On a cold, wet night, there is nothing better than coming home to one of your favourite winter warming meals. Comfort foods are often high in calories or carbohydrates to keep us warm and satisfied. Ingredients can be peasant-style, prepared with love and enjoyed with family and friends.
A glass (or two) of red wine helps with the preparation and enjoyment of the meal. But not any red wine will do. Check our suggestions for award winning Australian reds that will go perfectly with these comfort food meal ideas.
Shiraz – Roast Beef
It doesn’t get more winter than a beef roast with all the root vegetable trimmings. A Shiraz has high acidity and balance of tannins that pair well with red meat particularly if they are fatty cuts. Enjoy your roast with a glass of the Elky Shiraz with its dark berries and a hint of chocolate flavours that’s also a smooth-textured wine with the typical Elky fruit flavours and length.
Cabernet Sauvignon – Meatballs & Spaghetti
A Cabernet Sauvignon is excellent for using in recipes that call for red wine. Add a good slurp to your tomato sauce for the meatballs and let simmer until the sauce thickens. Enjoy a glass with your meatball meal; the sauce will bring out the fruit in the wine.
The Rosily Vineyard 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon hails from the Margaret River region. A medium to full-bodied wine with blueberry, olive, mint and spice characters. With a dried herb finish, it is supported by fine grainy tannins and French oak. The nose is a strong varietal definition including blackberry and cassis fruits. The clear, deep red/purple with a crimson hue is sure to brighten up your winter table. Enjoy this winter or cellar for up to eight years.
Merlot – Osso Buco
A tender, fall-apart, Osso Buco is another great comfort food meal. Braise your meat in a robust Merlot and sit down with a glass when your meal is ready. Also from Margaret River, the Fermoy Estate Merlot offers a rich plum and cherry followed by subtle hints of chocolate and perfume with soft velvety tannins and a savoury finish. BobsWineReview.com described it as a ripe, well-structured wine with an influence of classy oak and rated it a 93. The beautiful aroma is lifted notes of raspberry, plum and anise. James Halliday Wine Companion 2015 rated the Merlot a 94.
Malbec – Chicken Drumsticks
Chicken is lighter than red and game meats, so it calls for a less robust wine. Fry or bake your chicken drumsticks coated or marinated in your favourite flavour. Bleasdale Malbec has vibrant primary fruit flavours of plums, red berries and spices. Finishing soft and round with velvety smooth tannins. From the Langhorne Creek region in South Australia, the Malbec has won Winewise Championship for Best Other Red Varietal 2016, Gold - Australian Varieties Wine Show 2015 at Rutherglen Wine Show 2015 and Silver - The National Wine Show of Australia 2015, Royal Hobart Wine Show 2015.
Pinot Noir – Penne Pasta
With the acidity of the tomatoes in your penne pasta sauce, you will want a middleweight bodied red. Trentham Pinot Noir from the Murray Darling region is well balanced and soft with flavours and aromas of strawberry and light spice. Its awards include bronze medals at the 2016 Royal Adelaide Wine Show, the 2016 New South Wales Wine Awards and 2015 Royal Hobart Wine Show.
Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre – Venison Shanks
Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre wines are usually full-bodied, soft and low in acidity and are great for braises, stews and long slow cooked roasts that may be a little fatty. This Barossa Valley beauty Kalleske Clarry’s is an old vine Grenache, Shiraz and Mataró combined in this red. Aromas include raspberry, dried herbs and floral notes introducing juicy berry flavours on the palate framed by fine tannins.
Red Blends – Mushroom Risotto
Not all comfort foods have to be slow cooked meat-based dishes. What’s a vegetarian to do all winter? A mushroom risotto can be just as warming. Choose a smooth, flavoursome red blend to have with your risotto like the The West Cape Howe Hannah’s Hill Cabernet Malbec. Its rich, dark berry fruit flavours are well balanced by the drying tannins from the fruit and integrated oak. The intense aromas include dark berry fruits of boysenberry and blackcurrant with complex dry savoury spice and lifted violets. The colour is a dense crimson with a purple red hue.
Enjoy your next comfort food night-in paired with a beautiful Australian red wine. If you aren’t sure which red to choose, ask for a recommendation in-store or contact us online.
