Wine and Lamb

Easter is next Sunday and while most people will already have meal plans, some may be asked to bring a bottle of wine or dessert to a family brunch or Easter dinner.  While the dessert is easy, just pick a family favorite or something easily prepared; but picking a wine to go with a meal can be a little harder when the menu is a mystery.  Feel free to call and ask what is being served. A common Easter dish is lamb though so if learning what will be served is not an option it is okay to assume lamb may be the main dish. 

Picking which wine to put in wine totes for the occasion means thinking on one of two paths complement or contrast. A good wine to conplement a citrus flavored leg of lamb is a lightly oaked, citrusy chardonnay. The citrus notes in both make the meat and wine meld their flavors and bloom together.  On the contrast side of things would be a wine that counters the lambs succulance of fat and salt with high acid such as sauvignon blanc or a slighlty dry champagne.  Of course pairing wine with food is not an science so much as an art, sometimes unusual combinations that no one would have thought of, work just as great as the tried and true pairings.

via Rhino Wino