On Global Television’s Morning Show yesterday, we paired wine and snacks, from fish tacos to Sriracha chips from Loblaws’ President’s Choice Black Label line.
Yes, there is a wine for sea salt giant corn nuts ;) .
Click the arrow above to play the video.
Wine: Yalumba The Strapper GSM Grenache Shiraz Mataro
Food: PC 85% Cocoa Solids Extra Dark Chocolate Bar (100g): imported extra dark chocolate.
Food: PC 70% Cocoa Solids Dark Chocolate: Irresistibly delectable, imported pure dark chocolate. Excellent for snacking or baking.
Wine: Yalumba Organic Viognier
Food: PC World of Flavours Sriracha Rippled Potato Chips: These crunchy rippled chips recreate the bold, spicy flavour of Sriracha hot sauce. They’re a delicious take on a sizzling taste inspired by Thai and Vietnamese cuisines. Ideal for anytime snacking or for entertaining.
Wine: Nobilo Regional Collection Sauvignon Blanc
Food: PC Fish Tacos- served with salsa, sour cream and a fresh squeeze of lime, with a little cilantro on top. These are hors d’oeuvres-sized and are baked in the oven to prepare.
Catch the wave of culinary trends with these dazzling and delicious miniature fish tacos. Filled with delicate fresh flavours of tilapia and vibrant tomato cilantro salsa, these pop in the oven (then pop in your mouth!) bites go swimmingly well with family and friends at any snacking occasion
Wine: Jackson-Triggs Entourage Grand Reserve Brut – put out perfect party food with this bottle of bubbles
Food: PC Puff Pastry Hors D’oeuvre Collection- contains four varieties of puff pastry hors d’oeuvres that are easily baked in the oven. An irresistible collection of savoury puff pastry delights, prepared with a selection of delectable fillings. The perfect hors d’oeuvres for entertaining.
Wine: Gato Negro 9 Lives Reserve – we recommend serving some fun ‘bar snacks’ with this easy-drinking red
Food: PC Sea Salt Giant Corn Nuts Crunchy Seasoned Corn Kernels: Made with Peruvian Cusco corn grown exclusively high atop the Andes mountains, these corn nuts are huge in comparison to traditional types. Packed in a resealable bag, they’re seasoned with sea salt for irresistible taste and crunchy texture.
Food: PC Black Label Green Olives Stuffed with Ají Chili Pepper: Our olives are stuffed with ají chileno, an intensely fruity and subtly fiery South American pepper. Their crisp texture and zingy kick pairs well with our naturally mild and tender olives. Imported from Peru.
Food: PC Sweet Chili Jumbo Cashews: These crunchy jumbo cashews are sweet, salty and seasoned with a hint of chili heat, making them the perfect snack. They’re also a good source of iron and are naturally flavoured.
Wine: Georges Duboeuf Hob Nob Pinot Noir – this works well with sausage so what better than our PC Savoury Cocktail Sausage Rolls.
Food: PC Savoury Cocktail Sausage Rolls: Delectable rolls of golden puff pastry with a savoury chicken filling.
Wine: Gabbiano Chianti Classico – we suggest a classic Italian pizza to go with this Chianti – our PC Thin & Crispy Five-Cheese Pizza, topped with some PC Black Label Peperoncini Piccanti (hot red chili peppers in oil) to spice things up.
Food: PC Thin & Crispy Five-Cheese Pizza: President’s Choice® Thin & Crispy Five-Cheese Pizza is a delicious restaurant-style pizza that’s ready in minutes. Made in the Italian tradition, it’s topped with tomato sauce and Mozzarella, Ricotta, Swiss, Blue and Edam cheeses.
Food: PC Black Label Peperoncini Piccanti Hot Red Chili Peppers in Oil: Exceptionally delicious and piquant, our chopped, hot red chili peppers are as versatile as they are fiery. Use on everything from pizza to pasta and from sandwiches to crostini. Imported from Italy.
Wine: Beringer Founders Estate Chardonnay – its buttery notes combined with its acidity could pair it well with Indian-inspired foods. Try it with our PC Mini Naan Dippers just warmed and dipped into our PC Masala Hummus
Food: PC Traditional Naan Dippers Flatbreads: For your snacking convenience come traditional naan bread flavours in adorably wee sizes. Light, airy and lovely, they are a tasty and innovative alternative to chips and crackers. As dippers, serve with hummus or Greek yogurt dip, or top with deli meats and cheese for quick and tempting little snacks.
Wine: Taittinger Champagne
Food: PC Masala Hummus: Made with traditional Indian spices and a touch of honey.
Note: Gourmet snacks courtesy of Loblaws, but this post is not sponsored by Loblaws.
How to Pair Wine with Chips, Nuts and Snacks?
Liza: Well, delicious wine and food pairings aren’t just reserved for five star meals. Sometimes you just want to pop open a bottle to drink with your favourite snack food and watch the latest season of your favourite show. Here are some perfect pairings from the editor of Canada’s largest wine review site, Natalie Maclean. As I just said during the break, every time I think that you just did the best thing, you make it even better.
Natalie: I’m happy to do the job for you.
Jeff: I want you to know, things are about to get real because Liza actually cancelled her workout because of this today.
Liza: Did you just seriously throw me under the bus?
Jeff: I did just throw you under the bus, absolutely.
Natalie: This could be a workout.
Liza: Because I knew that some of these were going to stay here, there’s no way I’m making it to do that.
Natalie: Absolutely.
Liza: So thank you, Natalie.
Jeff: Where we going to start? What side?
Natalie: We’re going to start on this side, so we have easy to pop open snacks as easy as popping open the wine bottles. It’s from the PC black label brands. We’re going to start with the chocolate and a lot of people think that you can’t pair chocolate with wine but if it’s dark chocolate with not a lot of sugar and sweet milk solids, as you would get in milk chocolate, you can do so. I want you to try this. We have a Yalumba Shiraz which has a lot of mocha and dark chocolate notes.
Jeff: Okay, thank you.
Natalie: And then try it with the wine and we’ll see your facial expressions. Just see if it works.
Jeff: Now it’s working … the chocolate’s good.
Natalie: Okay, the chocolate’s good. You don’t always need a dessert wine, is the point of this.
Liza: What a lovely wine.
Natalie: Oh good.
Jeff: Yes.
Liza: How would you describe this?
Natalie: This is a GSM blend, so it’s Grenache, Mourvedre and Shiraz. It’s a big honking Australian wine…
Liza: Yes.
Natalie: … from the tradition of Rhone Valley.
Jeff: Okay.
Natalie: But it’s smooth, it’s supple, you’ll find tasting notes like mocha and dark chocolate and you know it’s not a sweet wine by any means.
Liza: No, no.
Natalie: But neither is the chocolate, so it works.
Jeff: This is my absolute weakness, right here is potato chips.
Natalie: Right.
Jeff: If we’re going to start pairing it with wine, I’m a dead man.
Natalie: Okay, Sriracha chips … hot chili chips.
Jeff: Okay, thank you.
Natalie: Inspired by the cuisines of Thai and Vietnamese, you have a bit of a spice kick so you need something to cool that down. Try that one, go for the white. Yalumba Voignier is an organic wine and is part of the aromatic whites so it has some spiciness of its own.
Liza: That’s beautiful.
Natalie: Terrific! Awesome!
Liza: What a beautiful wine.
Natalie: And I’m glad that’s working for you.
Jeff: I like it, where can I buy that chip? So elegant they’re from…
Liza: Am I?
Jeff: Look at me.
Liza: How are you?
Natalie: So you’re cooling the spice down with the wine.
Liza: Beautiful.
Natalie: Let’s just try fish tacos. I don’t know if you folks have noticed but almost every restaurant serves them these days.
Liza: Yes.
Jeff: Yes, it’s a big trend.
Natalie: You can do it at home. These are ready-made; they’ve got fresh squeezed lime and cilantro, again from PC. This wine, the Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, is meant to cool that down and go with the fish.
Jeff: Oh, Yes.
Natalie: It’s a lovely combination. I often paired Nobilo with oysters or shellfish.
Liza: I’ve noticed this and I haven’t purchased it, I like it.
Natalie: Yes, it’s very crisp and fresh.
Liza: It’s really nice.
Jeff: Okay, what’s next to the tacos?
Natalie: We have some Puff Pastries. They have various fillings … spinach, meat and I love a Sparkling wine with puff pastry because they are rich and creamy and buttery.
Jeff: Yes.
Liza: Right.
Natalie: You need something to cut through it like a Canadian Sparkling wine. We have a Jackson Triggs Entourage and we also have some Champagne here which I pre poured.
Liza: This is yours.
Natalie: This is Taittinger or as the cool kids would say ([tɛ.tɛ̃.ʒe]).
Liza: [tɛ.tɛ̃.ʒe]).
Natalie: Yes, you can.
Jeff: I know it, we going to be careful because I’m getting close to the “I love you man!”
Jeff: Never mind your fancy words.
Natalie: The puff pastry just washes away any of the richness of the puff pastry. You’re ready for it again. I just love this bottle, to me it screams skittles but we’ll stick with the puff pastry.
Jeff: Speaking of pastry, very interesting, Natalie. I’ve never seen French fries in pastry.
Natalie: They look like French fries but they’re actually pulled pork poutine.
Natalie: It’s a pulled pork poutine again from Loblaw’s and so it has that flavouring. It looks like fries but you’re going to get a lot more richness of flavour, try them.
Liza: Underneath there?
Natalie: Yes, underneath there. Give it a try.
Jeff: Okay, the workouts are definitely off, now.
Natalie: Let’s try a Pinot Noir from France. This one is reasonably priced. It’s from Georges Duboeuf and it’s only about 14 bucks. I love a Pinot when it’s priced like that. It’s just juicy cherry and a lot of goodness. It’ll also go with those spicy nuts. A lot of these will work with a few hors d’oeuvres and snacks that are here right now.
Jeff: Right at the end, there’s another one of my favourites … Hummus.
Natalie: Okay, buttery Hummus … look for a California chardonnay from Beringer. It also has those buttery notes. We have the classic Italian pizza, for this we want Gabbiano an Italian wine … trying to do those regional matches. Over here, we have a Gato Negro 9 Lives. Cat who has nine lives, a diet with nine lives, I don’t know.
Liza: These are all winners. Thank you so much, Natalie Maclean.
Natalie: Good to see you. Cheers!
Posted with permission of Global TV.
