Albarino to Zinfandel is a collection of recipes will help you to match new and interesting wines to meals and dishes. Many have been contributed by innovative winemakers and wineries who are at the forefront of new varietal wines into Australia.

Why the Title?

Two rather interesting wine grape varieties, both making a mark in Australia

Albarino is a white wine variety form North-western Spain and Portugal. It makes interesting aromatic whites which can be quite elegant but they often have enough oomph to go with garlicky seafood dishes. More about albarino and other wine varieties

Zinfandel is well known in California. It can be used as a high cropping variety for making cheap and ordinary wine…but in the right hands it can make big and exciting wines. So we have the A and Z of uncommon varieties, with thirty or so in between, and this site looks at the wines and the foods to enjoy with them.

Along the way we will have a look at some interesting wine related art. You can buy some prints from our art shop partner. You will find the prices are surprisingly reasonable. They make wonderful gifts, for yourself or someone special. Just click on the images throughout the site to order or browse.

Buy From Art.com

Find the recipe you want

• Use the search function (top right) for any food or wine keyword
• Browse by wine variety using the category list
• Choose the main ingredient, again from the category list

We hope you can use this site to help you join in this amazing journey of discovery.

The recipes vary in their level of complexity and skill required. Maybe you don’t actually need to cook all of them - I find that reading recipes trigger all sorts of ideas about how to match food and wine.

Here you will find all sorts of ideas for food pairing and menu planning; but be warned - there are no set rules and easy formulas.

If you treat wine as a voyage of discovery, rather than as an exercise in one-upmanship or snobbery you will enjoy this site… that’s a promise.

After a couple of years of writing for the Vinodiversity site and talking to wine consumers and winemakers I have concluded that the usual “tasting notes” are very uninformative. Making a suggestion about what food to serve with the wine can be a much better indication of what to look for than some hackneyed phrases about gooseberries or bitter cherries.

My friend George Biron came up with the title “Albarino to Zinfandel” to embody the range of wonderful new wine styles we can now enjoy.

So enjoy your wine, enjoy your food and enjoy the wonderful conviviality that they can bring.