What to Serve While Tasting Cabernets

This week’s VineSleuth Clue of the Week comes right from my own life.

My parents are hosting a brown bag Cabernet tasting at their house tonight and asked me what they should serve to accompany the wines. It is a tasting party, not a dinner party, but they want to have a few light bites on hand.

Since Cabernets can be so big and bold, the food needs to stand up to it, but not battle it.
Here’s what I suggested:

• Manchego cheese (one of my absolutely favorite cheeses!)
• Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (super easy to find)
• Red cherries (to see if you can taste a cherry and then recognize a similar flavor in the wine)
• Water crackers (to cleanse the palate between tastings)
• Baguette (also to cleanse the palate and also have something with a bit of substance.)
• Dove Dark Chocolate Promises (need I say more??)

To make their tasting even more fun, I also suggested they have a few things on hand for smelling:

• Jar of blackcurrant jam
• Black pepper
• Coffee
• Cinnamon

I find it to be helpful to use a few prompts when identifying the aroma of a wine. By having a few things on hand, everyone can smell the wine, then the prompts, then the wine and again and really get the conversation going.

What do you like to nibble on when drinking Cabernet? I’d love to hear your ideas, too.