A good simple sauce to enhance with a strong young red wine starts with fresh tomatoes simmered down slowly in olive oil until they collapse into a savory paste, at which point you can add herbs and garlic and onions and simmer down some more. If you feel like experimenting, throw other things into the sauce that the taste of the wine reminds you of. Fruit works surprisingly well. So do peppers and olives and savory vegetables. You can do quite a nice thing with an herby, peppery Sauvignon Blanc by adding it to a basic light cream sauce and throwing in diced bell peppers and freshly ground black pepper.
Italian herbs work wonderfully with a full-bodied, tannic red.
You can experiment with lemon, lime and orange to bring out citrus notes in a Chardonnay. Essentially the same principle applies to flaming off liqueurs and spirits as to reducing wine. You are flaming off a large part of the alcohol content and applying high heat for a brief time to the liquid. It does change the taste structure, but the basic flavor elements of the liqueur remain intact, and you can still taste them. So yes, use something that is at least drinkable.