston
    • Kaleden
    • Kamloops
    • Kelowna
    • Lake Country
    • Lower Mainland
    • Naramata
    • Okanagan Falls
    • Okanagan North
    • Oliver
    • Osoyoos
    • Penticton
    • Similkameen
    • Summerland
    • Vancouver Island
    • West Kelowna
  • Maps
    • Thompson Okanagan/Similkameen
  • Recipes
  • Editions
  • Media Kit
  • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Subscribe
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Feel The Love – Wine Diva’s Summer Wine & Food Pairings

Contributor · May 27, 2013 ·

from Vancouver’s celebrated Wine Diva, Daenna Van Mulligan

Forget about decking the halls; for many of us summer truly is the best time of the year.  Long sunny days and warm sultry nights have us dreaming of dining al fresco, it is a time of bountiful produce and simple yet flavorful dishes. 

Summer is also the perfect time to experiment with wine and food pairings. Meals are more casual and everyone is relaxed, ergo, no one is going to complain if the pairings aren’t perfection. 

Vegetarian dishes are commonplace in the summer; it’s not difficult to get your daily requirements of healthy veggies right now.  Grilling is the other major component of summer dining; it adds depth and intensity to foods. 

Don’t panic, have fun with your pairings.

 

Sauvignon Blanc

This vibrant white generally offers crisp fruit, citrus and herbal notes. A mixed bean salad with vinaigrette, goat cheese and herb quiche or asparagus all shine with a tangy savvy.  Sushi and white fish also have an affinity for this verdant variety.

Riesling

One of the world’s great white grapes, Riesling is an absolute dream with summer dishes. It vibrates with acidity and is often rounded out with a gentle sweetness, which loves to be partnered with spicier dishes. Asian cuisines such as curries or chili-spiked noodle stir-fries are outstanding. It is also great with German potato salad or creamy sauces such as aioli and hollandaise.  

 

Chardonnay

Love it or hate it, oaked Chardonnay can be an epiphany when paired with the right fare. Corn is gastronomic delight with Chardonnay. Sweet and buttery, it is a complimentary marriage, be it corn chowder, corn bread or simply on the cob. You’ll also feel the love with lobster dipped in butter sauce, grilled chicken or smoked cheeses.

 

Pinot Noir

Fragrant, silky and lighter in body than many red wines, Pinot Noir is your go-to wine for creamy mushroom pastas and fresh salmon but it’s also fast friends with fattier meats, pork belly or pork tenderloin.

 

Cabernet 

Cabernet Franc is a wonderful red for food. Spicy grilled sausage, duck or game meats will frolic with it, as will blue cheese. Somewhat darker and more intense, Cabernet Franc’s son, Cabernet Sauvignon will boldly suit grilled steaks, lamb shank or a juicy burger dripping with wild mushrooms and sharp cheddar.

 

The great equalizer: Rosé 

A beautiful rosé – dry or with just a kiss of residual sweetness is arguably the perfect food wine. From salads or gazpacho, tomato based dishes, gourmet thin-crust pizza, grilled vegetables or ratatouille to salmon, pork or chicken rosé is the ultimate companion. It has the acidity of a white with a structure similar to a light-bodied red. In addition, it’s demands to be chilled and is attractive in the glass. You’ll never go wrong pouring pink.

Comments

comments

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: daenna van mulligan, Vancouver, wine Diva

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Celebrate every day of the week at Black Hills Estate Winery
  • Recipe: White Bean Sumac Spread
  • Recipe: Sunflower Seed Romesco
  • On the Cover
  • From the Editor

Categories

  • About
  • Armstrong
  • Armstrong Salmon Arm
  • BC
  • Blog
  • Columns
  • Confessions from the Vineyard
  • Creston
  • e-Edition
  • Eat, Drink, Tweet
  • Editor's Note
  • Events
  • Features
  • Gulf Islands
  • Kaleden
  • Kamloops
  • Kelowna
  • Lake Country
  • Lower Mainland
  • Maps
  • Naramata
  • Naramata Blend
  • News
  • Okanagan Falls
  • Okanagan North
  • Oliver
  • On The Cover
  • Osoyoos
  • Peachland
  • Penticton
  • Recipes
  • Salmon Arm
  • Shuswap
  • Similkameen
  • Summerland
  • Tappen
  • Tappen
  • Uncategorized
  • Vancouver
  • Vancouver Island
  • Vernon
  • West Kelowna
  • Wine Regions

B.C. Food & Wine Trails Magazine

B.C.'s most comprehensive winery guide. Meet the people behind the labels as well as the great chefs in the Okanagan and keep up to date with their seasonal news. Event listings and photos will allow you to celebrate with us in wine country style!


BC Food & Wine Trails Magazine
2495 Enterprise Way
Kelowna, BC V1X 7K2
ph: 250.492.3636
email: ads@winetrails.ca

Footer

Winery Regions

  • Creston
  • Kaleden
  • Kelowna
  • Naramata
  • Okanagan Falls
  • Okanagan North

 

  • Oliver
  • Penticton
  • Similkameen
  • Summerland
  • Vancouver Island
  • West Kelowna

Advertise with Us

Food & Wine Trails Magazine is BC’s most thorough wine touring guide, winery source and portal into life inside BC wine country. Food & Wine Trails introduces YOU and YOUR business to a huge range of readers - from destination tourists, wine lovers and buyers to a local reader base interested in keeping up with the latest and greatest seasonal news from wine country. Our purpose and focus is to direct customers TO your door. Let us tell your story. Learn more...

Copyright © 2023 · Daily Dish Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in