Monday, August 31, 2009
Pairing wine with potato chips
Posted
by Jonathan Bender on
Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 2:18 PM
Potato chips and beer are like reality television. You're happy while you're enjoying them, but feel a slight bit of shame when you're done. Well, it's time to class up your couch -- or just take a break from the every day by pairing inexpensive wines with potato chips.
The Dallas Morning News went through 19 wines under $15 and sampled them with a variety of flavored chips. The clear favorites were fruity reds and sparkling wines -- both of which would seem to pair well with the grease and pepper in chips. The
Borsao Red from Spain can apparently be matched to Kettle's Buffalo Bleu chips and that suggests you can drink it with anything. At $6.99 to $8.99 a bottle, it's worth trying the next time you grill.
The guiding principle for putting together a bowl of chips and a glass of wine appears to be strong flavor in one and a complimentary flavor in the other. For example, you'd want to avoid everything chips (the kitchen-sink variety available in Canada that includes sour cream and onion, dill pickle, salt and vinegar, and ketchup flavoring) and a peppery Merlot. Instead, substitute texture for spice -- like this
sampling of krinkle cut potato chips and sparkling wine/champagne.
If you're not ready to put down the beer or are simply uninterested in anything harder than cream soda, you can always opt for a potato chip taste test. Back in 2007, I
reviewed a series of potato chip flavors for
Serious Eats. Potato chip flavoring is becoming as sophisticated and complex as wine. Even better, you don't have to spit between tastings.
[Image via Flickr: nutmeg]
Tags: Borsao Red, Kettle chips, potato chips, wine, wine pairing
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