A pair of wine pairings

Ask local experts what wine goes best with a hearty winter meal and they’ll tell you: it depends.

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 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.

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.”

A drier wine is good for wintertime because it has less sugar and will warm a person quicker

Her other rule of thumb is that what grows together 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.

You can turn the motto ‘red wine with meat and white wine with fish’ on its head depending on how it’s prepared

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 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 vines and 15 separate types of grapes. Its owner is Dr. Pedro Teixeira, who spent most of his childhood in the Azores, Portugal, learning about fine wines from an early age.

life by the glass

Yvonne Rogers is in charge of wine tastings and food at Westport Rivers Winery, 417 Hixbridge Road in Westport. She said this winery’s sparkling wines are always very popular and a very wise choice for the holidays.

She said that’s partly because everyone thinks of it as a very celebratory drink and partly because of what its high acidity does to the winter dining experience.

Sparkling wines and their esteemed cousins, French champagnes, are acidic because they are made with young grapes that have had no time to develop more sugar content. This higher acidity is good for cleansing the palate, and it causes the diner to salivate, making his or her next bite of food taste much better.

She said white wines, generally speaking, have higher acidity. But cooler climate wines like those produced around the South Coast, such as at Westport and Running Brook, also have a higher acidity that goes well with hearty holiday meals.

Rogers added, however, “You can always break the rules and still enjoy your wine, depending on how it’s prepared and what side dishes accompany it.”

You can turn the motto red wine with meat and white wine with fish on its head depending on how that meat is prepared, she said. The acidity and the heartiness of the food, whether dark meat or white, and the fats in the side dishes are the important factors. For instance, a blackened salmon can be successfully paired with red wine.

She said it doesn’t matter much that ham and turkey are the two staples of winter feasts. “It’s all the rich, fatty foods we consume along with them,” she explained. “To focus on the meat, the protein, is the wrong direction. It’s how it’s prepared and what accompanies it. This season is all about rich, fatty foods. Red wines have tannins that can dry your mouth. Red wines need food. But you can have a higher acidity in the cooler climate wines you find on the South Coast.”

The correct wine pairing also depends on what taste combination works for the diners themselves, Rogers said. “It’s hard to generalize, to say always have this with that. It will depend on what you like. “A good wine is in the palate of the beholder.”

Michael J. DeCicco has worked as a writer for over 30 years. He is also the author of two award-winning young adult novels, Kaurlin’s Disciples and The Kid Mobster. He lives with his wife Cynthia in New Bedford.