Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wine and the Big Game

Even with our move, painting and unpacking, Caitlin and I were able to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. While it has been estimated that Americans drink more than 325 million gallons of beer on Super Bowl Sunday, we had nary a fluid ounce between the two of us. 

Fancy that, we chose to have wine with our game food of pigs in a blanket, mini-burgers and herb-garlic fries. I have written about great wines to pare with football in the past, and the Big Game is no exception. We opted for a Zinfandel and it went perfectly with both the game and the food we were serving. 

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who prefers wine to beer when it comes to football, as some of the area's local wine shops were getting into the spirit of the game, too. Red, White and Bleu, for example, featured wines at $10 and $12 in honor of each team's quarterback. They also had deep discounts of cheese and charcuterie from New York and New England.

While wine will never, ever replace beer as football's signature drink, it does make for an enjoyable game. And say what you want about the incessant beer ads throughout the game, the Bud Light ad featuring Weego was pretty damn good, and it helped raise awareness of rescue dogs - a cause both beer and wine drinkers should fully support.