Gourmet wines designed for cooking

Opportunity awaits those who can make consumers’ lives easier, as countless innovations prove every day. Take choosing a wine. We’ve already seen several efforts to simplify the process of finding a good one for drinking—including, among many other approaches, a classification system that uses colours and numbers—and now California-based Académie Culinary Wines aims to do the same for wines that will be used in cooking. Académie wines are sourced directly from California’s premier wine regions. With the help of gourmet chefs, the company has developed a line including four blends that are designed to make culinary creations the best they can possibly be. Blend #1, for example, is designed for use in red sauces and meat dishes. Blend #2, meanwhile, targets seafood, poultry and pork. Blend #3 aims to complement beef and poultry marinades, while Blend #4 is for game bird, fish and lamb. All Académie wines are highly suitable for drinking as well, the company says, and are packaged in a convenient, waste-proof 375mL size that’s still ample for tasting while the cooking proceeds. To facilitate the culinary magic, the Académie site includes a variety of recipes geared toward each of the wines in its line. Available online and from select California retailers, Académie wines come in single 375mL bottles for USD 7.99 each or sampler packs of four for USD 28.76. Shipping is currently available only within California; one to partner with and bring to the rest of the cooking world? (Related: Wine tasting packs feature four mini samples — Wine search engine uses animation to visualize aromas — Modern wine paired with ancient Roman cuisine — Sommelier, go away: food pairing made easy.)