Valentines Day became my favorite holiday when I met Blake - the bearded man. I know that sounds very cliche and quite sappy but it is true. Our first Valentines day was spent getting Brunch at Snoqualmie Resort and ended with the heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. Realizing he may have over done it budget wise for our first Valentines Celebration together, we decided to adjust our expectations for the holiday.
Slowly over the past several years we have chosen to celebrate with wine and pizza. We keep it simple, but we do have one requirement - it has to be the heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. It is pretty good and quite inexpensive. We have kept this tradition alive for 9 years and we are sure it will continue! That is the thing about traditions, keep them simple. That way you will always be able to keep them going no matter what day the holiday falls on.
Make your like easy, get pizza.
In the early days, we would get the Cupcake brand Red Velvet wine. It is a college budget friendly wine that felt quite festive. As the years have progressed we have gotten more picky with the wine and better at choosing wines we like. At some point it changed from drinking wine to well, get drunk - to drinking wine for our tastes!
Needless to say, we are headed into this Valentines Day with our wine game strong! Fortunately, having gone a little crazy in Walla Walla with our wine purchases has come in handy for selecting the perfect wines for my favorite holiday. We have narrowed the options for the best pizza pairings down to two varietals and a blend.
I have gotten recent recommendations to pair Sangiovese with pizza and I am happy to do so. We have a 2015 Helix Sangiovese by Reininger currently in our wine fridge and I cannot think of a better occasion to open it. It is so good, thinking about it makes me want to open the bottle now! It is the perfect amount of tannin and notes of tomato.
Another option we are considering is a GSM (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre) from Stottle Winery. As club members we have gotten a taste of the GSM in the tasting room, but have yet to enjoy a glass. We will be headed out to Hoodsport this weekend to pick up our allotment and enjoy time with our favorite tasting room employee, Lucy! I think it will be a phenomenal pairing pairing with the pizza because of the wine's boldness.
Another great pick would be the Cab Franc from Basel Cellars. Unfortunately, we had our bottle with dinner this past Friday - also a pizza night. It is quite delicious, it has the high tannin that we love but finishes smooth. While we will not be having this wine with our traditional Valentines dinner, it is a great choice with pizza.
I realize that these two options may not be readily available to the last minute Valentine Wine selector. I am not sure if all or any of these options can be found in your local grocery stores. I searched through the total wine inventory for these wineries and there is a very limited selections of their wines. While you may not be able to secure any of the amazing wines, you can obviously find the same varietal.
If you have not solidified your plans for Valentines Day feel free to hop on our tradition bandwagon. It is too easy not to do it. You can even spin it like it was planned for months.
I hope these pairing options have helped with your pizza, wine and Valentine!
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