As we enter the final wave of our busy season here at the tasting room, I find myself ordering takeout with much more frequency. With very little physical energy left at the end of a long work weekend, there’s nothing better than picking up a delicious meal all wrapped up and ready to be eaten. Eating in the comfort of my living room (let’s be real, takeout is usually eaten on a couch…right?) is pure bliss and since I usually have some bottles of wine kickin’ around, I pour myself a nice big glass to go with dinner. After all, I won’t be doing any driving! Here are some of my favorite pairings:

The Classic Pairing: Pizza & Red Blend

I’ll be honest here, pizza pairs with just about any red wine so long as it’s a red sauce pie. However! It’s pizza, so I’m not going to crack open one of my premium bottles for this unless the pizza is celebratory in some way. The Bridge Lane Red Blend gets the job done well with a dry palate, dark berry fruit notes, and not too much heft or oak to override a red sauce. It’s a match made in heaven which I can only assume is full of pizza.

The Dichotomy: Sandwich & Fries with Bubbly!

This already sounds so silly when I write it out, but a salty French fry and dry sparkling wine are REALLY delicious together. The crispy, salty, hot fry washed down with ice-cold, refreshing, dry bubbly…I could eat that infinitely. I remember as a kid the feeling of a carbonated drink washing down a burger and fries and how satisfying that was – and this is no different! Our Lieb Cellars Sparkling Pinot Blanc is the perfect French fry wine (I still can’t believe I’m typing these words!) and is a nice touch to an otherwise casual picnic date. If you don’t want to drop the dough on our Sparkling PB, our Rumor Mill Sparkling Hard Cider is a very close second

The Odd-Ball: Chinese & Fruity White Wines

Chinese food often struggles to pair with wine, so your menu choices do make a difference here. For anything in a very spicy or very sweet (or very sweet and spicy) sauce, stick to a beer. But for anything else, you will be pairing your wine with salt and umami flavors which calls for fruity wines. The Bridge Lane Chardonnay is an unexpected winner here, mostly because it’s the fruitiest white in the Bridge Lane line-up and most importantly it is not oaked. This chardonnay will carry you through every bite of dumpling and noodle, and will still be refreshing because of its dry palate. A close second would be the Lieb Cellars Pinot Blanc, with more restrained fruit it holds up with a more refined palate.

There are so many takeout options on the North Fork, and if you think of any memorable pairings that you’ve had with our wines please let us know!

Alicia Ekeler
Tasting Room Director