Wine Pairings for Dishes with Native Redbuds
as recommended by Karen Bonarrigo & Merrill Bonarrigo
- Native plants are not only easy to grow and good for our landscapes, but they are often packed with nutrients. We can harvest right from our yards.
- Raw or cooked Redbud Seed Pods can be a crisp, tangy raw vegetable snack or ingredient in any salad. They can be eaten just like snow peas.
- Redbud flower petals are a pretty pink in color and add a lemony spice to salads, breads, desserts and vegetables.
- Redbuds alone have a raw vegetal and lemon character about them that pair well with white wines that have good acidity like Pinot Grigio, Dry Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Chenin Blanc or Gewurztraminer.
- In the Redbud Salad Wrap recipe we use a soy sauce dip that also creates a complement to light reds like Beau or a Rosé.
- You might even try floating redbud blossoms in a sparkling rosé for effect. Or freeze some blossoms in ice cubes for cocktails.
- Recommended wines:
- Tribute Series Gewurztraminer (dry white with spicy flavors)
- Messina Hof Dry Riesling (dry white wine with crisp citrusy flavors)
- Messina Hof Sparkling Rosé (dry rosé with berry flavors)
- Messina Hof Lepard Vineyard Chenin Blanc (semi-dry white wine with citrus and rose petal flavors)
Merrill and Karen Bonarrigo, Wine and Food Pairing experts at Messina Hof Wine Cellars, Inc.
