meals with a kick

[dozer]

I need help once again!!
What do people suggest pairing with:
1)linguine with a spicy red sauce, tomatoes, portabellos, artichoke hearts and mozz?
2)schezuan chicken stirfry?
and here's the kicker:
3)hotdogs and baked beans!!
Thanks for all suggestions!!

[winoweenie]

Dozer ole' chap, I'll only answer the one I've tried lately...Dogs 'n Beans.....
Any 99 cheap zinfandel like the Cline Calif. WW

[RAD]

Dozer,

Ditto on WW's suggestion for the beans!

For the linguine: sounds to me like an Italian Chianti Classico, but Roberto is the Italian expert in these parts.

For the stir fry, I'd go after a gewurtztraminer.

RAD

[Thomas]

I have to say that I do not like the combination of flavors chosen for the spicy red sauce--seems to me like a bombardment rather than the subtle wonder that Italian food generally is. Those artichokes can be death to wine if too plentiful in the sauce--makes it taste metallic. And by mozz I assume you mean mozzarella cheese, which is only good when fresh and normally tasteless when melted on top of tomato sauce. So, figuring you have reduced the artichoke hearts to none, perhaps a Sicilian red of power and depth, or maybe a Puglian red, but not a Chianti, which is too thin for the heat and too acidic for the tomatoes.

The rest of the suggestions sound good to me...but then, beer for the hotdogs and beans might be better.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 03-11-2002).]

[jock]

Your best bet for the linguini with artichokes, etc is Gruner Veltliner. Crisp, minerally white wine from Austria that actually works very well with artichokes and other wine-killer veggies. Look for Nigl, Hirsch or Mantlerhof. Alte Reben (old vines) wines are markedly superior and somewhat more expensive, but worth the difference.

[This message has been edited by jock (edited 03-11-2002).]

[Thomas]

I agree with jock about Gruner Veltliner--the best white wine with vegetables. But with spicy tomato sauce, I ain't too keen on that!

[RAD]

Hey foodie--

Chianti too acidic for tomatoes? I thought tomatoes were acidic, and it was kind of a "fight fire with fire" kind of thing. Please don't tell me that drinking chianti with spaghetti for so long is no good! [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/eek.gif[/img]

RAD

[Thomas]

No, I won't say that--if you like it, do it.

I do not prefer Chianti with tomato sauce mainly because the wine is too delicate for a thick sauce (it's fine with a delicate Florentine sauce, but most Americans eat the thick southern Italian style sauce that goes over spaghetti and the like, and that is what I refer to here). Southern Italian reds are what the natives drink with their tomato sauce; why not us?

As for acid with acid--that is one pairing that can be quite problematic; a lot depends on the wine's fruit and body, each of which Chianti often shows only hints of in its delicate balance. I like Chianti with hams, sharp cheese, salami and sausages, the sort of stuff that old guys like me should not be eating...

[winedope]

RAD- if you look back a couple of months, you'll see that we had this discussion at length. Several others chimed in with their opinions. It was very interesting. WD

[RAD]

All right, foodie--I'll bite. I see your logic. Haven't ventured too far into the southern Italian reds, like that good and cheap 97 salice salentino I posted on months back--need to look into more of those.

And WD, thanks for the heads-up--will check.

RAD

[Thomas]

RAD, we have a few $10 Puglian wines that are wonderful, from towns like Brindisi, Copertino, and Salentino--and we have two Aglianicos that are truly special, from Basilicata and from Irpinia (Campania).

[winemermaid]

What about a viognier with that szechuan stir-fry?

[wondersofwine]

I like the gewurztraminer suggestion. Some viogniers seem too light to stand up to a spicy stir fry. They might be pleasant with a more mild stir fry.

[Thomas]

I agree, re, gewurztraminer vs viognier. A good Riesling will do the trick too.