Really good Feinherb Riesling (Mosel) with a lobster roll (high quality Gruner Veltliner with 10-12 years on it deserves honorable mention for this too)
Champagne and sushi
Well-aged Barolo and egg pasta with cultured butter and fresh white truffles
There are so many. I was going to jokingly post that I don’t think wine and food go well together, but I guess I’m too late.
The only truly “revelatory” pairing I’ve experienced - where the wine enhanced the food and (importantly) vice versa - is off-dry or fruity Riesling with spicy SE Asian food, especially Thai. Love the sweet+spicy+sour play.
Definitely not opposed to finding others, just haven’t had many genius pairing moments myself.
Cayuse Armada Syrah with braised short ribs - had this pairing at a friend’s birthday dinner over 10 years ago and still remember to this day how insanely harmonious it was
Nothing radical here.
When it’s hot out, I want something cool, with little or no alcohol. Lemonade, IPAs, Mosel Kabinetts under 10% alchohol. For a dry wine, most Savoie whites are still in the 11% range. So are some Loire Chenins and Sauvignons. Dry Rose works as well, although many Provence wines are creeping up to 13% and higher. To me, those seems better suited to a cool and breezy spring day or evening.
I love Chateauneuf-du-Pape and one my most important agencies as an importer is a top producer. The wines are usually 15%, have been as high as 16.5%. I drink them in the dead of winter here in Maine, with temps often in the single digits, sometimes negative single digits. That’s also the time for the fruit and alchohol bomb Zins. There are exceptions, even in spring, fall or summer I’ll open a big red bomb during a thunderstorm, or even just heavy rain.
Cab and Bordeaux are fall wines to me. The only time I like them during winters is if they have a lot of bottle age, and then preferably in front of a fire. About five years ago I hosted some wholesale sales people from Texas for a fall weekend (mid-September). Their last night here it got actually cold, 40s, and windy, I started a fire and turned the top seller loose in my basement. Among other things, she came up with a 1974 Heitz Martha’s. That was a memorable wine and weather pairing.
For me, bubbles go with any weather except a deadly cold spell.
I’m not a fan of big, buttery whites, but on a winter afternoon, a foot of fresh snow, zero degrees, no wind, setting sun, I’ve been known to break out a ZD Chardonnay.
Of course food enters into it too. That ZD Chardonnay is more likely to go with a haddock stew or a chicken pot pie than a sirloin steak.
Dan Kravitz
Thanks. Your seasonal shifts nearly match my own. Especially the move to bigger reds during colder months. For me I love starting off a warm summer evening with Champagne and sometimes a chilled rose. I’ve lived in places where summer evenings cool off after sunset and I think that’s a great time for pinot noir but I’ll also have zinfandel with grilled food then but those are about the only conditions I’ll drink a red during the warm months.
The right Sangiovese with Finocchiona can be amazing! I prefer the less dry, thinly sliced Finocchiona.
I live for great pairings, and have a lot of “good pairings” but the ones that stands out in my mind from my “at home cooking” as exponential (food accentuates wine accentuates food) pairings are:
1989 La Conseillant with Duck Thighs in prunes
2010 Roy Piper with Lamb Chops from Olivier’s (an amazing Butcher in SF), with fresh Kale and roasted Mushrooms from our local farmers market, and brown rice with caramelized onions and black garlic, from the Ottolenghi Simple cookbook - my email to Roy and the notes mentioned “a religious experience.”
I am lucky enough to be able to go to Coquine here in Portland and Ksandek (Chef Millard’s Husband) runs the front of the house and his pairings are almost always amazing, the most recent one being:
Domain Nowak 2018 Les Arpent Rouges (60% Pinot Meunier. 40% Chardonnay) Champagne with a Pasta e Ceci, which was Monterey Bay Squid with pipe rigate, chickpeas, Sungold tomato, fermented sweet pepper, and oregano. Not something we could ever make at home (I wanted to swim in the broth it was so good), but the pairing was mind blowing.
Very few food pairings have “wowed” me. But there is a common thread - most of them so far have involved bubbles.
The first time I was really wowed was KFC + Nicholas Flulette NV. Something about the two just worked perfectly.
Prosecco and Sushi is another winning pair.
Recently I served a charcuterie board with an Under the Wire Bedrock Vineyard. Every pairing brought out a different aspect of that sparkling zin. It was a struggle to hold ourselves back from grabbing another bottle to go with it.
Young, slightly rough Medoc Cru Bourgeois with sushi.
Dan Kravitz
You’re not in the '07-Chateauneuf-from-magnum-with-sushi school?
Mags of '07 Chateauneuf? Not hardly. BTW, my matching is serious, I’ve been enjoying it for decades. Often with the first bottle from a case of young Lanessan.
I don’t want big, thick, alcoholic. I want some rasp to match the wasabi and soy.
Dan Kravitz
One of my all-time favourite wine stories. From my Burgundy trip in 2017. My friends and I were dining at Aupres du Clocher and they had the 2012 Coche Meursault on the list for a silly-good price. Ordered it. We had a jambon persille ravioli that it was super-delish with. Then came the beef course in rich sauce. The Coche kicked its ass. The 2011 Meo Camuzet Gevrey we ordered was OK with the beef. The Coche Meursault was phenomenal and a better match.
Mags of '07 Chateauneuf? Not hardly. BTW, my matching is serious, I’ve been enjoying it for decades. Often with the first bottle from a case of young Lanessan.
I don’t want big, thick, alcoholic. I want some rasp to match the wasabi and soy.
Dan Kravitz
Sushi and 07 CdP from magnum was something Parker once cooed about on his blog. It’s been a running joke here ever since.
Hi John,
Thanks. I vaguely remember seeing something about this. Parker is a friend, we agree more than we disagree on wine, although we disagree plenty. Not so sure about wine and food pairings. I stand by my statement: Young Medoc Cru Bourgeois is a good match for sushi. I own some mags of 2007 Chateauneuf, but won’t be opening them at my next sushifest.
Best,
Dan
I usually only drink water with my meals as I tend to prefer enjoying the subtleties of the wine on its own. But I have had several great wine and food pairings.
Albarino with crab manicotti
Bedrock Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc with Pasta Primavera
Provence rosé and bouillabaisse.
Young red burgundy and raw tuna.
Sauternes and Roquefort.
Barbaresco and truffles.
Oh man, I cant believe I didnt call out Sauternes and Roquefort. Almost nothing like the sensation of a nicely aged dessert wine melting away the remaining bleu cheese…
This - just an amazing pairing…
I agree that a good Bolognese sauce with pasta is great with nebbiolo. So is fresh eggy pasta with just butter and fresh sage or oregano.
Sauteed fois gras with mature JJ Prum Auslese
Smoked sable (or pretty much any smoked fish) with Mosel Kabinett or Spatlese
Barbera with white truffle omelet
Ridge Zin with Italian sausage, sweet peppers and onions
More surprising (matches a genius friend of mine intuited):
Mature Cornas with vitello tonato (sounds weird but really worked)
Muller-Catoir Spatburgunder with BBQ chicken (ditto)
FIFY 
and I’m not even American!