Pairing Off: Peanut Butter and Jelly and Grenache.

In this series we ask experts to help us pair wine with ordinary food.

Let’s set the scene. It’s storytime for the kids. They’ve gathered expectantly around your chair after grabbing from a stack of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you’ve thoughtfully slapped together—including one for yourself because, you know. Might as well join in.

It’s plausible, sure. And Norman Rockwell scenes were taken from real life. More likely you are stuck reading a children’s book, interrupted constantly by sticky voices, when you should be watching the game. You need a glass of wine.

The classic PB&J raises all manner of potential wine pairing problems. First is the flavor of jelly, which could be anything from apricot to zucchini—yes, there is such a thing. The bread could be white, wheat, organic multigrain (probably the choice of a zucchini jelly family). Crust on or trimmed. And there’s the peanut butter that clings to your throat, threatening to rob any good red of its tannic depth.

“A Cab would not be a good idea,” advises Kerry Winslow of Windy Oaks Estate in Carmel Valley. “You want medium tannins, fruit forward.”

So here’s the lineup: Strawberry preserves, extra crunchy peanut butter, white bread.  

“If you want to match the strawberry you’d want to do a Grenache,” Winslow observes. “They pick up the strawberry tone.”

He praised highly the La Marea Old Vine Grenache from nearby I.Brand & Family. Ian Brand has a stellar reputation as a winemaker, so it would be a solid option. Winslow also recommended Sangiovese blend from Drench. Emily Hunt, the hand behind the artisanal label, happened to be pouring at The Village Wine & Tap Room next door.

“We do a Grenache which would go well,” Winslow adds as an afterthought.

Done.

The 2018 Windy Oaks Grenache is a pretty wine, shimmering from the glass like translucent red rose petals. Aromas of black cherry and mixed berries waiting to be picked swell from the rim. There is an herbaceous bite, but it struggles to emerge from the waft of fruit.

A sip drenches the palate in rich fruit—dense strawberry and cherry cascading over fresh raspberry. There’s an elusive earthiness that drifts between tobacco and sharp herbs with hints of powdered cinnamon. It’s a wine that smiles at you and lingers, kind of like the charming memory of PB&Js from childhood.

Maybe that’s why the pairing feels so good. The Windy Oaks Grenache strolls alongside the sandwich. As it does, the fruits in both brighten, a homey notion of cinnamon builds. From somewhere—the peanut butter, perhaps—a sense of barrel-aged vanilla trickles in. Meanwhile the sandwich remains classic.

It’s an interesting match. Just don’t share it with the kids.