Pairing Part I

Yes, the art of pairing messy dirty food with the elegance and simplicity of wine...

If you were to google or bing or search using your preferred engine "wine and food" you will come up with hit after hit of pairing principles, pairing guides, pairing books, pairing cheat sheets and apps for your phone. It is a bit overdone in my opinion. I find that people get obsessed or even scared to "pair" because there is this notion that some deep dark secret principle exists and if you don't use it, then you are an idiot.

I am NOT a fan of anything that is about making others feel like their gut instinct is somehow fundamentally flawed.

Since last night was our Take It All Off Extravaganza for Eva Luna, I am short on time, but wanted to share a few thoughts about pairing.

Pairing at its core is simple.

Pairing - like tasting - is about you and your preferences, your quirks, your unique likes and dislikes.

There is only one thing you need to know about pairing at this time to help you understand where to start.

Food influences your palate and creates a tasting base. So when you then take a long sip from your wine, you will see that your food is telling you a little secret, it is setting the stage...

In response to the complexity of taste from your food, wine responds and points out something new in the dish. She says, "yes, but look over here too."

Pairing is not about matching - it is about a conversation!

Pairing is about beautiful communication so that both wine and food look at the same thing and give you a whole new perspective.

Pairing provides the underlying art of understanding -

two is better than one.

Speaking of two is better than one, please check out this video and VOTE for this perfect pair.

The Murphy-Goode Winery is running a contest for a Lifestyle Correspondent to be relocated to Sonoma County for a 6 month period and to blog, facebook and tweet about wine and Sonoma.

You can only vote for each applicant one time per email address and you MUST verify your vote from a link that is emailed to you following your vote submission.

It is important to do BOTH parts otherwise your vote will not be counted.

Please forward to others that you think might be interested in helping vote for Tara and Ali.

This Friday, June 26, 2009 is a HUGE because they are reducing the field to the top 50.

Currently, Tara and Ali are sitting in the top 17, but it is essential to keep them there and hopefully, move them higher on the list.

The next challenge will be pushing them up to the top 10.

For which, I am counting on you, all of you and your friends.

(We need at least 250 votes I think - at a minimum - and that is just today.)

So, please check out their video – and VOTE

For evidence of why they are a perfect pairing for this opportunity, check out their blog.