Pair It Up With The Grange of Prince Edward

The Grange of Prince Edward's wine portfolio is perfect for summer drinking. Whether white or red, the wines express the cool climate of Prince Edward County with high acidity and innate freshness. Even Cabernet Franc, a grape often vinified into a full-bodied, structured wine, is medium-bodied, vibrant, and extremely elegant in the hands of the Grange. In honour of the drinkability of these wines and the fact that they're featured this week for FREE SHIPPING, I've paired a few of them up with recent summer recipes from Western Living Magazine.

The 2010 Lot 2 Brut is a beauty with bright citrus and apple fruit and nutty, toasty characters from long lees aging. A perfect pour alongside Western Living's Lemon and Garlic Marinated Shrimp—the citrus flavours complement each other, plus there's something great about the sweetness of shrimp with sparkling wine.

For me, Gamay is the ideal summer red. Because of its fresh acidity and light body, it's a wine that lends itself to being served with a slight chill. The 2011 Select Gamay is a zippy red with savoury and herbal undertones. This is a great pairing with the Spatchcocked Chicken (grilled flat on the barbeque underneath a foil-wrapped brick). The smokiness from the grill with the herb rub will jive perfectly with a glass of their cool Gamay.

The Grange's 2010 Northfield Cabernet Franc is one of my favourite Ontario Cabernet Francs. It's subtle, elegant, and savoury, and it has an impressive, long finish. While a dish like the Spicy Harissa-Glazed Lamb Ribs is a tempting pairing, because of the complementary spice flavours and the fact that lamb tends to work really well with Bordeaux varieties, I think the intense flavours will drown out this wine. What I'm about to say goes against almost everything you hear in Wine Pairing 101, but I think a great match for this wine is the Miso-Sake Roasted Sablefish with Soy Ginger Veggies. The wine will complement the savoury elements in the miso and soy while being elegant and soft enough not to clobber the fish.

Buy these wines and more from The Grange of Prince Edward in Prince Edward County, ON - and get FREE SHIPPING this week only!

Jake Skakun is a writer and sommelier from Vancouver, currently living in Toronto. He can be found most days pulling corks and twisting caps at the Black Hoof. He Tweets and Instagrams @jakeskakun.