The Marsala Quest begins

One of the most searched items on my blog is “what wine to pair with chicken marsala”. Well, dear readers and random Google searches, that is my winter quest. (Lucy, that means we’ll just have to have chicken marsala a ton of times this winter, sorry to put you through that!!) Last night I took a stab at Veal Marsala. I will note it wasn’t the best cut of veal, but I wanted to give it a try. It was ok, but I think I might prefer chicken a bit better. Here’s a picture-which looks almost identical to how my Chicken Marsala would look.

On to the wine, since that’s really the most important part for a WineLush. We had both white and red wines with it, since it’s a rich, beef / beef broth based sauce with mushrooms, but with a creamy touch, as well as fettucine alfredo as a side dish. One was the Shoofly Buzzcut ($12ish), a white blend from Austrialia made of Verdelho, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Semillon. It’s a little citrusy, has enough acidity to cut through the side of alfredo and the oil used in the Marsala, but enough body to stand up to a rich dish. It was good. The other was La Rochelle Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir, a recent $38 selection from a wine club we belong to. The pinot was fantastic, a bit fruity at first, and actually got a bit better and more complex after being open about an hour.

It was a tough comparison, as both were good with the Marsala. In the end, we determined the pinot was better, but only by a tad. Its possible we just weren't able to look past the fact we both really liked the pinot better as a wine, thus we enjoyed it more, thus it was of course better with the food.

I’ll keep tasting all winter, and post my thoughts on each. If you’re reading this wondering what to pair with it, my thoughts are a lighter bodied red or a fuller bodied white blend. See my past thoughts on pairing options with the label Marsala Quest.