Photos by Alex Hafizi
We’ve all done it: Drank too much or ate too much to truly enjoy what has passed our lips.  Instead of always pairing red wine with red meat or white wine with a large cheese plate, let me give you some examples, in keeping with this month’s theme of Health and Wellness, of some lighter and healthier choices.
German white wines like Rieslings, and some dessert wines, have lower alcohol content (six to 12 percent), more fruit and more sugar than say an American Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay.   In wine pairing, one rule is to pair like flavored wines and foods together, so you can pair a fruity low-alcohol wine with similar fruits.  A suggested pairing would be waffles with fresh fruit and walnuts.  Keep in mind, that if you have a lower alcohol wine with brunch, you won’t have fallen into the first trap I mentioned: Drinking too much.
I’m not going to take away your cheese plate – but I will make some suggestions for change.  Soft cheeses are more caloric than hard cheeses as are candied nuts over raw nuts.  So when you order, ask exactly what you are getting, and modify it.  I know one wine bar in town that always includes dried apricots and red currants on their cheese plate.  Some white wines describe their flavor profile as having nut fruits like apricots while some reds will mention currants; so this can be an easy and healthy pairing.  And, if you are in a wine bar, ask for their suggested pairing.  You can’t go wrong with that.
Tapas, a Spanish term for small plates served with a drink, is the perfect pairing for wine.  Whether you have small empanadas with a Spanish Rioja or chilled shrimp with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, the idea is to be mindful of the pairing. Once you are focused on that, you should soon learn to focus on stopping when you are full.
Now it’s time for dessert.  I recently held a chocolate tasting in my home.  My emphasis was on dark chocolate as I’m working to give up dairy products.  The cardiovascular health benefits of chocolate are more pronounced in dark than in milk; dark chocolate also has less carbohydrates, sugars, and in some cases, less calories.  Now, how to enjoy dark if you are a milk fan?  I gave my guests bars staring at 90 percent cocoa, then 70, 80, etc.  By the time we got to the milk it was far too sweet for any of us.  I had a Port for the pairing, but any red with dark red or blue fruit characteristics would do.  And the additional benefit: You just ate much lighter dessert!
So, you see, I’ve given you a new brunch idea, a way to get the most out of your cheese plate, savoring wine with Tapas and a dessert.  I now leave it up to you to try a little harder at being healthy and mindful…