It’s been nearly a half-century since the Ice Bowl. A capacity crowd of 50,861 people packed Lambeau Field on Dec. 31, 1967 despite a negative-teens temperature to watch the Green Bay Packers’ Bart Starr QB-sneak his way to an NFL championship-winning touchdown.
What better way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic event than (drum roll please)… RED BLEND WINE! If you’re wondering why they are commemorating the Ice Bowl with a red wine — and not, say, something cold — please direct your questions to Google because I also have no idea.
Priced at $19.99, this is the most expensive bottle of wine I have ever purchased for myself. (And it’s even pricier if purchased online.) But seeing as this one comes from the vineyards of Illinois, I’m pretty sure I made a great choice!
I can’t tell you if this wine itself any good — I have to rely on the grocery store “award” tags to tell me that — but I can tell you how it pairs up with some game day food favorites. Because if you don’t bring it, someone else surely will. How can you not? It has the Packers logo on it.
Pairing: Queso dip
Fun fact: queso dip is the anti-palette cleanser. Everything I consumed after this dip was tinged with cheap hot cheese. The queso brought out an oaky heat to the wine. You know, that average oaky heat taste… as if I had microwaved the glass for somewhere between 10-15 seconds. I didn’t enjoy it but I kept consuming it, so maybe I did enjoy it.
Would pair again.
Pairing: Vegetables
I don’t know about you guys, but vegetables don’t really taste like anything to me. I consume them in public so people think I’m healthy, and at home so I think I’m an adult. That said, the vegetables really brought out the taste of the wine, because the wine was the only thing with taste.
Would pair again.
Pairing: Potato salad
The flavors of the wine really accentuated the creaminess of the potato salad. And by creaminess, I mean mayo. At one point, I was like, “Wow, look at me drinking a $20 bottle of wine and basically eating mayo covered potatoes.” I like it because it kept me humble.
Would pair again.
Pairing: Store-bought cookies
There’s always that one lazy person looking for a last-minute item to bring to that that game day potluck, and that person is me. Good thing cookies go with everything, including wine, so I came out a winner again in this scenario.
Would pair again.
Pairing: Wings
The heavy barbeque breading really brought out the deeper reds in this red blend. What are those reds? I’m not sure, but it was good. Maybe B-Dubs should start pushing wines and not this 1620-calorie burger… save some hearts while they’re at it.
Would pair again.
Pairing: Peanuts
Peanuts are your quintessential bar snack, and wine is a bar drink. So yes, all is well here.
Would pair again.
In conclusion, it appears I’ll drink wine with just about everything. And if you like wine with local sports logos on it, we recommend stocking up for the September baseball playoff chase with the same company’s Milwaukee Brewers red blend.
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