Michael Haig is a longtime Seattle Seahawks fan, but the do-it-all “quarterback” of Whitestone Vineyard & Winery who playfully pairs his wines with junk food doesn’t plan to watch the Super Bowl.
“I’ve scheduled myself to do a wine tasting because I have no interest,” he said. “Seattle should be the NFC team there, not San Francisco.”
Haig, 36, still wants to make sure his fans attending Super Bowl parties don’t fumble a chance to class up traditional tailgate cuisine, so he’s offered a food-and-wine-pairing scouting report.
“Not all great bottles are consumed by candlelight in a romantic setting with the one you love,” Haig said. “I’d bet most wine is consumed in sweatpants with the kids yelling and you stealing their chicken nuggets while you’ve got a glass of wine in one hand frantically trying to get the kids settled and their lunches for the next day made.”
So the Whitestone Wine & Junk Food Tasting will be Saturday at his tasting room near the historic Davenport Hotel.
“We’re going to the store’s frozen-food section and getting everything that can be deep fried,” Haig said. “Imagine fried chicken and fish sticks.”
“When it comes to really greasy fried chicken, I like a Cabernet Franc (his is $27),” Haig said. “It has a nice tartness to it, and you know that little bit of grease between the skin and the meat? The Cab Franc will cleanse that off your palate really good.”
Fish sticks won’t get paired with white wine, which Haig doesn’t care for.
“You’ve almost got to go with a Merlot, especially if you fry the fish with bread crumbs,” Haig said. “Merlot (Whitestone is $27) is a bit more fruity, and it doesn’t matter if you dip the fish sticks in tartar sauce or ketchup. You’ll still be fine.”
Whitestone also will be pairing Doritos and Fritos with a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot (Pieces of Red is $21) — all from his family’s vineyard.
“When you are with the boys and playing poker or watching the game and enjoying some nice junk food like summer sausage, cheese and chips, all your friends may be drinking beer,” Haig said. “Instead, you put red wine in a coffee mug.
Onion rings?
“That’s one question everyone seems to be asking, but I can’t give away everything before the party!” Haig chuckled. “People will have to be here or get it off our Twitter account that afternoon.”
Make no mistake, Haig crafts serious wines at his 2,000-case facility. They are neither clumsy nor smothered by oak, allowing for red fruit flavors such as cassis, Marionberry, Montmorency cherry and Craisins. His grapes once went to Walla Walla wineries Canoe Ridge Vineyards, L’Ecole No. 41 and Walla Walla Vintners.
Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the vineyard planted with the help of Washington State University. Decades before, though, grapevines thrived nearby until they were flooded by the construction of Grand Coulee Dam about 30 miles downstream.
The winery is named for nearby Whitestone Rock — the iconic natural feature of the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area — and the family-owned operation keeps Haig on the run. He splits his time between the Spokane tasting room, the 16-acre vineyard overlooking the Columbia River, the winery in the tiny Palouse town of Wilbur and a quaint tasting room across the street from the winery.
Eric Degerman and Andy Perdue run Great Northwest Wine, a news and information website. For more information, go to GreatNorthwestWine.com.
