Wines - PairCraft

PairCraft-Tested Wines

Our sommeliers taste thousands of wines, making detailed notes on all of them. *Perfect Pairing* wines were chosen by our experts as a top match for a dish

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Victor Costieres de Nimes Rosé

Region: Languedoc-Roussillon, France

Vintage Tested: 2020

Type: Rosé, Still

Varietal: Cinsault, Grenache

This doesn't work. The pairing result is too floral and bitter.

Pairing for: Private: Steamed Whole Fish with Ginger, Scallions, and Soy

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Flavor

a touch of minerality, darker red fruits

Texture

Lean

ABV: 12.50%

Pairings where we tested this wine...

Private: Steamed Whole Fish with Ginger, Scallions, and Soy

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Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Villa Sant' Anna

Villa Sant' Anna Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

Region: Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy

Vintage Tested: 2016

Type: Still

This pairing just tastes like tannin.

Pairing for: Private: Florentine Steak with Watercress–Pistachio Salad

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mushroom
Brett
fruitcake
steak sauce
spice
soy

Flavor

black cherry
astringent
dried fruit
dried herbs
bourbon barrel

ABV: 13.0%
Oak: Some

Pairings where we tested this wine...

Private: Florentine Steak with Watercress–Pistachio Salad

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Vouvray "Clos du Bourg" Sec, Huet

Vintage Tested: 2018

Type: White, Still

Varietal: Chenin Blanc

All the fruit gets washed out. That wine wasn't neutral, but the fruit didn't survive. The wine is a balance-driven wine and when you put a complex flavor--the food--next to it, the wine struggles to maintain its balance and the subtle earth aromas and complexity get lost, it's off balance.

Pairing for: Chicken Vindaloo

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really ripe citrus, orange blossom, fresh peeled orange peel, a little pineapple, melon and melon rind, mango, some minerality, a bit of phenolic texture but not tannins. honey

Texture

slight graininess

Oak: Mild
Oxidation: Mild

Pairings where we tested this wine...

Chicken Vindaloo

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Vouvray "Tuffeau" Thierry

Region: Vouvray, Loire, France

Vintage Tested: 2019

Type: White, Still

Varietal: Chenin Blanc

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lime zest
peach blossom
white peach
apricot
garden hose
petrol

Flavor

peach skin
apricot
underripe melon
slate

Texture

grippy
chalky

ABV: 12.50%

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Vouvray, Champalou

Vintage Tested: 2019

Type: White, Still

Varietal: Vouvray

Bitter! It's like I put an aspirin in my mouth and chewed down on it. Hammers you with the bitter, from start to finish, not in an attractive way.

Pairing for: Chicken Vindaloo

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really tasty, apples, green apple, Granny Smith, Welch’s white grape juice, little bits of floral, azalea pungent floral, but not terpanic, more honey and honeysuckle, fresh raw clover honey quality, bit of clean minerality

Texture

grape skin texture

Oak: Extensive

Pairings where we tested this wine...

Chicken Vindaloo

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Wiemer Semi-Dry Riesling (Finger Lakes)

Vintage Tested: 2019

Type: White, Still

Varietal: Riesling

Too sweet for the dish, kills the heat, leaves behind not much. The vindaloo almost can't come back at the end. Wipes your palate of the food completely. Less respectful of the dish. Why would you spend the time to make that dish and then put that wine next to it to annihilate it.

Pairing for: Chicken Vindaloo

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clean, sweet fresh-cut apple, a llittle white peach, lemon candy quality, inorganic broken rocks, slate quality, slight petrol quality, lots of mineral, texture of big old-format wood, sweet cut chive and parsley, everything really ripe, a little honey underneath

Texture

touch of texture

Oak: Mild

Pairings where we tested this wine...

Chicken Vindaloo

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Xarmant Txakoli

Region: Spain

Vintage Tested: 2020

Type: White, Still

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Aroma

canned pears
unripe citrus
herbal

Flavor

canned pears
unripe citrus
herbal

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Xavier Gérard Côte-Rôtie

Region: Côte-Rôtie, Rhone, France

Vintage Tested: 2017

Type: Still

Varietal: Syrah

The flavors are complementary, but there's too much density to the wine to pair well with the steak.

Pairing for: Private: Florentine Steak with Watercress–Pistachio Salad

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smoked meat
bacon
plum
violet

Flavor

kirsh
lavender
incense
pencil shavings
cedar box
pine

ABV: 14.5%
Oak: Some

Pairings where we tested this wine...

Private: Florentine Steak with Watercress–Pistachio Salad

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Zelinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese Trocken, Schomann (Mosel)

Vintage Tested: 2019

Type: White, Still

Varietal: Riesling

I didn't get Brett notes (barnyard notes) at first, but tasting with the food the Brett is obvious. The wine is a bit bitter with the dish.

Pairing for: Chicken Vindaloo

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green apples, lychee nut husk, Marcona almond, dried hay and fresh wheat, a bit of phenolic bitterness

Texture

lees influence

Pairings where we tested this wine...

Chicken Vindaloo

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Zinfandel Seghesio Sonoma

Region: Sonoma, USA, California

Vintage Tested: 2014

Type: Red, Still

Varietal: Zinfandel

It is pretty with its nice spice notes, but it's a bit too much for the meal.

Pairing for: Private: Thanksgiving Dinner

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black cherry
black raspberry
eucalyptus
bay leaf

Flavor

black cherry
black raspberry
eucalyptus
bay leaf

Texture

mildly grippy

ABV: 14.80%
Oak: Extensive

Pairings where we tested this wine...

Private: Thanksgiving Dinner

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Zweigelt, Erdenlied

Vintage Tested: 2018

Type: Red, Still

Varietal: Zweigelt

It just turns bitter. The depth, texture, and heat in the vindaloo are gone, no favor to the dish. The wine upset the balance of the spices, you lose the richness in the middle of the sauce, the heat is still there. The dish turns awkward.

Pairing for: Chicken Vindaloo

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black raspberries, black currants, black cherries, the red side of black fruits, cocoa powder, fresh-cut green bell peppers, spicy minerality, broken rocks, slight volcanic minerality, touch of wet dog and Brett

Texture

crisp

Oak: Mild

Pairings where we tested this wine...

Chicken Vindaloo

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