Hors d'œuvre pairing with wine

[lynng]

Hello all - I need a bit of advice for some simple hors d'oeuvre pairings with wines from different regions around the world. I have the cheeses covered and we'll have bread and crackers, but I was hoping to get ideas for a typical hors d'oeuvre from that region to go along with the wine.

We plan to have 1 cabernet and 1 reisling from the Niagara Region in Canada, 1 shiraz and 1 chardonnay from Australia, 1 bordeaux or burgundy and 1 chablis from France, 1 merlot from California, 1 chianti from Italy, and 1 tempranillo from Spain or Portugal.

All suggestions apppreciated - tx!

[RicRios]

This is a frequently recurring subject in this board, the epitome of related posts being probably : http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/593914

[lynng]

Thanks for the suggestions whiner - will definitely include those, and for the link RicRios.
I probably should have phrased my question differently - we're hoping to have some kitchy pairings i.e. bruschetta with the italian chianti, maybe some mini elk burgers with the cabernet - that sort of thing.
So maybe what I am really asking is if anyone knows of a few good Australian and Spanish appetizers :)

[whiner]

lynng,

Spanish appetizers I can help you with a little. Australian? Understand there is no deep history of wine nor Western food in Australia. And most of Australias recent culinary advances have more to do with beer. Whereas I can reccomend peas with pork belly, serrano, roast suckling pig, paellea, choriz stuffed dates, for Spanish wines, Australian wines simply have no obvious pairings. Honestly, the best pairing I can think of for an Aussie Shiraz is a Philly cheese steak sandwich.

I hope I'mnot being too blunt. I don't mean to be. But, at least as far as Australia goes, you simply don't have the same sense of place, or history, that you would with pairing a Tuscan wine to a Tuscan dish. That sort of natural pairing just doesn't exist in Australia.

[Aaron]

This is very true, but there are still a few things that I think of as typically Australian. For instance, all the burgers I ate there were served with canned beet slices and pineapple rings. You could make sliders of that (w/ some nice roasted beets) and to my mind that would match nicely with Shiraz.

[carswell]

Kangaroo kebabs.

[whiner]

I'd justg put out olives and charcuterie and you're covered. Maybe some good priscutto or serrano.