Pairing your favorite dishes with the right wine

This Christmas, make space for Marpac Saipan’s exciting wine offerings from WENTE Vineyards, whether something to serve for guests or something to give as presents.

To start off, it is good to know what kind of wine goes with what dish, as pairing your wine with the right dish is as much like love and marriage as it is also an art—it has to be the right combination so you enjoy every minute of it.

For cheese and meat lovers (whether lamb, beef, chicken, or pork), 2016 WENTE Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is the perfect match. This bottle is a great representation of a Livermore Valley Cabernet, evoking dark berries such as blackberry that’s completed by pink peppercorn and a layer of cocoa dust. It is aged for 18 months in 40% new and 60% second- and third-use French oak barrels.

Experienced wine drinkers call it “Cab” for short. This wine has a velvety taste and would be great to drink immediately or stored in your cellar.

The 2014 WENTE Vineyards Sandstone Merlot is best paired with chicken and light meats and slightly spiced dark meats. This wine is also perfect on warm days or cold nights as every sip exhibits beautiful aromas of spiced cherry with a focus on dark fruits such as blueberry or boysenberry.

Merlot is referred as “smooth and easy to drink” whether in big groups such as reunions or family gatherings or on intimate dates. The wine has been aged for 24 months in neutral French and Eastern European oak barrels.

For dishes that brings out island specialties such as seafood and salads, the 2017 WENTE Vineyards Louis Mel Sauvignon Blanc is the ideal match. This wine has crisp aromatics from lemon zest, grapefruit, and boxwood. Aged in stainless steel tanks, it gives wine drinkers a rounded mouthfeel and a bright lingering acidity taste.

This wine can be taken indoors, dining al fresco style or while sitting on beach chairs watching the sun go down over Micro Beach.

Cooking meat, seafood dishes, pizza or pasta? The 2015 WENTE Beyer Ranch Zinfandel is the one to pick up from the store. This wine’s top notes evoke luscious fruits such as red cherry, boysenberry and fig. It is aged in a combination of stainless steel tanks and neutral oak barrels.

Went fishing and caught salmon for grilling? Fish and chicken are the perfect match for the 2017 Riva Ranch Vineyard Chardonnay. The taste opens up layers of tropical fruit and toast, similar to grilled pineapple and graham cracker.

This wine is aged for eight months where the wine underwent 100% malolactic fermentation.

In the movie French Kiss, Meg Ryan’s character described drinking wine as giving someone a “hint of sophistication and lacking in pretention.” This is particularly true when drank moderately and responsibly. So in choosing the perfect WENTE Vineyards wine this season, be bold in your choices and may you create a match made in heaven.

Marpac resident manager Guy F. Pudney said these wines are available in almost all groceries on island, at all Joeten supermarkets, Ming Yang, Happy Market in As Lito, New XO, all Twins Markets, R&J Liquor Store, I love Saipan, Triple J Payless, at the Aqua Resort Club, at Salty’s, Joe’s Bar, Thai House, and Godfather’s.