Popcorn + Wine Pairing

It is well documented that I love wine, and I especially love a good wine pairing...whether it be with cheese, meal courses, or chocolate. I also love me some popcorn. And while I have clearly had wine and popcorn together on many a movie night, I never thought about a wine and popcorn pairing. 

Thanks to the folks at Skinny Pop, I now know how fun a wine and popcorn pairing can be, and they made it super simple with this lovely infographic...

In addition to utilizing the infographic, I highly recommend the store locator in order to find specific flavors.  Jill and Erin joined me for the fun, and they helped stop at stores across DFW to pick up the flavors we wanted. 

With everything set up, we were ready to get poppin.

I also had a small cheese board on hand. Clearly. 

 

 For the Naturally Sweet flavor pairing, I couldn't find a Banyuls wine for the pairing, so we called an audible and went with a rose instead.

I'm a sucker for a salty/sweet combo, so I really liked the slight sweetness of this popcorn. And it paired well with the dry rose (a sweet rose would have been too much). It was a nice, light way to start off the tasting.

Next up was the Sea Salt & Pepper popcorn paired with a Sauvignon Blanc.

This was the crowd favorite popcorn, and the best bites were the ones with lots of pepper (which we analogized to the best Cool Ranch Doritos being the ones loaded with all the goodness). It tasted like a substantial appetizer and paired well with the crisp white wine.

The third pairing was the White Cheddar popcorn with a Malbec. For the Malbec, we opted for "The Show," which one participant described as "peppery and lovely." The flavors went really well together.

 I also love their label.

Finally, it was time for the "dessert course," with the Dusted Dark Chocolate popcorn paired with a Pinot Noir.

The chocolate flavor was my second favorite after the sea salt and pepper, and we all appreciated that it wasn't overly sweet. The popcorn had just a hint of chocolate flavor. 

This was our first time trying Meiomi's pinot, and it is now in heavy rotation at my house. It is a full-bodied pinot noir that packs in wonderful flavor at a moderate price. Highly recommend.

All around, it was such a fun night! 

And my little monkeys even stopped by a couple times to help us taste test. 

It doesn't get much better than best friends, pajamas, wine, and popcorn.