Oscar Food and Wine Pairings

This year we're assuming that everyone is looking for an excuse to make a fun night out of staying home – so PICK your choice for the BEST PICTURE and review our suggestions for food and wine on how to create an experience that will make watching fun.

And if you're getting together with a group and want to be really ambitious, try having a potluck with each of the pairings and vote on which you think are the BEST!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Getting older (or younger as the case may be) isn't a bad thing when you a contemplating an aged Bordeaux to go with your burger and fries. Wines of Bordeaux are some of our favorites for this pairing. Consider these vintages that are actually better buys right now 2001, 2003, 1999. If you're impatient, like Benjamin, try one from St. Emilion for a best price bet. And while the 2005s are still a little young for my palate, there's a lot to choose from in every price range. Menu suggestion: Shrimp and Okra Gumbo

Frost Nixon
Around the time of this interview Richard Sanford was hard at work in the Santa Ynez Valley – more specifically the now famous 'Sideways Trail' – with his Sanford Winery and put this area on the map. Richard has moved on from that operation and many new wanna be's are trying to make their mark in this area but his new Alma Rosa Winery has been winning accolades - try the Chardonnay at $18 or one of the fab Pinot Noirs. And if you want to feel like David Frost, drink some Veuve Clicquot or other 'retro' champagne or whip up a 70s cocktail like a Mai Tai.
Menu suggestion: Start with Smoked Salmon on Toast and Serve with Derby Cobb Salad

Slumdog Millionaire
We all think this is the shoe-in for Best Picture and is of our absolute favorites of the season. Whether we'll rely on our favorite Indian for take-out – or attempt to make some at home – remains to be seen. And while the Indian wine industry is really starting to gain momentum, I don't think that most of us will find any selections in our local store so we're going with some Indian beers or some of the fabulous new 2007 Sauvignon Blanc selections to "cool the heat".
Menu Suggestions: Tandoori Chicken

Milk
MSNBC predicted that this film had a 1% chance of winning so don't rule it out as the big surprise of the night. Set in the early 70's in San Francisco, this was the time of the birth of the California Food and Wine Movement with folks like Jeremy Tower and Alice Waters emerging on the scene. Our lives wouldn't be the same without them – much the same as the gay movement really wouldn't have come into it's own without Harvey Milk. And while I was still drinking things like Franz Weber May Wine and Mateus in that era, let us not forget that the infamous Judgment of Paris (where CA wines beat out French ones) was taking place putting CA wine officially on the map. Brands like Freemark Abby, Heitz, Chateau Montelena, Chapellet, Silver Oak, Caymus and Beaulieu come to mind as the perfect way to "go back" to those times.