What do you like to eat with Bordeaux that isn’t a big hunk of meat?

[Robert.A.Jr]

@MChang

I think aged bdx is good with chocolate cake.

Personal of course, but I’ve never understood pairing still red wine with dessert. Once I bite into something sweet like cake, especially Black Forrest Cake, my palate is ruined for red wine. That said, I do not like Sauternes with sweet desserts, either. For that I do an acid-driven Madeira like a Sercial.

[R_Frankel]

@Robert.A.Jr

My wife loves red meat, so we probably eat more red meat than many of the households on this thread. And oddly enough, she will still drink a white wine with it.

This makes sense to me (though I rarely combine a white with red meat myself). Richer/acid driven whites have the capacity to go with nearly any savory foods in my experience.

[Stephen_Ozcomert]

Well, depends on how you define your terms. Only a tablespoon in the whole loaf. . Definitely not vegan. The main thing is she likes to eat less meat.

[Stephen_Ozcomert]

I don’t mind dry red wine with chocolate tho I prefer Banyuls. Another match I driscovered I like recently with chocolate is Armagnac (or Cognac).

[Noah_C]

@Robert.A.Jr

My wife loves red meat, so we probably eat more red meat than many of the households on this thread. And oddly enough, she will still drink a white wine with it.

I’ve heard that Condrieu is good with beef. “What to Drink with What you Eat” recommends it with filet mignon, and SommSelect recommends it with Steak Oscar. Never had it myself, but it seems interesting to try.

[Yao_C]

@Mark_Golodetz

The one exception was during lamprey season, and frankly it didn’t matter as I couldn’t bear them.

I encourage anyone who hasn’t had Lamproie a la Bordelaise to give it a go someday

edit: Brasserie Le Noailles in Bordeaux

[Peter_Kleban]

@Peter_Kleban

@Stephen_Ozcomert

You may think me crazy, but every time my wife wants a vegetarian meal and we do pinto beans and cornbread (good southern dish) with or without collard greens, I reach for Bordeaux and find it works really well. There is bacon grease in the cornbread (and butter and olive oil).

A vegetarian meal with bacon grease? I must be missing something…

@Stephen_Ozcomert

Well, depends on how you define your terms. Only a tablespoon in the whole loaf. . Definitely not vegan. The main thing is she likes to eat less meat.

OK, but it’s a slippery slope. Like my granddaughter who recently decided she’s vegetarian…except for lamb chops!

[M.Kaplan]

I cannot abide red wine of any kind with most fish/seafood due to a metallic taste reaction. Doesn’t matter which wine or type of fish/shellfish. Regardless, the idea of drinking red wine with most fish/shellfish is repulsive to me; two things I love separately are horrible when paired together.

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

I’m pretty similar. I also find that, while Bordeaux can pair with more than “a big hunk of meat,” there are almost always things in the cellar that would pair better. I have different tools for different jobs. I wouldn’t use a hammer when a wrench works best, even if it’s been a while since I used my hammer and I’ve missed it.

[Yule_Kim]

I was surprised how much I liked a pan-seared, dry-aged steak with dry(ish), high-acid rieslings.

Though it may just be I like rieslings so much.

[Br1an_J]

Not so much a food pairing, but try a nice cigar to go with your bdx. Totally surprised me when I first did so. Tasted some sweet notes in both the wine and cigar that I never experienced before

[Yao_C]

@Sarah_Kirschbaum

I also find that, while Bordeaux can pair with more than “a big hunk of meat,” there are almost always things in the cellar that would pair better. I have different tools for different jobs. I wouldn’t use a hammer when a wrench works best, even if it’s been a while since I used my hammer and I’ve missed it.

I hope never to reach the point in my wine drinking career where all the mystery and magic has gone away and been reduced to the stark, categorical logic of hammers and wrenches (and presumably nuts, bolts, and nails). But you all do you

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

@Yao_C

@Sarah_Kirschbaum

I also find that, while Bordeaux can pair with more than “a big hunk of meat,” there are almost always things in the cellar that would pair better. I have different tools for different jobs. I wouldn’t use a hammer when a wrench works best, even if it’s been a while since I used my hammer and I’ve missed it.

I hope never to reach the point in my wine drinking career where all the mystery and magic has gone away and been reduced to the stark, categorical logic of hammers and wrenches (and presumably nuts, bolts, and nails). But you all do you

And I hope never to reach the point where I feel it’s acceptable to insult my fellow wine lovers’ preferences by calling them stark and devoid of magic. But by all means - you do you.

[Nate_Simon]

@Jeff_Leve

I often see chocolate and Cabernet as pairings, and while I understand the thought behind it, I’ve tried it, but have zero interest in it.

Chocolate and wine pairing is silly, but somms like to talk about it (because they love to mentally masturbate about pairing wines with anything), and wineries love to talk about it because they love to have wine and chocolate pairing events because it sounds fun.
In reality, chocolate doesn’t really pair well with any wine. Dishes with chocolate as a minority component, perhaps.

[Jeff_Leve]

Frankly, I find food and wine pairing to be highly subjective and over thought. In my world and at my table, it’s barely a thought.

Drink and pair wines you like, with what you prefer to eat with people that are fun to dine with. That’s what I call a perfect pairing.

[Nate_Simon]

@Jeff_Leve

I think people overthink wine and food pairings.

Both accurate and a major understatement.
The ratio of words written about food/wine pairing to the utility of those words approaches infinity.
Food and wine pairing discussions serve mainly as thought exercises, and for somms to burn calories via endless hand-waving.
The more wine and food I experience, the more Matt Kramer’s words ring true:
“Good wine can take care of itself.”

@Jeff_Leve

Drink and pair wines you like, with what you prefer to eat with people that are fun to dine with. That’s what I call a perfect pairing.

This is the most correct answer you will find on the entire Board.

[T_Welch]

@Nate_Simon

Chocolate and wine pairing is silly,

I find the sweetness of the chocolate sucks the fruit out of the wine, leaving acid and tannin.

[Otto_Forsberg]

@T_Welch

I find the sweetness of the chocolate sucks the fruit out of the wine, leaving acid and tannin.

100% this. The basic rule of pairing is that wine should always be sweeter than the food, because sugary sweetness will always overwhelm fruit flavors unless there is enough sweetness in the wine that sort of gets negated first.

The only times I’ve managed to get a wine-chocolate pairing work has been a very fruity red wine and a 99% dark chocolate that doesn’t really have any sweetness. As chocolate is fatty, most if not all tannins in the wine bind with the chocolate instead of your gums, but the problem is that 99% chocolate is also very dry and sort of flour-y or gritty in texture, it sucks up a lot of wine and then gets dissolved into wine, so instead of getting an interesting pairing of flavors, you get a sort of fruity yet not sweet chocolate milk shake in your mouth that also coats your mouth in a not that pleasant way.

So in one sense, you can get the pairing to work, as the chocolate component doesn’t completely overwhelm and negate the fruit in the wine, but I still can’t say I enjoy the end result!

[joejolesch]

@Robert.A.Jr

Love it with pizza.

100% - A 2015 Chateau Gloria delivered what I was looking for last night with pizza.

[M.Kaplan]

I’m not at all a fan of pairing chocolate with wine, except for Madeira. Whisky (Scotch, not that cask seasoning crap) is also a fine accompaniment to chocolate.