A Guide to Pairing Wine with Junk Food?

No. Seriously. And it’s being promoted by the tasting supervisor at a classy boutique winery in Clifton, VA. (Yes, Virginia, you do have wineries!) And there’s evidence to support the theory that the wine-with-snacks thing is more a trend than a fad. Or are the winemakers ganging up on us with a cunning crossover hype campaign?

Woodbridge and Miss Vicky - Together at last! ©  flipboard.com“Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a… snack?” Wine pairings attempt to make
junk food high-end.

You’ve probably seen those ads where Mondavi’s Woodbridge Wines are paired with high-end Miss Vickie’s Potato Chips and touted as just the thing for an intimate evening of binge-watching scintillating TV shows… Well now Tasting Room Manager Kevin McNamara of Paradise Springs Winery has published a wide-ranging list of suggested parings matching high-end vintages and spirits with low-end – for the sake of everyone’s dignity we’ll say: ‘Comfort Foods’.

Would you try:

  • Salt-and-Vinegar Chips with a White Wine?
  • Tootsie Rolls with a rich Port?
  • Candy Corn with a good Sauvignon Blanc?
  • A Doughnut with Baileys?
  • A Sriracha Burger with a, crisp, light Dry Riesling?

These are just a few of the matings that McNamara has posited in his quest to popularize wine and spirits as partners for junk food…

Conspiracy Theory…

I’ve already noted that Mondavi has been promoting its rich Woodbridge Reds as partners for various flavours of Potato Chips as a snack to enhance intimate get-togethers…

What next?

Will candy companies partner with wineries to market their wares together as complementary must-haves?

And what about breweries? Burgers and a Beer go together like… Well, I think a lot better than Cabernet and Potato Chips!

We’ve already mentioned Bailey’s and Doughnuts. Why should the distillers lag behind the wine makers in this impending mega-trend?

How soon until we see a flurry of strategic mergers between fast food purveyors and snack makers, and beverage alcohol producers?

We know that Starbucks is experimenting with offering wine service at selected outlets – a pilot program that could lead to much broader vistas for the high-end Coffee company. Will fast food eateries start applying for licenses to sell alcohol to broaden their appeal and – for a while, anyway – get a leg up on their competition?

The possibilities are endless…

We’ll be watching!

Just for fun…

Try Googling: “wine with junk food’. You’ll be amazed how many folks are already into it!

~ Maggie J.