Teaching the folks how to wine and dine

Wine with Hillary: Wines to fit your banquet budget

As the autumn sets in, I begin to think of my favorite wine accompaniment: food. Something about the cool weather makes me want to cook large quantities of tomato sauce, or soup, or any number of rustic foods. Below are two fall-themed dishes that feature yummy wine, one for a shoestring budget and one for the more flush among us.

Wine with Hillary: Wine suggestions for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is drawing near. According to empirical evidence, holidays cause more stress than anything else (with the possible exceptions of standardized tests and the words "we need to talk"). How can you survive the stress? While I would not condone going on a heavy drinking binge that permits you to stumble through the holiday in an apathetic stupor, I do have some wine-related suggestions.

Wine with Hillary

Teaching the folks how to wine and dine

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

October 28, 2005

So it's Parents Weekend, and you're looking to show your parents a good time. I recommend the following: clean up your room and host a mini event for your parents and those friends whose parents are not around.

If you have a kitchen, lamb stew is actually a lot cheaper than you would think. If you serve it over rice, you can feed six people easily with a pound and a quarter of meat?I like a shoulder or neck chop if you can't find a stew cut?and even more if you also make a salad. For those of you who don't have a kitchen or can't cook, a small wine and cheese hors d'oeuvres party can be equally as pleasant and inexpensive. Here are two wines and some serving suggestions.

Henry Bourgeois 2003 Petit Bourgeois (Petit $14.99 at Provisions)

This is delicious wine. It comes from Sancerre, which is famous for its white wines. However, this red can certainly give any Sancerre white a run for its money. For a red, it is thinner than I normally like. This thinness, however, combined with its wet, woodsy taste makes it a wonderful companion for cheeses. My tasters and I enjoyed it with Comte (a gruyere-like cheese that is mild enough that everyone can enjoy it, but not as boring as cheddar), Oka (a Canadian cheese that is stronger and rather unlike any other I've ever had?temper it with chutney or a fruit preserve), and some brie (universally popular). Really, any cheese could work. We served ours with baguette, which is more substantive than crackers. When you go to pick up a bottle of this wonderful wine, ask Mary at Provisions to help you pick out some cheeses to match your taste.

Southern Right 2002 Pinotage ($17.59 at Provisions)

The pinotage grape is cross of a pinot noir grape, but the wine is not like a pinot noir at all. My taster and I were not pleased with this wine at first, but the second glass met with better approval than the first. It has a somewhat mushroomy taste, which made it as wonderful as the liquid in my lamb stew.

To make the stew, I cut up a pack of lamb chops into small cubes (around 1.5 square inches) and browned it in olive oil. Then I added some cubed butternut squash, baby carrots and crimini mushrooms. I sautéd the mix for one minute, and then added one and a half cups of red wine and a cup of beef stock. After adding the spices (bay leaves, salt, pepper, thyme), bring the mix to a boil and then simmer for an hour. I definitely recommend serving this over rice. However, you can substitute the squash for potatoes and skip the rice if you must.

Even if you don't love the wine, you can feel good about buying it; a portion of the price of each bottle is given to protecting southern right whales. So, you can justify your drinking habit to your parents by telling them you're being philanthropic.

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