Amazing and Affordable Wines for Date Night
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Since this is one of the most popular times of the year for date night, I wanted to give you a list of six great wines you can try the next time you have a date.
These wines are not only delicious and easy to pair with many meals, they are also affordable.
Zinfandel: It’s lighter than Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but it’s flavors are bolder than most light bodied red wines like Pinot Noir.
The combination of zingy and jammy berry flavors with it’s black pepper and licorice flavors makes it a very enjoyable wine for most palates. Also, the moderate tannins, high acidity and bold taste makes it great to pair with most foods.
Grenache: Also know as “Garnacha” in Spain, is an underappreciated red wine that produces rich and flavorful wines. It usually has high intensity flavors of strawberry jam, cooked plum, leather, dried herbs and blood orange.
It’s complex enough to be and interesting wine, but at the same time a wine that is not intimidating and easy to drink.
Super Tuscan: If you love Italian cuisine, this wine is the perfect option for you! It’s a style of a blended red wine that originated in Tuscany, Italy. These wines vary in style, but the influence of Bordeaux is apparent in their use of grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Franc, and also they use Sangiovese, the classic grape of Tuscany.
The best Super Tuscans are rich full bodied, well integrated tannins and spice, with flavors of cherry, plum, tomato and herbs.
Viognier: This wine is as romantic as a bouquet of flowers. It’s an aromatic white wine loved mainly for its perfumed aromas of peach, tangerine and honeysuckle.
It has rich fruit flavors, if you are going to drink it with a meal the trick to pairing foods with Viognier is to respect its delicate floral notes and medium acidity by making sure that the foods you pair with it aren’t too acidic or bold, for example, a great pairing would be poultry, especially turkey and chicken.
French Rosé or Sparkling Rosé: Rosé is a universal crowd pleaser wine. With flavors of strawberry, cherry, citrus and floral aromas it’s refreshing, easy to drink and enjoyable, but simple enough not to distract from your date.
Plus the sparkling option makes it a little extra romantic and sophisticated.
Cava: It is the premier sparkling wine of Spain. If you like Champagne, but want to spend less this is the perfect option because Cava is made with the same method as Champagne and with similar quality but it uses different grapes from Spain including Macabeu (Viura), Xarel-lo, and Parellada.
Sparkling wines are always a great option when celebrating or on special occasions, plus it is classy, refreshing, delicious and pairs well with any food.
