By Laura Medina
Let face it, after a long, hard day at work...on a Monday no less...you just want to relax in front of the TV.
Boy, you're in for a treat. Instead of the usual Sunday night, the Primetime Emmys are being broadcast tonight on NBC.
So, this means you want something nice, some fancy but you're just too pooped out to whip up something special; and you're low on budget after the weekend splurge or hustling for ingredients is just too exhausting right now.
Have no fear, the "Wine Wise Guy," Anthony Giglio, Details Magazine's Food & Wine columnist and one of "Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide" editors, is such a wine expert that he is no snob. Nothing gets pass him.
He tells it like it is. He and his Italian-American brood, they too, get exhausted after a long hard day of work...and school; and they would love nothing but relax in front of the tube...and snacking.
If swinging by Kentucky Fried Chicken or grabbing a bag of Buffalo Wings is the closest and quickest thing to a gourmet meal tonight, Anthony suggested pairing it with the acidic but bubbly Scharffenberger Cellars "Brut Excellence," Mendocino, California's answer to champagne, just as good but cheaper.
Think of this as a grown-up version of soda where the acidity breaks down the grease, balancing out the palate.
Four years ago, an adorable French wine guy suggested the same thing, pairing effervescent white wine (if it's produced outside of the Champagne Region of France then you have to call it sparkling white wine) with my bucket of fried chicken. No shame in that.
That's the point Anthony was driving during his "Junk Food & Killer Wines" Seminar on the last day of the Los Angeles Food & Wine, don't be a snob about saving good wine for special occasions only, make wine part of your everyday life like when he was growing up in a very traditional Italian American up in the North-East, ok, New Jersey where the kids ruled the basement rec room and made their own wine spritzers to pair with...
Pizza.
According to Anthony, you can't go wrong with "The Rooster," Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Calassio, a.k.a., good ole Chianti, a big bottle of red. If you see a rooster on a bottle of Chianti then you know it's good and the real deal from Tuscany.
Anthony, despite being one of the top wine experts, is not beyond ordering in pizza or dropping by the supermarket and grabbing a box of frozen french bread pizza or being a cheap and creative college student making do with pizza bagels for a week.
Since the best Chianti is reasonably priced in the mid-twenties, Anthony always had it growing up as a kid. When the kids run-over the basement rec room, he and his childhood buddies would make their own cocktail, "Spaghetti Spritzer," where they top their slightly tannin-bitter Chianti with the sweeter Cream Soda for easy gulping.
The antioxidant/tannin in dark red wines cut through the heaviness of red meat sauce, making Chianti an ideal partner in greasy and tomato sauce (another rich source of antioxidants) rich pizza and pasta. This scribe wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Giglio. This scribe loves classic Margherita Pizza slathered in "red sauce" and nothing get this scribe through a tough day and a rough week like a big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. This is one of multiple reasons why this Gen-X scribe is usually mistaken for a Gen-Yer.
Pour on the red sauce...and the red wine, the big reds!
If jostling with soccer moms and their noisy kids in over-sized supermarket carts gives you fits after a Monday work day, you can always be resourceful, quick, cheap, and easy by dashing off to your nearest 7-Eleven, where they indifferently knock-down the older wines...hint, hint.
When you're a singleton in whatever stage of your life, you can get away a bag of chips for dinner then "class it up" with yummy affordable and fun wine.
At 7-Eleven, you can easily locate a good bottle of Vietti Moscasto d' Asti, otherwise known as Asti Spumante next to bags of Mission Chiccharones "Picante" Style Pork Rinds. Yep. The "grown-up" soda, Asti Spumante pairs well with the protein-packed crunchiness.
Think of how much money you'll be saving while gourmet shopping at 7-Eleven and the quickness of it, just in time to catch the Emmys.
If you have a sweet tooth like this sweet scribe and you much rather be munching on gooey, chewies while watching your favorite TV hunk win a well-deserved Emmy, Anthony suggested saving Port...yes, that old men's wine liquor,...for dessert.
Remember, watching the Emmys or any award show for that matter is dessert for your brain. "Brain candy" doesn't have to be cheap or nasty. Candy in any form can be a classy treat after a long, hard day or week.
For Anthony, he likes matching the caramel-tone, richness, and sweetness of Port with the rich, dense cakey Dunkin Doughnuts Munchkins, heavily coated in cinnamon sugar.
That's too "dusty" for this sweet Southern Belle scribe and prefers the much neater sugar glaze of the puffier Krispy Kreme Eclair piped inside with decadent dark chocolate custard then elegantly glossed on top with dark chocolate glaze.
Shoot, now that this sweet Southern Sweet Tooth resides in Los Angeles, here's the LA version of pairing Port with sweets. The caramel sweetness and the maple syrup viscosity of Port goes well with See's Candies' Nuts & Chews drenched in dark chocolate or their big can of Almond Royal, bites of dark chocolate caramel enrobing two nuggets of almonds.
You can use Anthony Giglio's "Junk Food & Killer Wines" Guide for any awards show, other than the Emmys or for any of your favorite tv shows.
Down-to-Earth doesn't have to be trashy and neither does classy have to be snotty.
Make wine a part of your life.
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