Part 2, the dinner wine...

In follow up to my last blog, "Johnny" (my hopeless romantic friend, that is seeking to impress his date with wine knowledge) had purchased his cocktail wine.  Which, by the way, was a Vouvray from Remy Pannier.  Great little bottle of wine, which will run you about $11-$12.  He's one step closer to pulling off the perfect date!

Johnny is a simple guy.  He likes to keep his dinners on a consistent rotation: salmon, chicken, shrimp, and steak.  I try to tell Johnny to keep it effortless with his wine pairing, and not to overthink the match.  In the past, pairing wine came down to it's simplest form: white wine w/ white meat, red wine w/ red meat.  As the wine industry has advanced over the past couple decades, so had that methodology.  We now focus on the seasoning of the protein, when looking to pair it with wine.  Below are a few basic dishes, and a few easy pairings:

Chicken -

1. Sauteed in butter - chardonnay, preferable from California.  Most California chard is oaked, which gives it a buttery characteristic
2. BBQ chicken - syrah, or malbec.  the spice from the BBQ sauce will most like pair very well with any spice that's in either of these two wines.
   

Salmon -

1. Baked/Sauteed - California Pinot Noir, or Unoaked Chardonnay.  Salmon is a pretty flavorful fish (compared to others).  A lighter style Pinot, or a Chard w/ some nice backbone would work well
2. Blackened - Zinfandel.  The fruit from Zin will play well with the spice of the blackened fish.  Zin doesn't have a lot tannin, so the body won't overpower the weight of the fish.

 I told Johnny to start simple, and not to over analyze his pairings.  Chicken and salmon are heathly dishes, and are super versatile.  You can try a multitude of different pairings, and figure out dishes that you really like.  Again, be adventerous, take a risk, and trust your pallet!