Expert suggests food and wine pairings at Festival of the Wine

No fried Snickers bars here.

The Flavor Fare at the Festival of the Vine Sept. 11-13 is really a Taste of Geneva, not carnival food. It features sample portion of dishes and treats from more than a dozen restaurants, taverns, hotels and sweet shops. And right next to the food tent is the wine tent.

Food and drink tickets are $1 apiece. Food costs one to four tickets, and wine costs four to 10 tickets. The Flavor Fare is at the northeast corner of Fourth and State streets.

Besides eating and drinking, you can be entertained by bands, and a show by State Street Dance Studios. The 2010 "Dancing With the Geneva Stars" couples will also be revealed at the stage at 7 p.m. Sept. 12.

But back to the main event: the food and wine. How do you make the most of it? In other words, what do you drink with what dish?

Consider the flavors

I asked good sport Emmett Malloy III, a wine buyer for Sav-Way Fine Wine and Spirits. He is in charge of both the wine tent (although he did not personally pick the wines) and an in-store event.

I found him working on Labor Day, getting handouts ready for Festival of the Vine.

"This upcoming weekend is pretty big for us," he said.

• Dish 1: The perennial favorite, the garlic crab pasta from Chianti's. You want something that will stand up to the garlic sauce, according to Malloy. He recommended the Greg Norman Cabernet-Merlot (six tickets).

"It will have the body to stand up to that," he said. Another choice is the Colores del Sol Malbec (six tickets).

"It has a little bit of a smoky, spicy edge," Malloy said.

• Dish 2: A Creole meatloaf sandwich from Citizen Kane, adorned with onions, peppers and a jalapeño brown sauce. Again, you don't want a shy wine. Malloy recommends the Cellar No. 8 Cabernet, a dry wine with plum, cherry and spice flavors. It's a six-ticket glass.

"If you really want to treat yourself," try the Château St. Jean Cinq Cepages, for 10 tickets, he said. It's a Bordeaux-style blended red, described in the festival brochure as having "big, juicy tannins" _ the wine chemical that sometimes causes a mouth to pucker a bit. "That's an awesome bottle of wine."

• Dish 3: A shrimp-and-avocado tostada, from Sergio's Cantina.

"I always recommend a white wine with seafood," Malloy said, giving the nod to Matua Sauvignon Blanc (six tickets).

"It's a dry white but it has kind of a strong grapefruit/lemon flavor that would probably pair up well." he said.

More wine at tasting

The wine tent is geared to "everyday wines," he said. If you really want to learn something, try attending the wine tasting from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday and 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Sav-Way's Geneva store, 515 W. State. It will feature 120 wines. Cost is $10, with $5 of that applied as a rebate toward the purchase of any of the bottles in the lineup.

And what might Malloy treat himself to at the end of a very long, hardworking weekend?

Well, where's that bottle of Château St. James Cinq Cepages...

<p class="factboxheadblack">Flavor Fare at Festival of the Vine</p> <p class="News"><b>When:</b> 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sept. 11 and 12; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 13</p> <p class="News"><b>Where:</b> Fourth and State streets, downtown Geneva</p> <p class="News"><b>Tickets:</b> $1 each. No refunds. Entrees cost one to four tickets, wine four to 10 tickets.</p> <p class="News">Ticket sales end a half-hour before the Flavor Fare closes</p> <p class="News"><b>Menu:</b> <a href="http://www.genevachamber.com/pdf/2009/Final%20FOV%208-17-09Brochure.pdf" target="new">www.genevachamber.com/pdf/2009/Final%20FOV%208-17-09Brochure.pdf</a></p>