Well, well! Is it that time of year again when the old gang gets together to spend some quality time? Or maybe you have an exciting date tonight? We have a suggestion for the evening!
Cooking together is always a great activity, and it's a welcome change from the usual coffee get-togethers. And best of all – the end result is good food!
Depending on whether you're making a quick nacho tray or something that needs to simmer for ages, gourmet-style, it might take a while from when your guests arrive until you sit down to eat. You've already chosen the perfect dinner wine, but what about something for the busy cooks? You need a cook's wine, of course!
When looking for a cook's wine, turn to easy-drinking social wines, whether you're after a red wine, white wine, rosé or sparkling wine. Social wines taste great on their own, as the name suggests, and as an aperitif they nicely stimulate the appetite.
Cook's wine also works as a dinner wine
But wait, was the cooking actually so quick that you only had time for one glass of wine? Good thing we mentioned it, because these sippable social wines also happen to be versatile dinner wines. Just bring the wine from the kitchen to its place of honor at the dinner table.
The handiest multitaskers might even take this advice to heart and apply the one-wine strategy for both dinner and cooking. And that works just fine.
Check out the delicious cook's social wines below and see what foods they're especially recommended for.
Footmark Smooth Red
True to its name, the wonderfully smooth Footmark Smooth Red is a real all-purpose wine that's sure to please many. It has a bit of residual sugar, which makes the wine especially gentle and round.
Footmark Smooth Red is particularly good with pasta, grilled food, white meat and cheese. We especially recommend it when the evening's menu has spicy Mexican touches. You can read more about Footmark Smooth Red and tex-mex here. The wine is also suitable for vegans.
You can find price and product information here.
Monte dos Amigos Rosé
What could be better for cooking with friends than friendship's very own namesake wine! The distinctive Portuguese Monte dos Amigos Rosé is made in honor of friendship, and it's as uncomplicated and approachable as good friends.
The semi-dry, berry-flavored rosé has 12 g of sugar per liter, which makes it both a sippable social wine and an all-conquering hero at the dinner table. You can read more about Monte dos Amigos Rosé here.
You can find Monte dos Amigos Rosé both as a half bottle (0.375 l) and as a regular-sized wine bottle (0.75 l).
You can find price and product information here.
Tosti Asti Dolce
How about a sweet sparkling wine for a change? Tosti Asti Dolce is a very traditional wine that the Bosca family has been producing in Piedmont, Italy, for as long as 200 years. The popular sparkling wine is an approachable and gentle toast, with a nicely low alcohol content too.
This sweet social wine's special talent is sweet desserts, so we especially recommend it as a dessert table wine.
You can find price and product information here.
Crudo Catarratto-Zibibbo
This gorgeous octopus wine certainly won't go unnoticed at the party! Crudo Catarratto-Zibibbo is a pleasant semi-dry white wine from Sicily, with abundant fruitiness combined with fresh acidity. On the food side, it's especially a friend of light dishes like salads and, of course, seafood.
Crudo Catarratto-Zibibbo comes in three different sizes: as a half bottle (0.375 l), a regular bottle (0.75 l), and in a three-liter bag-in-box.
You can find price and product information here.
