As the weather becomes cooler, the transition from summer to autumn wines begins.
Sammi Boettcher, head of the beverage department at World Market in Tiger Town, said Rieslings are more popular during the summer, but darker reds become more popular during the holiday season.
"A lot of folks do start going toward more of your darker reds, like the Merlot and the cabernets, come toward winter because they are room temperature wines," Boettcher said.
She said Southerners tend to gravitate toward sweet wines because of sweet tea and muscadines, a grape originating in the South.
"A lot of folks like this better because you can chill it," Betcher said. "People really don't like drinking dry wine."
In turn, the sweeter red wines tend to be top sellers at World Market.
Boettcher said because there is no standard category for sweet red wine, like Merlot or cabernet, choices should be made by brand name.
Boettcher said the brand Jam Jar sells sweeter red wines for the holiday season.
These rich red wines can still be enjoyed on a college budget.
Boettcher said, for example, when World Market begins to sell the Electric Reindeer brand of wine during the winter holidays, it's only $4.99; however, some are turned off by that.
"And that's because it's so cheap," Boettcher said. "We just try to bring our prices down."
Boettcher said World Market keeps the prices low for its exclusive wines to be competitive.
To pair with meals, Boettcher said pasta and steak tend to go with red wine. In contrast, traditional summer foods such as chicken and seafood pair with white.
Lauren Goetsch, senior in international business, studied abroad in Spain last spring and said she could always tell what her host mother was serving for dinner.
"You could tell what we were having by what bottle of wine she bought," Goetsch said. "If there was red wine, we were having red meat."
Goetsch said they tended to eat the same types of meats on a daily basis that naturally paired with red wine.
For special occasions, Goetsch said her host mom would switch from her normal red wine at the dinner table.
For example, when Goetsch's parents visited, she served chicken and in turn white wine was served.
Traveling through Spain Goetsch said she used the knowledge her host mom taught her.
"She was our supreme educator," Goetsch said.
Cynthia Kissik, junior in hotel and restaurant management, said food pairings used to always be determined by the meat color.
In addition there was a smaller selection of wine to pair with.
"Since there are so many blended things, the lines are getting blurred a little bit," Kissik said.
Because of her experiences with different wines abroad, Goetsch is more aware of the types she buys.
"I would pay more money for a Spanish wine than I would for a U.S. one," Goetsch said, "especially for red wine."
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