9 Wines to Pair with Your Favorite Movie Theater Snacks
Delicious wine-and-food pairings aren’t reserved for Michelin-starred meals and rarified tasting menus. Sometimes, you just want to pop open a bottle to drink with your favorite junk-food while settling in for a night of binge-watching Netflix movies. Who are we to judge? From popcorn to Skittles, here are our favorite pairings for your favorite movie night snacks, enjoyed at home or even a vineyard screening or two.
—Photography by Meg Baggott
Bite into a warm, soft pretzel and you’re greeted with inviting toastiness and a hit of tasty rock salt; a quick slash of sharp yellow mustard rounds out the experience with a hint of earthiness. For an upgrade on your standard pretzel-and-beer pairing, turn to California’s diverse coast for approachable, affordable pours. Whether you opt for a plain pretzel, or require mustard, reach for the bright raspberry notes, hints of earth and fresh acidity of Pinot Noir from Monterey. For a sublime upgrade, swap out mustard for runny nacho cheese, in which case, Santa Barbara Chardonnay will be your best bet. Juicy apple and a squeeze of lemony acidity will cut right through the magma-like topping.
Our picks: J. Lohr 2012 Highlands Bench Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands); Rusack 2013 Chardonnay (Santa Barbara County)
Few theater snacks are as fun as these playfully textured rice puffs coated in creamy milk chocolate. The same can be said for Australian sparkling Shiraz, with its delightful fizziness and ripe berry flavors. The two will play together nicely on your palate.
Our pick: Shingleback NV Black Bubbles Sparkling Shiraz (McLaren Vale)
The problem with tasting the rainbow is the just how many flavors you come up against. Luckily, South African Chenin Blanc is a versatile sip, with bright stone fruit, melon and honeysuckle flavors pairing perfectly with Skittles of all colors. It will be a race to the bottom of the bag… and the bottle.
Our Pick: Raats Family 2012 Original Unwooded Chenin Blanc (Coastal Region)
The most ubiquitous theater snack deserves an equally high profile match: Champagne! The ultimate high-low pairing, Champagne’s toasty notes meld with the rich, oozy movie theater butter (extra, please!), while the refreshing bubbles lift the palate and quench your thirst.
More like VerMINTino with this playful twist on the classic fruit and mint pairing. Tuscan Vermentino is sunny and rich, featuring complex aromatics such as ripe peach and spring florals. The concentrated fruit notes dance with the invigorating mint candies and complement the decadent chocolate coating. This duo will satiate any craving you have.
Our Pick: Fattoria di Magliano 2013 Pagliatura Vermentino (Maremma Toscana)
Twizzlers and Spanish Rosato create the perfect strawberry nirvana. Notes of strawberry, plum, raspberry and nectarine pair with the chewy and mildly sweet Twizzlers. Bite off the ends and feel like a kid again with your artisanal Twizzler straw in your fancy Spanish rosé.
Our pick: Muga 2013 Rosado (Rioja)
Sweet, buttery cookie dough bites and a rich, nutty Tawny Port are a match made in heaven. The Port’s aromas and flavors of marmalade, ripe berries, toasted nuts and subtle caramel blend epically with the cookie dough bites, creating an endless flavor explosion of deliciousness. This boozy combo will put grandma to shame.
You already look like you ate something sour when you say Gewürztraminer, but a semi-sweet style bursting with bright tropical fruit will save you from making too many faces. The pleasant acidity and classic ripe lychee and stone fruit flavors of a German Gewürztraminer will tame those mysterious sour crystals, providing an ideal match for the sweet-yet-sour candies.
Our Pick: Villa Wolf 2013 Gewürztraminer (Pfalz)
1Soft Pretzel
2Buncha Crunch
3Skittles
4Popcorn
5Junior Mints
6Twizzlers
7Cookie Dough Bites
8Sour Patch Kids