Picnic Pairings

Picnic Style: • Fun and relaxed, casual mood rather than serious or formal • Typically warm weather • Simple, cool and refreshing dishes

General Pairing Guidelines: • Match complex foods with complex wines; simpler foods with simpler wines • Match heavier foods with heavier wines; lighter foods with lighter wines • Acidity cuts fat/richness and contrasts with salt • Sweetness contrasts with salt and spice • Sparkling wines’ bubbles cut oil/fat

1) Mont Marçal Brut Reserva NV - Cava, Spain • Cava is a sparkling wine from northeast Spain; often much more affordable than Champagne but made in same way • Traditional method: bubbles are created from secondary fermentation inside the bottle • Grapes are local Parellada, Macabeu and Xarel-lo • Sparkling wine is fun and festive, plus the bubbles match with almost anything… and you don’t need a corkscrew! • Mont Marçal started in 1975 when owner Manuel Sancho retired from the music industry to commit to his passion for Cava

2) Bibi Graetz Casamatta Bianco IGT '11 - Tuscany, Italy • Casamatta means “crazy house,” named because it is the producer’s house blend of Vermentino with Trebbiano and Muscat • IGT stands for Indicazione Geografica Tipica: a general winemaking region rather than a controlled/guaranteed appellation with specific grape and winemaking requirements • Made in a light, bright, fruity and refreshing style; intended to be drunk young, with food • Bibi Graetz is the winemaker, though he’s classically trained as an artist; he decided to make wine from his family’s vineyards and also designs the colorful wine labels

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3) Domaine Paul Cherrier Sancerre '11 - Loire Valley, France • Sancerre is an appellation in France’s Loire Valley where they make white wines from the Sauvignon Blanc grape • Sancerre has a cool climate and flinty limestone soil, making for a lean, minerally wine • The high acidity and herbal/green notes of Sancerre make it ideal with salads, vegetables or dishes with fresh herbs • Cherrier family’s grapes had been sold off until the 1980s, when Stephen Cherrier came back from travels in Australia, New Zealand and Chile and decided to make wine himself

4) Bernard Baudry Chinon Rosé '12 - Loire Valley, France • Chinon is an appellation in France’s Loire Valley where they make red wines from the Cabernet France grape • Chinon has a cool climate with alluvial sand, soft limestone and clay soil, enhancing Cab Franc’s naturally peppery and herbal notes • This rosé is made by letting the juice from the crushed red grapes sit on the skins for just a short period of time, leaching out just a bit of color and tannin • Bernard Baudry was one of the region’s first growers to begin making serious, concentrated, age-worthy wines; his son Matthieu now makes the wines in same style

5) Domaine du Vissoux Cuvée Traditionnelle Vieilles Vignes '11 - Beaujolais, France • Beaujolais is an appellation in France’s Burgundy region where they make red wines from the Gamay grape • Gamay is light-bodied and brightly red-fruited with low tannins, making it easy-drinking, very versatile and great with a chill • Domaine du Vissoux makes “serious” Beaujolais (no nouveau style) with low yields and concentrated, ripe fruit; winemaker Pierre Chermette also makes his wines with native yeasts and doesn’t fine or filter before bottling

6) Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir '10 - Santa Barbara, California • Santa Barbara is on the coast, receiving lots of fog and cool temperatures that preserve acidity and allow steady, even ripening • Pinot Noir is slightly fuller in body than Gamay but still quite light, with juicy berry fruit and low tannins, making it a good choice to chill in warmer weather • Winemaker Jim Clendenen was one of the pioneers (and now an icon) of Pinot Noir in the cool, coastal climate of Santa Barbara