Nine Ways to Seduce With Wine This Valentine’s Day

January 31, 2006

If you aim to make pulses race this Valentine’s Day, head straight for one of these choices:

1) Rosé (pink) Champagne: Its color blushes with excitement, its bubbles tickle the palate, and its price — high because of its scarcity — says that you care enough to pour the best. Try Veuve Clicquot, Billecart-Salmon, or Laurent-Perrier.

2) Sofia: For more casual bubbles, consider the Coppola 2004 Sofia Blanc de Blanc Sparkling Wine, about $20 on shelves.  Named for the famous director's daughter, it is light, refreshing, and faintly redolent of pears and peaches.  With its girly-chic label and pink wrapping paper, it is the vinous equivalent of a hip bed-and-breakfast.

3) Red Burgundy: If chosen carefully, a bottle from the Burgundy village of Chambolle-Musginy (especially the perfectly-named “Les Amoureuses”) or Volnay can coat your tongue with more velvet than the walls of Mae West’s bedroom.

4) Château Calon-Ségur: Tailor-made for seduction, this red Bordeaux features a lover’s heart — fat and curvy like a child’s drawing — smack in the center of its label.

5) St. Amour or Fleurie: These well-named Beaujolais wines are also well-priced, at under $15 a bottle, and they are irresistibly light and fruity. Go for Duboeuf, Drouhin, or Jadot.

6) Shellfish with Rich White Wine: Whether it’s lobster with Meursault or crab-stuffed avocado with California Chardonnay, this creamy pairing has a long history of making people reach for the “Do Not Disturb” sign.

7) Prozac-co Smoothie: Mix Prosecco (the Italian bubbly, try the Zardetto), vodka, and lemon sorbet together in a blender, serve in a champagne flute, top with fresh mint.

8) Chaucer’s Choice: Gently simmer a light red wine with a small amount of honey, nutmeg, and cinnamon (based on the medieval spiced wine called hippocras).

9) Cleopatra’s Bliss: Drink a cold glass of late-harvest dessert wine in a hot bath of powdered milk.