Red Wine and Food Pairings for a Date With Your Loved One

What are some exquisite red wine and food pairings for a date with your loved one?

1. Cheese and cured meats
2. Dark meats
3. Hearty dishes
4. Pasta with red sauce
5. Mushrooms
6. Chocolate
7. Pizza
8. Barbecue

Red wine is widely regarded as a romantic and delicious way to start, complement, or end a good meal. When it comes to having your sip alongside a bite of good food, some red wine and food pairings shine more than others. Here’s our take on the red wine and food pairings you can enjoy with a date, right on time for the month of love!

Cheese and cured meats

Enjoy a delicious and finger-friendly array of cheeses and cured meats for a well-balanced appetizer. Served with a tempting glass of Wente Charles Wemore Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon with its deep flavors of ripe plums, and red and black fruit, you’ll be sure to start your date off just right. If the way to someone’s heart is through their stomach, you’re on the right track!

Dark meats

Regarding the intensity of your meat dishes, red wines go better with high-intensity (red) meats compared to white wine which, in contrast, goes better with light-intensity meats like fish or chicken. 

So crack open a bottle of Cabernet to pair with your pork or beef dish, and see how it brings the whole meal together. May we suggest the unique flavors of Josep Ferrer Garnatxa Negra?

Hearty dishes

Accent the bold flavors of your hearty dishes and bring them to life with a glass of medium to full-bodied red wine like a Cabernet. We recommend the MontGras Antu Cabernet Sauvignon for this, as its blend of currant, black cherry, and plum notes all slightly shaded by the cedar from oak aging will add a layer of elegance and spice to any meal, elevating it to new heights.

Pasta with red sauce

There’s a rule in the wine world that states: pair light foods with a light wine, and dark foods with dark wine. This rule certainly holds when it comes to pasta. Many red wines go well with red, tomato-based pasta, especially when the meat in the pasta happens to be beef or pork as well. 

Pair your tomato-based pasta with a bottle of Diamond Collection Zinfandel, and you’ll be good to go!

Mushrooms

Some red wines have an earthiness, and this particular tasting note makes them excellent partners for mushroom dishes. 

Try a portobello burger or even a sauteed mushroom dish with a bottle of pinot noir, and you’re sure to have a hit. We recommend the Gamla Pinot Noir with its aromatic notes of raspberry, sour cherry, violets, red apple, and spice.

Chocolate

If you are aiming to impress, few things are as iconic or as sweet (literally) for Valentine’s Day as wine and chocolates. Although some sweeter chocolates can overwhelm the subtle flavors in a wine, a bold red can pair very nicely with rich, intense chocolate desserts. 

Go for a pinot noir if your date prefers the creaminess of milk chocolate, and a Zinfandel if they’d rather have the luscious velvety feel of the dark.

Pizza

Even casual dates deserve a bottle of wine to make them more enjoyable! You can’t go wrong with even the most popular wines to go with this beloved dish—consider a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, or Malbec to go with your topping-filled, cheesy pie. 

If you’ll ask us, it’s the Pirramimma War Horse Shiraz that we recommend. It’s rare and uniquely flavorful, with a bouquet of briary blackberry, spicy plum, and mint, infused with hints of Kalamata olive, nutmeg, dried fig, and vanillin oak.

Barbecue

And finally, if both of you are more of the outdoorsy, meats-on-the-grill type, you can still elevate your time together with a bottle of Zinfandel, Syrah, or Merlot. Skip the beer and instead go for something a little sweeter and more refined. We suggest the Foppiano Estate Zinfandel for a drink that balances out your boldly-spiced smoked meats hot off the grill.

Key Takeaway

So on your date with that special someone, bring a bottle (or two!) to share and let the conversations flow as deeply and beautifully as the wine. You’ll surely have a night to remember, not just for the company and atmosphere, but the enchanting red wine and food pairings you’ve brought to the table.

The suggestions we made above are just some of our best-selling red wines at Ralph’s. You can check out the rest of the collection here, and maybe find some hidden gems you never knew were available. For all your wine and spirits needs, simply log on to our online store or find us in one of our branches around the Metro or beyond. Get your wines from Ralph’s today, the supplier of the best red wines in the Philippines!