PRIME SEASON
A pair of wine pairings Ask local experts what wine goes best with a hearty winter meal and they’ll tell you: it depends. Michael J. DeCicco
What wine you choose depends on what you are washing down with that wine, said Stacie Edwards, longtime Tasting Room associate at Running Brook at 3335 Old Fall River Road in Dartmouth. Red wine is the best winter wine in general because it doesn’t have to be/shouldn’t
A drier wine is good for wintertime because it has less sugar and will warm a person quicker be chilled, and it’s hearty enough to pair with heavy meals, she said. The wine you pick should be based on how rich your foods are, she explained.
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As the temperature drops, she elaborated, “the foods we eat are heartier. So the wine should be a heartier red wine so your meal won’t overpower the taste of the wine like heavy food would against a lighter wine.” It may come down to personal preference, she admitted. “But the general rule of thumb is what I am referencing here,” she said. “None of this is hard and fast, but rather known truisms. Our red wines are bolder and will stand up to richer food. Also, the proper cellar temperature for red wine is 55 degrees; red wine should be put in the refrigerator only 20 minutes before serving. White wine, you take out 20 minutes before serving. It’s like cheese. Experts tell you to take the cheese out of the refrigerator minutes before serving to bring it and its taste up to room temperature.” Her other rule of thumb is that what grows together
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should go together. That means Italian wine with Italian food; French wine with French food. Portuguese food naturally goes with a good red wine because that type of spicy food is bold and should be paired with a bold, red wine, she said. A drier wine is also a good idea for wintertime, she added, because it has less sugar and will warm a person quicker. Running Brook, she said, grows the red grapes that go well with a roast, a steak and Portuguese cuisine. Yet, the Chardonnay, a white wine, that the winery also produces
You can turn the motto ‘red wine with meat and white wine with fish’ on its head depending on how it’s prepared
doesn’t taste as heavy in one’s mouth as other reds. She noted that 100 percent of the grapes Running Brook turns into wine are grown onsite or estate-grown. Running Brook features 14 acres of
