New Years Eve - Pairing Food Choices with your Champagne/Sparkling Wines

So on New Year’s Eve I am partaking in one of my part-time adventures, pouring wine samples at the Ivy Ridge Wine & Spirits Shop from 2-4pm (for you locals…it’s in the shopping center at the corner of Ridge Avenue & Domino Lanes).  Being that it is New Year’s Eve, I will be sampling all Barefoot Bubbly for this visit – Barefoot Brut Cuvee Champagne, Barefoot Extra Dry Champagne, Barefoot Moscato Spumante, and the new addition to the line Barefoot Pink Moscato Champagne.  I have listed them from driest to sweetest.  Since this is a food and wine pairing blog, and I figure many of you WILL be serving some sort of sparkling wine or champagne in two days, I would like to share some information to help you figure out what food goes best with what champagnes/sparkling wines.  I am going to use my Barefoot selection above as a guideline here….

Brut Cuvee:  The Barefoot Brut Cuvee has hints of green apple, jasmine, kiwi, and peach and has a long, crisp finish.  I personally do not taste the jasmine or kiwi, but everyone’s taste buds are different.  Very strong in the green apple department.  This varietal is made up of Chardonnay…I’m not a big chardonnay fan, but I love this champagne.  It's pleasantly dry and has a rather astringent feel on the tongue.  I can verify, since this is my FAVORITE Barefoot Bubbly out of the 6 varietals, that is goes very well with seafood (lobster), and the dryness makes it great for pairing with a powerful cheese platter that holds cheeses like Gorgonzola and other blue cheeses such as Maytag.  The acidity should also be nice and cleansing with sweet desserts like cream puffs or rich desserts like bread pudding or creme brulee (my all-time favorite dessert!).

Extra Dry:  The Barefoot Extra Dry Champagne has more apple flavors (think Honeycrisp apple here) and a smooth, clean finish.  This varietal goes very well with a mixed berry plate and some hard cheddar cheese (not that 8oz block-o-cheese from the supermarket.  I also have a recipe for a Shrimp & Avocado salad that goes really, really well with the Extra Dry Champagne!

·          ¼ c white wine vinegar, ¼ cup EVOO, 3 cloves garlic, ½ lb medium shrimp-cooked, cleaned, etc., 2 ripe avocados, butter & read leaf lettuce mix, 2 tbsp chopped roasted walnuts, 1 tbsp chopped cilantro, 1 tbsp chopped scallion, crumbled blue cheese

·     Combine first 3 ingredients in bowl.  Chop shrimp, add to bowl.  Arrange your lettuce on a plate so it looks nice, cut avocados into sections and place on lettuce, spoon the shrimp mixture on top, sprinkle with walnuts, cilantro, scallions, blue cheese.  YUMM-O!

Moscato Spumante:  The Barefoot Moscato Spumante has overtones of apricots and peaches mixed with some citrus, with a tangerine finish.  I have had this varietal with spicy food (think Thai here) or a dessert.  I also have recipes for this varietal that include a BBQ Chicken & Red Velvet Cake (contact me…I’ll email them to you).  This one is a bit too sweet for my pallet, but my husband loves it.

Pink Moscato Champagne:  Rounding out the 6 bubbly varietals that Barefoot produces is the newest one to the pack – Barefoot Pink Moscato Champagne.  It is the sweetest champagne that they produce with hints of red tree fruit and fresh berries with a candied cherry and citrus finish.  This varietal goes well with mild cheeses, fresh fruit, spicy cuisine (again…think Thai here!) and dessert.  I cannot tell you how many people LOVE this varietal…I never empty bottles at my samplings, and this bottle is always gone…every visit.  My taste buds do not care for it…it’s just too sweet for me.  Think Moscato wine on overload.

So…Happy New Year a few days early and I welcome ANY comments on this.  I would LOVE to know what you are cooking for New Years (or eating if you’re going out) and what champagnes/sparkling wines you are teaming up with your choices!