Articles by David Scott Allen

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

A Hybrid Pairing

When I looked on the Château Barbebelle website for pairing ideas for the 2022 release of their Cuvée Madeleine Rosé, I was torn between their suggestions for fatty fish — tuna, salmon, swordfish — and the fresh, lightness of ceviche. It brought to mind a sort of hybrid recipe of the two that I have been making... [...]

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

Upgraded Again

Very rarely in life do you come across a Côtes du Rhône Villages so incredible that it might as well be a Gigondas. Today’s wine is exactly this. A nice upgrade.
It is big and bold, rich and intense, and it paired perfectly with my recipe for Steak with Hatch Chile Cream and Tomato-Corn Salsa. There is some spice... [...]

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

Springing into Spring!

As we turn our thoughts to spring, there are foods and wines that come to mind immediately. On the food side of things, my mind turns to spring vegetables: asparagus, peas, fava beans. For wine, I find it time to leave the wintry red wines for a while and focus on the crisp, bright, floral whites. That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy a red with a... [...]

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

Rhapsody en Bleu

Five months ago, I wrote about a rosé bottled in green glass, and how that was — and still is — unusual for a rosé. Today’s wine, to take this one step further, is bottled in blue glass. The colored glass provides an ultraviolet filter to preserve the wine’s quality as long as possible. I’m glad for this blue glass, as the wine is quite... [...]

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

Le Pique-Nique

Picnic, anyone? Now is the time and, even if your temperatures don’t support being outdoors these days, today’s wine and food pairing is perfect for an indoor picnic. Just spread a blanket on the floor, put on a YouTube of forest sounds for background (hold the mosquitoes), add an oscillating fan for a light breeze, and you are... [...]

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

Strange Bedfellows

Today’s pairing is one I approached with some trepidation. I was confident that the wine was going to be good (okay, excellent), and I knew the recipe well enough to be happy with it. But together? I just wasn’t sure. I certainly didn’t expect a full-on tug-of-war, but I had no idea it was going to turn out be one of my favorite pairings in recent... [...]

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

Pink Wine of the Earth

Pink wine of the earth. That is what Randall Grahm calls his rosé. Its official name is Vin Gris de Cigare.  The reference to “cigare,” a French term for flying saucer, is a nod to the 1954 law in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation which outlawed flying saucers from flying over the vineyards. Vin Gris typically refers to a very, very light rosé wine that results from next-to no maceration time (compared to the traditional rosé methods).

Seven grapes come “to the table” to create this wine; together, they make a unique and delicious rosé. But I am getting ahead of myself… [...]
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