We had so much fun pairing wine with fast food this past Friday on The Social, CTV’s new national talk show in the video.
Think “The View”, but with smarter hosts and a much stronger social media angle. Hosts Melissa Grelo, Lainey Lui, Traci Melchor and Cynthia Loyst all have impressive backgrounds with other successful shows. I’m honoured to be their new wine go-to gal on the show.
Jackson-Triggs Entourage Grand Reserve Brut Sparkling
Niagara Peninsula, Ontario V.Q.A., Canada
You can also watch our second episode where we do a novel take on the game show The Price is Right and talk about how wines are priced and more importantly, how to find a great bargain in the liquor store.
Cheers,
Natalie
Here’s your shopping list of these 5 wines that shows the stock for each in your closest liquor stores. If you love ‘em, then tweet ‘em or share ‘em please. You can also access this list on your mobile phone via our free wine app.
Villa Maria Estate Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc
Marlborough, New Zealand
Wine Paired with Fast Food: CTV’s The Social Video
Melissa: And welcome back to The Social. You know some things in life; well they just go together perfectly, like us, a gourmet meal and a nice glass of wine. But did you know that wine can go with just about anything?
Lainey: It’s true. Here to help us drink outside the box by helping us pair our favorite wines with our favorite junk foods is award winning wine writer and sommelier Natalie McLean. Good morning, Nat. Thank you for bringing some Friday celebration for us.
Melissa: At least for one of us.
Lainey: Well Cynthia said that I will never be a grown up so this is perfect way to show here how I’m not going to be a grown up with this segment of the show.
Natalie: Excellent.
Melissa: I just heard a “wooot!” from the audience. I will be the grown up, obviously pregnant, I cannot drink. However, you’ve got some basic rules for us about how you do pair these wines with certain food, what is the basic rule?
Natalie: Rules or guidelines don’t change even if when you’re doing some sort of shabby chic, like we’re doing today. So the high-low pairings, potato chips, whatever you’ve got on the go, it’s about texture, weight and flavour. Either harmonized or go for the contrast. So if you just keep that in mind, you can pair up anything you want.
Melissa: Interesting, okay. So what do you have here? Let’s go through these.
Natalie: Starting in front of you, Melissa, is a lovely sparkling wine from the Niagara region, Entourage from Jackson Triggs. You’re getting into the (inaudible).
Melissa: Oh this will be my first drink after baby arrives.
Natalie: It’s such a good one.
Lainey: It’s really good.
Natalie: Yes.
Melissa: Awesome, that’s so nice of you, Lainey. Amazing.
Natalie: So that’s got a crisp, dry feel, a swarm of bubbles. It will cut right through fat, that’s a hint.
Lainey: Oh, okay. More of that. You just gave me an excuse.
Melissa: And what do we have here?
Natalie: So here we have a California big, muscular, honking zinfandel. So you want to think, maybe meaty flavors, something that really needs to muscle in beside it.
Lainey: It’s like if Tracy needed a boyfriend in wine, muscular…
Melissa: Bold.
Lainey: Okay, I’m going to taste Tracy’s boyfriend.
Natalie: She doesn’t need a boyfriend with that.
Lainey: Alright.
Natalie: So in the middle we have a zesty crisp New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, no oak. Again, cuts like a knife through a lot of fast foods, very refreshing, dry.
Lainey: A lot of fast food, that’s your cue, fast food.
Melissa: Fast foods, interesting. Okay, alright.
Lainey: Clue!
Melissa: We got a little game coming up so I’m trying to take all these notes.
Lainey: Oh, it’s really grapey. It’s really grapey, Melissa.
Melissa: Thanks for sharing.
Errázuriz Max Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon
Aconcagua Valley, Chile
Natalie: Okay, so here we have Errazuriz, a mouthful to say but a delight to drink. It’s a merlot from Chile, and all of the wines, by the way, are very reasonably priced. We’re talking $13 to $15 so you don’t have to pay a lot. That’s a lovely luscious wine that goes well with other things. Don’t make me say it. Lainey, what do you think?
Melissa: I’m living so vicariously through her taste buds, it’s ridiculous.
Lainey: Lovely, lovely, yes.
Melissa: And finally, I can recognize the bottle, it’s got to be ice wine.
Natalie: It is. So we’re talking about a sweet dessert wine. You know a lot of snacks and junk foods that we like have an element of sweetness to it. This is luscious; it’s got some citrus notes. It’s only 11% alcohol so you won’t be asleep in the sofa at 7 PM. So you can pair it up with some sweet things, maybe.
Melissa: Interesting, okay. I’ve been taking notes; let’s see if I can put my short term memory to the test. What are we doing next?
Lainey: Well, we have lots of junk foods under the table so the challenge for you is that you have to pair the junk foods with the wine Natalie has just introduced and she’s going to score you.
Melissa: Oh, okay.
Lainey: You are on a timer, you have 20 seconds. Get ready. Bossing you around now.
Melissa: Okay, let’s do this. I’m thinking through this.
Lainey: Are you ready?
Melissa: I am.
Lainey: So you’ve got all the junk food on the table.
Melissa: Yes.
Lainey: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO. Really? You’re going to do that? Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? Oh, fried chicken, it’s got gravy. 2, 1. Okay, Natalie, how did she do?
Natalie: She did very well.
Melissa: I did?
Natalie: Yes, you did.
Melissa: How many did I get right?
Natalie: You are so ready for this when can do it. We’re just going to switch two of them.
Melissa: Okay. Let’s do it, let’s switch the two.
Lainey: I’m going to guess which two. These two?
Natalie: No.
Lainey: Okay, fine.
Natalie: Try again.
Lainey: This and that?
Natalie: Absolutely. And do you know why we’re doing that? This is fried chicken, that’s champagne, well not champagne. That’s sparkling wine from Niagara. I want you to try that Lainey and see what you think.
Lainey: Oh, my pleasure. Get out of my shot!
Cynthia: What happened here?
Melissa: Is this happening around me?
Lainey: She took my glass, am I going to drink from the bottle?
Melissa: Okay, so why is this the best combo and do you agree?
Lainey: Look, it tastes good. Natalie I’m going to be honest, it all tastes good. It’s like, fried chicken, great. Champagne, awesome.
Natalie: How can you go wrong? You know some people think food and wine pairing, that’s bunk and this is even more ridiculous. But no, there’s a reason we put certain textures and flavors together. We usually don’t put ketchup on ice cream.
Melissa: Why is this right then?
Natalie: This one, a luscious red, zinfandel, it’s got that berry, luscious flavour. Hamburger – which can have some sweetness with all the fixings. What do you think?
Lainey: It’s really nice. But as I said, good and good.
Melissa: Nice combo.
Natalie: Maybe good and better.
Melissa: This one looks good to me. So there’s some poutine here with your sauvignon blanc. Why is this a good match.
Natalie: We’ve got a lot going on in poutine. We’ve got the gravy, and fried food, sometimes cheeses.
Lainey: Tracy’s trying this one. Tracy’s trying. How is it? Good combo?
Natalie: It’s great? Good?
Tracy: Classic.
Natalie: A new classic. Oh, she’s getting kind of emotional. So this cut like a knife, like an acidic knife through all the richness and fatness, so it gets you ready for the next bite. So you don’t (inaudible) out, you can have more poutine and it won’t all taste the same. You have the wine, back to the poutine and back to the wine.
Tracy: So we can have more poutine and wine?
Natalie: Yes.
Tracy: Yes!
Melissa: We’re all in. And my personal favorite, what’s happening here?
Natalie: With these cheese puffs, I kind of did a derivative of a classic pairing which is Bordeaux, which is a cabernet sauvignon from France and cheddar cheese. That’s your classic upscale fancy pants pairing. What we have here is a cabernet from Chile, Errazuriz and we have cheese puffs. So I’m taking the cheddar flavor and putting it with a strong cabernet and I think it works.
Melissa: I know the cheese puffs definitely works. And finally here, listen, it was you hint, the sweet with the sweet.
Natalie: Yes, that’s true.
Melissa: You said go for the contrast or have it complimentary.
Inniskillin Vidal Icewine
Niagara Peninsula, Ontario V.Q.A.
Natalie: Exactly. So we’ve got Inniskillen icewine, oh no.
Melissa: I’m pretending I have no idea what’s happening here.
Natalie: Inniskillen ice wine, sort of… has that rich, mouth filling lusciousness that could envelope these kinds of donuts especially if you’ve got a fruit filling. You know the double chocolate probably calls for Port, something that’s strong.
Melissa: Oh, yes.
Lainey: I’ll have the wine, okay.
Natalie: This is your ice wine and let’s pass these up the line.
Melissa: Wow, ladies.
Lainey: I didn’t try it yet.
Melissa: I think I’ll do the double chocolate.
Cynthia: You should do this.
Melissa: I think I should. Natalie, only two words to say, thank you, thank you.
Natalie: You’re welcome. Cheers!
Melissa: Okay, go to thesocial.ca, we’ve got all of Natalie’s tips for you. Also more exclusive web content. We’re going to have a little snack break, so should you. Come right back after the break.
Posted with permission of CTV.
