Food/Wine Pairings (Believe It!)

With the sauteed shrimp and capellini pasta with a little garlic and olive oil, I tried three wines:

• Columbia-Crest Merlot 2001 -- Great before dinner, but really overpowered the delicate meal. You go Merlot!
• Strewn Pinot Blanc 2001 -- Perfect match with clean toasty flavors, but subtle enough to let the shrimp and pasta to emerge. We have a winner!
• Kings Ridge Pinot Gris 2002 -- Better than the Merlot, but the heavy fruit and residual sugar were too strong for this dish. If I had prepared the dish with a heavier or spicier sauce, then it would work well. I liked this wine earlier before dinner (actually with a lunch of Yajan's Murgh Dhaniwal at Cumin). It is a second label of Rex Hill.