Six Ideas for Matching Wine with Junk Food

It has been a long day - maybe it's Sunday night and you've had a busy weekend. You want to curl up on the couch, watch some TV and have a glass of wine. You're hungry - but there's no way you're going to actually cook a meal. Besides - you can't really mix snacks or junk food with wine... can you?

Why not?

Most snacks may not exactly fall under the category of nutritious choices at the end of the day. There's a reason they call it "junk" food, after all. But they still have many of the flavor characteristics of the food you wouldn't think twice about pairing with wine. So, if you want, you can actually pair a complementary wine with many of the bite-sized things that seem to taste best when eaten on the couch.

Cheese curls

Think about it, if you laid out a plate of cheddar cubes at a party, it'd go just fine with a hearty red wine - so I think a cabernet sauvignon is called for here. The underlying cherry and black currant flavors will be able to hold their own against your bag of Cheetos - whether you choose crunchy or puffs.

Doritos

Here, too, you'll want something that is acidic enough to go with the strong cheese. But you also want to have enough fruit to offset all the pepper and garlic and onion flavors. Maybe a rose is called for here - something that sits in the middle. Or, you could go much sweeter and try a German riesling here.

Popcorn

This one is simple. A nice buttery chardonnay would go great with a big bowl of buttery popcorn, don't you think?

Tortilla chips

The salty corn chips - or, better yet the lime flavored tortilla chips - would make a great pairing with a pinot grigio. It's light and crisp, and would balance the salty chips just right - especially chilled. This would be a good choice with Fritos, too, I'd bet.

It's not all about the salty snacks, though.

Pop Tarts

It's comfort food - but it's sweet and fruity as well. I'm thinking that this requires a nice, dry champagne. Whether you heat it up or eat it right out of the box, the bubbly champagne will immediately cut through that sugary sweet taste and wash it away. Hey, if champagne works for strawberries, why wouldn't it work for a nice strawberry frosted Pop Tart?

Chocolate

You've got to go with a red wine when you're having good old American milk chocolate, don't you think? I have to believe that either a merlot or a pinot noir would do the trick here. Even if you've got a candy bar with nuts - the reds will still work just fine.