Summer Food & Wine Pairing

Although every season is a good for pairing food and wine, summer, with its lighter food offerings seems to be perfect for pairing refreshing crisp white or rosé wines.  In summer, we tend to eat lighter and simpler -- fresh garden salads, grilled vegetables, fresh fruit, and simple cheese platters.  A crisp cool wine offers a refreshing option for these lighter foods.  There is nothing better than the look of condensation on an elegant wine glass, and savoring that first cool sip of wine.  Add in a comfortable patio chair, on a boat or at the beach I think we can agree that nothing could be more relaxing!

White wines tend to have a crisper finish than reds, which leaves our palates feeling more refreshed. When we eat a food, our palate is coated with the flavors of that food.   The crisp finish on a white light bodied wine washes over our palate and intermixes with the food, creating a unique food and wine pairing experience.  If a wine is too heavy, it can overpower the flavors of the food.  So for lighter foods, a lighter wine offers that perfect combination of flavor and body. For Summer white wine drinking we recommend pairing our 2012 Beach House # 34 Sauvignon Blanc, 2013 Play Date Chardonnay and of course our Velvet & Vinyl Brut Sparkling. The Sauvignon Blanc is the lightest, perfect for any kind of grilled fish or vegetable, followed by the Chardonnay, unoaked in style it’s a great match for most light sauces and pasta dishes, last is the bubbly which is of course great anytime but also excellent with any raw bar items or sushi.

If you crave a wine with a little more fruit quality but the same crispness and food pairing quality of a white, rosés are also a great summer option.  Rosés are once again becoming a popular wine style and the offerings are far more expansive.  The Play Date Syrah Rosé is crisp and dry (almost like a light Pinot Noir in a way) and can definitely suit either a white or red drinker’s palate. Nowadays if you browse the Rose section of a wine shop will find that rosés that come from many different regions and are made from a wide variety of grapes.  Summer is a great time to explore your taste buds and try different styles of lighter wines. 

Cheers!