APPETIZERS
Salmon and sturgeon caviar – ideal with champagne, Chablis; can be served with icy cold vodka.
Salmon, smoked – serve with dry French champagne or Chablis.
Olives (Kalamata, Spanish, Italian green, stuffed Spanish, or tender black) – marries well with Fino sherry or dry white wine, for example, with Penedès Blanco or some other white wine from Spain, Greece, Italy or France.
Antipasta Italian style (grilled/marinated vegetables in olive oil), zucchini, aubergine, sweet pepper, mushroom, artichoke etc. – ideal with Orvieto, Soave or Pinot Grigio.
Guacomale (Dips that consist of avocado, chilli, coriander, tomatoes, onion) – serve with New World’s Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.
PATES AND TERRINES
Duck liver pate – marries well with cognac, Burgundian white wines, Bourgogne Blanc, Sauternes.
Foies Gras (Goose liver pate) – serve with Alsace Vendage Tardive Riesling, Pinot Blanc or Sauternes.
Chicken liver pate – ideal with dry Hungarian or Austrian Riesling or dry Chardonnay or Sémillon.
Duck liver pate with cognac – serve with Burgundian white wine, Bourgogne Blanc, Sauternes.
Terrine au lapins with olives – marries well with Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône.
Pheasant terrine with fennel – serve with Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
SALADS
Avocado salad – ideal with New World’s Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc, Chilean Chardonnay.
Avocado salad with seafood – serve with Australian Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Sancerre.
Tomatoes with basil and moccarella cheese – serve with dry Italian white wine, for example, Soave, Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay.
Caesar salad (with shrimp or chicken) – marries well with New World’s Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.
Greek salad (with Feta cheese and real Kalamata olives) – serve with any dry white wine, for example, Penedès Blanco.
Spinach salad with quail eggs and bacon or Italian Pancetta – ideal with Chablis, Bordeaux or Pouilly-Fumé white wine.
Salade Nicoise (lettuce with egg, tuna, anchovies, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, olives) – serve with Muscadet, Vinho Verde, Bordeaux white wine or Beaujolais.
Arugulla salad (with cherry tomatoes pancetta and parmagiano) – serve with Gavi or Pinot Grigio.
Grilled chicken salad – marries well with French or Italian Chardonnay.
Crab salad – ideal with Chablis as well as Chilean or Australian Chardonnay.
Green salad (with meat or ham) – serve with dry white wine.
Waldorf salad (romaine salad, green and red apples, celery, grapes, walnuts, strawberries, chicken fillet and self-made mayonnaise) – ideal with Bordeaux white wine, Australian Chardonnay, Vouvray.
MEAT DISHES
Vienna schnitzel – serve with Grüner Veltliner, German or Austrian Riesling or Alsace Pinot Grigio.
Pork with pot-roasted cabbage – serve with German, Australian or Chilean Riesling.
Smoked bacon and pot-roasted cabbage – ideal with Rheingau, Alsace Riesling.
Steak au Poivre – marries well with Côtes du Rhône, Chianti, Australian Cabernet Shiraz or Shiraz.
Beef fillet, roasted in the pan – serve with saturated red wine, for example, Bordeaux or Australian Cabernet Shiraz.
Roast beef – serve with Côte Rôtie, Bordeaux, Margaux, Poullac, Chianti Riserva, Hermitage, new Californian red wines or Australian Cabernet Sauvignon.
Lamb (lamb chop Rack of Lamb, Lamb Filet) – ideal with Medoc, Graves red wine, Rioja, Australian Shiraz, New World’s Cabernet Sauvignon.
Lamb roast with garlic and rosemary – serve with Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot mix, Australian Shiraz.
German/Swiss meat dishes (grilled pork chops) – serve with Riesling.
Bouef Bourgignon – marries well with Australian Cabernet Shiraz or Bordeaux red wine.
Liver, Fried or roasted/Fegato Italian style – ideal with Chianti Classico, Chilean or Bulgarian Cabernet Sauvignon.
Liver with onions – serve with Californian Pinot Noir.
Beef stroganoff – serve with Amarone or Barolo, Zinfandel.
Stroganoff – ideal with spicy Rhône Valley red wine, with Medoc, Bulgarian Mavrud and Melnik, the most qualitative Bordeaux or Bourgogne, Californian Cabernet Sauvignon, Australian Shiraz or Cabernet or Amarone, Barolo, Zinfandel.
HAMS AND AIR-DRIED MEATS
Carpaccio (beef carpaccio with olive oil Balsamico and Parmesan) – serve with Italian Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Champagne, Cabernet Franc.
French ham Jambon and Jambon de Bayonne – ideal with Alsace Riesling or Pinot Gris.
Spanish Jamon Serrano – marries well with dry sherry or white wine.
Italian Prosciutto or Parma ham – serve with Pinot Grigio, Gavi, Soave.
Salami, Coppa Cotto Asrto, Pancetta – serve with dry Italian white wine Pinot Grigio, Orvieto.
SEAFOOD
Snails – serve with white wine, best with Chardonnay.
Crab – ideal with champagne, white Bourgogne, white Hermitage, Alsace Reisling as well as New World’s Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.
Oysters – serve with Muscadet, Chablis, white Italian Orvieto, Soave, Californian, Chilean or New Zealand’s Sauvignon Blanc.
Shrimps (freshly boiled) – serve with Australian Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, Muscadet, Fino or Manzanilla sherry.
Crayfish – marries well with Rhine Riesling, Chardonnay or New World’s Sauvignon Blanc.
Crayfish with dill – serve with Chablis, Sancerre, Bordeaux white wine, Falz Riesling.
Lobster with garlic or truffle butter – ideal with Australian or Californian Chardonnay, white Burgundy or Meursault.
Prawns – serve with Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc, or Rosé de Provence.
Mussels – ideal with dry, light white wine. Try Italian Chardonnay, Chablis or even an elegant, dry German Riesling.
Scallops – serve with Chablis or some other Chardonnay wine.
Calamari, fried – marries well with Frascati, Orvieto.
FISH
General principle – serve with white wine but fish dishes also marry well with rosés and sometimes even some light red wine. The more exquisite the fish the more qualitative wine is served.
Steamed salmon – ideal with white Bourgogne, Sancerre, Alsace Riesling, Californian or Australian Chardonnay, New Zealand’s Sauvignon Blanc.
Salmon, smoked – serve with dry French champagne or Chablis.
Salmon, grilled – serve with Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc or light red eg.Pinot Noir especially iff Sauced
Freshwater fishes – serve with high class white wine, for example, Chablis or Pfalz Riesling, Alsace Riesling, Pinot Gris, Australian Sémillon, Bordeaux white wine, Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc.
Grilled fish (mackerel, sardine etc.) – ideal with Australian Sémillon, Chardonnay, Muscadet, Sancerre, New Zealand’s Sauvignon Blanc.
Grilled tuna – can be served with light red wine, for example, Italian Valpolicella, Bardolino, Merlot, Spanish Tempranillo as well as Chilean Sauvignon Blanc or red Beaujolais, Loire Valley Anjou Cabernet Franc.
Sushi and sashimi (raw fishes, for example, tuna, salmon, also crab, tiger prawns with rice) – best choose dry, crisp wine, for example, Chablis, dry New World’s Chardonnay or Sémillon Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or even Japanese beer, for example, Asahi Japanese Beer. You can also chose sake – rice wine.
Trout – serve with German Riesling.
Calamari e Gamberoni alla grilla (grilled calamari and tiger prawns) – ideal with Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay Verdecca, Spanish Rioja white Viurai.
CHARCOAL GRILLED MEAT
General principle – serve with Italian Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, saturated Valpolicella, Australian Cabernet or Shiraz, Californian Cabernet Sauvignon or Zinfandel, saturated red wine, for example, Rioja, Argentinean Malbec or Syrah as well as any Bordeaux, red French Chinon or Bourgeil also Pinotage from Africa.
ITALIAN KITCHEN MEAT DISHES
Piccata al limone (veal fillet in lemon sauce) – serve with Bardolino, Chianti Pinot Grigio.
Saltimbocca alla Romana (veal fillet with Parma ham in white wine sauce) – ideal with Valpolicella or even Chianti.
Scallopina ai funghi misti (roasted veal scallop with mushrooms) – marries well with Valpolicella.
MEAT DISHES WITH EXOTIC DRESSINGS FROM INDIAN, THAILAND AND CHINESE KITCHENS
Indian Tandoori Chicken/Beef/Pork – serve with French Merlot, Chilean Merlot or Cabernet or Australian Cabernet-Shiraz.
Satay Chicken/Beef/Pork – ideal with New World’s sauvignon Blanc, Chilean Chardonnay.
Pork/Beef/Lamb Vindaloo – serve with Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling or iff extra Hot Cobra beer
Chinese meat dishes – serve with Riesling, Gewürztraminer.
Indian Curry dishes – marries well with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot.
FOWL
Chicken/hen (roasted fillet in sour cream sauce) – ideal with white wine; grilled chicken – with red Burgundy, Chianti, new Californian Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Zinfandel.
Coq au Vins – serve with Bandol, Corbières, Languedoc.
Turkey, oven roasted – serve with Beaujolais, Bourgogne, Zinfandel.
Duck breast – marries well with Pinot Noir, St-Emilion, as well as Chilean or Autralian Merlot.
Goose roast with sweet pot-roasted cabbage – serve with Pinot Noir, Merlot, Zinfandel, Primitivo.
GAME
Kangaroo fillet / kangaroo filetas (fried in pan, then in oven) – serve with Australian Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz or a mix from both these wines.
Elk, deer, wild boar – marries well with the most qualitative Bordeaux or Bourgogne, Californian Cabernet Sauvignon, Australian Cabernet Shiraz, Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon.
Fowl (roasted goose) – serve with Riesling Spaetlese or Auslese, well ripped Bordeaux (St-Emilion) and Bourgogne, Hermitage, Chianti Classico, Californian Merlot or Zinfandel, Australian Shiraz.
Rabbit, pot-roasted or oven roasted – ideal with Pinot Noir or Côtes du Rhône.
Rabbit in red wine sauce – serve with Chinon Cabernet Franc or Loire Valley red wine.
PASTAS
Spagetti ala ragu – serve with Bardolino, Valpolicella.
Spagetti Pomadore – serve with Bardolino.
Fettucine Carbonara – ideal with Bardolino.
Fettucine Marinara – serve with Pinot Grigio or Gavi.
Spagetti Bolognese – marries well with Bardolino orMarlot nero Davola.
Penne noce e mascarpone – serve with Valpolicella or Chianti.
Tortellini prosciutto e salvia – serve with Bardolino.
Tagliatelle salmone e zucchine – ideal with Pinot Grigio or Italian Chardonnay.
Laoagn – serve with Valpolicella, Chianti.
Tagliatelli antiche con salsina al gamberitti – serve with Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay.
Canelloni (stuffed with Ricotta cheese and spinach or minced meat) – serve with Pinot Grigio.
PIZZAS
Calzone (closed pizza) – marries well with a light Chianti or Valpolicella.
Funghi (with mushrooms and champignons) – serve with Italian country red wine.
Cappriciosa – serve with a Light Chianti or Tuscan Sangiovese.
Siciliano (with anchovies and Parmesan cheese) – ideal with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.
Marinara – serve with any dry Italian white wine. Pinot Grigio is a stylish wine.
