What snacks go with red wine? Have you thought about these?

In your spare time, in order to make your life more romantic, sitting at the bar and drinking a glass of red wine is a good choice. At the same time, fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, chocolate, cheese, cheese-flavored biscuits, soda crackers with cheese, etc. are all good choices.

1. Fruit

Fresh strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries can be paired with Beaujolais. Beaujolais is rich in fresh berry flavor, which can complement each other. You can even pour some Beaujolais directly into a slightly frozen berry plate to soak for a while.

Bananas can also be paired with lighter red wines.

For red wines with stronger flavors or higher sugar and alcohol content, such as Bordeaux blends or Italian Barbaresco, you can pair them with dried berries.

2. Chocolate

Chocolate and red wine are a classic pairing.

Since the pairing methods and chocolate varieties are so numerous and complex, it is difficult to explain them all at once. I took a shortcut and copied the pairings on Godiva’s official website (Chocolate and Wine Pairing).

1). 31% cocoa salted caramel milk chocolate + Pinot Noir

Salty, creamy chocolate and low-sugar red wine can maximize sweetness and savory (appetizing)

2). 72% cocoa dark chocolate + sparkling Shiraz

The medium-bodied Shiraz has a hint of bitterness that complements the high cocoa content dark chocolate.

3). 72% cocoa almond dark chocolate + Cabernet Sauvignon

The profound flavor of Cabernet Sauvignon complements the nutty notes in this chocolate.

4). 50% cocoa sea salt dark chocolate + Malbec

Malbec is a red wine with flavors of chocolate, cloves, and ripe fruit, balanced well by the sea salt in the chocolate.

We can see from this pairing the pairing principle I mentioned earlier. It is usually not wrong to pair food with wine at the same level: for example, sweeter chocolate is paired with wine with a higher sugar content, and chocolate with a higher cocoa content and a stronger taste is paired with wine with a similarly stronger taste.

In addition, many very sweet ports or VDN are also suitable for pairing with different types of chocolate.

3. Cheese, cheese-flavored crackers, soda crackers with cheese

Since cheese, like red wine, comes in many varieties and has very different flavors, pairing the two is a very profound and complex independent subject.

Referring to the simple classification of cheese types on the Internet, the following combinations can be used:

1). Fresh and soft cheese:

The same principle applies -- complementing rather than competing with each other: fresh, soft cheese can be paired with a white wine with higher acidity or a lighter-bodied red wine with lower tannins. Avoid red wines that are very tannic and heavier in body, such as the Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Bordeaux blends mentioned above.

2). Semi-soft and semi-aged cheese:

This type of cheese has a stronger taste and structure than the soft cheese mentioned above, so we need to use a similarly strong wine to match it: medium-bodied white wine, medium-bodied red wine with a stronger fruit flavor, and some aged sparkling wines are all good choices.

3). Sticky cheese:

Suitable for lighter and more traditional wines, such as Pinot Noir

4). Blue cheese:

This famous but smelly cheese has a salty and appetizing umami taste, which is suitable for pairing with sweeter and more flavorful wines, such as Port and Banyuls.

5). Long-aged cheese:

This cheese is hard and nutty, so it is also suitable for pairing with strong and aged wines, and can also be paired with oxidized sherry. For example: Champagne, Port, French Rhone Valley red wine, Oloroso Sherry, etc.

Some cheese-flavored cookies can also be used as a substitute

These are very simple and rough matching principles. Friends who are interested can study more of the mysteries.