Wine Pairings – Dirty Laundry Kitchen

W I N E P A I R I N G S

I’ve been interested in food and wine pairings almost as long as I’ve been cooking. Well-paired food can “fix” missing elements in a wine blend. It can hide when a wine is thin or tamp down a wine that’s too sweet. And wine can accentuate subtle notes in a complex dish. Ideally they work symbiotically to create a cohesive experience and heighten the other. When I was 26, my sister moved in with my partner and I for a few months. She had just graduated from college and was job searching in California. I was in law school and she was unemployed. We would cook together most nights and at that point in time, I was teaching her about wine. That’s definitely not true anymore. Now my sister is the head winemaker at MacRostie Winery and Vineyards in California. We decided to team up to bring you a recipe and wine pairing now and again. She presents me with tasting notes and a bottle of wine. I write a preliminary menu. Heidi and I cook and wine taste together in person when we can, or via video chat when we can’t. We adjust and alter the menu as we go to complement the wine. Then I write the recipe and she writes the wine notes. It’s almost as symbiotic as food and wine.