Hello, My wife and I are new to wine and Slooowly getting accustomed to red wines. We had decided to have a glass of wine a day mainly for the beneficial health reasons, So far my wife likes riesling and is okay with a smooth merlot, has done okay with an inexpensive pinot noir and found a couple of other reds she can enjoy with the right food. the trouble is We have tried a few pairs that were awful Columbia crest GE Merlot 2005 with my wife's stew that has a tomato stock. Like the wine without the stew hated it with the stew....doh!

I am looking for reasonably priced good wines to go with a couple of meals we eat regularly, like spagetti with barilla tomato sauces, the afore mentioned stew and chicken parmisian. I am really looking for specific QPR type recomendations... ie the four vines oldvine zin goes great with x.

I understand that this may be pretty broad but i really dont know enough to ask a better question

Thank you in advance

Chianti. It's a natural with tomato sauce. Oh, and you can make a nice marinara without too much effort. Bag the Barilla!!

PH

A few you could try out, all under $15:

quote:

Originally posted by dkyle:
wife's stew that has a tomato stock.

Rioja (Spanish wine from the Tempranillo grape): Marques de Caceres Rioja Crianza (2004)

quote:

Originally posted by dkyle:like spagetti with barilla tomato sauces

Barbaresco (Piemonte region of Italy: Produttori del Barbaresco Nebbiolo delle Langhe (2005)

quote:

Originally posted by dkyle:chicken parmisian.

Dolcetto d’Alba (Piemonte region of Italy): Roagna Dolcetto D' Alba (2005)



Also, a Pinot Noir would work with the last two. The Rioja might do well with the spagetti as well...just play around with some wines you like focusing on the intensity of the dish (big flavors with wines with big flavors) and the acidity of the dish to keep good balance.

EDIT: PH's suggestion of a Chianti (and making your own sauce!) is right on as well.

Yeah, with red sauces, you need the acidity of a good Chianti to cut through, but there are a lot other wines to go to as well. If you go Chianti, stick with the 'Classico DOCG' brands for best quality. Tons to choose from.

With roasted meats and stews, I do like Riojas (Tempranillo) as well, but real good values are out of Argentina with Malbec that pairs well.

For an extensive list of Wine & food pairing sites/advice, go to - http://www.localwino.com/wfp.php

Lots of good info there. Good luck!

Thank you for the Help I will look for some of these wines to try. Is sangeovese the same as chianti? or should I look for a wine that is from chianti?

another interesting discovery from tonight was the inexpensive but fairly nice chuck steaks with sauted mushrooms we had for dinner. I added about a glass of yalumba shiraz that we had from last night and reduced the mushrooms with that and put them over the steak it was great! but the odd thing was that the yalumba seemed kinda harsh when we drank it without food the night before and it was fantastic with the steak. I intended to serve a little penguin 2006 shiraz with the steak which was very easy to drink by itself, but really was not good at all with the steak....... go figure. Is this an example of a wine "without enough structure to pair with food"????

Inquiring ( and ignorant ) minds want to know

quote:

Originally posted by dkyle:
Is sangeovese the same as chianti? or should I look for a wine that is from chianti?

Sangiovese is the primary varietal in Chianti, but it usually contains other varietals. If you look for wines from Chianti Classico, the original Chianti producing area you'll be more likely to pick something of good quality.

PH

quote:

the odd thing was that the yalumba seemed kinda harsh when we drank it without food the night before and it was fantastic with the steak.

This is a case where the bigger tannins in the wine interact with the proteins in the steak and are tamed. The Little Penguin doesn't present with as much tannins and so paired with steak would seem more like fruit juice but can be pleasant as a before dinner sipper (although not to my taste). Therefore, a Cabernet Sauvignon might not be the greatest before dinner sipper to many, but with a steak tastes great.

As to your other pairing questions, I prefer Sangiovese wines from Chianti, as I haven't had a great experience with other areas trying to produce these wines. You might also appreciate Valpolicella or Barbera D'Asti with your tomato sauces. I find that these have enough acidity to stand up to the sauces, and have a somewhat lighter body that appeals to somewhat less experienced palates. BTW, I'm not surprised that the CC GE Merlot became nasty when paired with a tomato based stew. The acidity of the tomatoes can make the tannins in the wine taste quite bitter. That's why the wines recommended above tend to do so well in pairings as their tannins are generally quite light.

Other reasonably priced, but nice options with stews are Cotes du Rhone and Cotes du Ventoux wines from France. Often you'll find these wines are blends of primarily Syrah and Grenache (old vine Garnacha from Spain are quite nice as well) which have good body but generally lighter tannins with a little spice on the finish that pair well with stews. I often enjoy these wines with braised chicken without a lot of tomato in the sauce (search Coq au Vin for some nice recipes).

Hope that helps and enjoy!

Ditto what conscious stated...

Chianti Classico - for more intense, acidic wine
Valpolicella & Barbera for something lighter

I love Malbec with stew - great QPR

Salice Salentino is also a great food wine - a blend of Malvasia and Negroamaro grapes - see if you can find some 2001

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gigabit,

Valpolicella or Barbera is perfect

I have not met a Barbaresco under $35.

Yeah, first learn to make a good basic tomato sauce from scratch. Is not too difficult and will put you on the road to becoming a food and wine nut. Once you start making stuff with raw ingredients you'll never want to leave the kitchen.

Second, there is a load of wine that works with tomato sauces but my favorite is Chianti Classico, both Riservas and normales. A good Chianti Classico, or a Vino Nobile or Rosso di Montalcino can all work well with your tomato sauce as well as the beef stew with tomatoes added. All of these are made from the Sangiovese grape (pronouced sahn-joe-vay-zay).

Personally I stay away from most of the Valpolicella on store shelves, a little too acidic to be enjoyable. There is some excellent Valpolicella Classico and Valpolicella Ripasso available however. And, a decent, not too oaky Merlot will also work with tomato sauce.

dkyle,

I agree with others, but while I love sangiovese-based wines tremendously, I honestly don't think they're "beginner" wines, and I think that you might hate them at first. Many of them may seem quite harsh to you, if you're used to sweeter wines. If they're especially tannic and acidic, your mouth may wonder if the winemaker added battery acid to the blend.

They can be FANTASTIC with good red sauce. I like to keep a piece of parmesan reggiano (quality Italian cheese you can find in any gourmet store), as it'll help tame these wines tremendously, as will some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) on a piece of bread.

You might keep an eye out for the commonly found Di Majo Norante brand. I usually find their sangiovese a good buy at about 10 bucks.

Thank you all for the great education and sugesstions. When I went to buy some chianti i noticed that some regular chianti's were higher rated by WS than the chianti classico's. as i tried to stay under $12-$14 there wasnt much to choose from n classico.

I ended up with 2 bottles of da vinci ( 2005)
2 bottles of la carria sangiovese umbria ( 2005 ) and a couple of bottles that I am not sure what they are ( sella & mosca cannonau di sardegna riserva and 2004 Rocca delle Macìe Rubizzo Toscana IGT) I am not really sure what i was buying with the last two

The Sella & Mosca Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva is a Sardinian Grenache. These are as good as they'll ever get soon after bottling. You'll never confuse it with a good Spanish Garnacha or French or American Grenache.