*whines* I wanna know about wine.....

Factual Questions
1

I am almost completely ignorant about wine. I do know the first thing-wine with screw caps is not generally one of the better weeks. With that out of the way, can some of the more savvy dopers fill me in on this subject? My Ex-wife didn’t like wine, so while I can cook up a storm, I am never sure what wine goes with what. I am hoping for the following info from this thread.

A: What type of wine goes with what type of food, and why? Are there exceptions?

B: How do you serve the different types of wine? Red wine at room temp and allowing it to breath and all that stuff.

C: Specific wines that you like- Example “when eating shrimp scampi, I enjoy a chatteau fromage '97”

D: Please try to limit yourself to reasonable prices. Saying X wine is a bargain at only $5000/bottle does me no good at all.

E: How to store wine. I have a Berringer White Zin that’s been in my fridge for a couple of weeks. Should I take it out? And my apt isn’t air conditioned. It prolly averages 75-80 degrees in here during the summer. Is that too hot? ( i.e.-buy the wine just before the meal, rather than storing it)

F: How to pronounce the wine’s name. I don’t speak French. ( although, I believe my mythical vinyard above would be the “house of cheese”)

I apreciate any help. Now that I’m dating again, one of my favorite things to do is cook for my dates. Since my dinners are lovingly prepaired and exquisitely presented, I’d rather not feel like I was offering " Another glass of Thunderbird, my dear?"

2

A. Well, I’m sure you know that the rule is red with meat dishes and white with fish, poultry, etc. But rules are made to be broken. The best thing to do is taste the different types and use your own judgement. For example, cabernet sauvignon is a popular red wine. It tends to be very dry and bold with a very assertive fruity flavor and fairly heavy tannin (a bitter flavor). It goes well other things that have assertive flavors, such as meat, pasta with red sauces, etc. However, it would be equally appropriate with, say, roast chicked with rosemary and garlic. On the other hand, that white zinfandel you’ve got is light and sweet (that’s why white zin got so popular). It goes best with light foods–it’s a popular picnic wine.

B. Red wines are best served at “cool” room temperature. White wines are usually refrigerated, but, with the exception of champagne, they shouldn’t be ice cold. Any wine your or I could afford to buy on a regular basis probably doesn’t need to “breathe” much.

C. See discussion of cabernet sauvignon above. Other favorites: pinot noir with duck or pork dishes. Chardonnay with salmon or lighter chicken dishes. Sauvignon blanc with creamy dishes.

D. In my area you can get a good wine starting at about 7-10 bucks. Wineries I like that should be readily available: Mondavi (either one), Buena Vista, Clos du Bois, Berringer (although white zin is not a fave of mine).
Also look for French, Italian, or Australian wines in the same price range. A lot of people rave about the cheap Chilean reds, too, but I don’t really like them.

E. Leave it in the fridge. White zin should be served pretty cold anyway. Otherwise, a day or two in the heat isn’t going to hurt it much.

F. Cab-ber-nay So-veen-gnon. So-veen-gnon Blonk. Pee-no Nwar.
Other info: Pinot noir is the same grape that French Burgandy is made from. Cabernet Sauvignon is the main ingredient for Bordeaux, although the French usually blend it with a couple of other grapes.

Red zinfandel is similar in “weight” to cabernet sauvignon. Merlot (Mer-low), which is popular these days is a bit lighter–more similar to pinot noir, but usually cheaper.

If you prefer your wines sweeter, try Reisling (rees-ling) or Gewirztraminer (figure it out.) They go with the same types of dishes that white zin does, but they tend to be more complex.

Champagne is always welcome.

Good beer goes with everything.

3

Try evineyard.com’s “about wine” section… it’s heuge…

:slight_smile:
Meg

4

A. Any type of wine could go with any type of food.

This issue is often presented as one in which wine snobs lay down laws which wine libertarians cheerfully break.

As a rule of thumb, however red wines are more intensely flavored than white wines. Likewise, as a rule of thumb, “red” dishes (those based on red meats such as beef or lamb) are more intensely flavored than “white” dishes (those based on fish or vegetables). You’ll want to taste both the food and the wine (if one is drinking strictly to get drunk, drink Everclear).

There are exceptions to both rules, of course. If you have drunk X wine with Y dish, and found them to be compatible, by all means continue to do so. If, however, you are taking your girlfriend (or even your wife) to Le Upscale for dinner, and find yourself confronted with a dozen dishes and four dozen wines whose very names you can’t pronounce, you’re more likely to get a good combination by choosing according to “red with red, white with white”.

B. Red wine should be served at 18[sup]th[/sup]-century room temperature, which is 5-10°F below what we effete children of central heating are used to. Whites are generally served at cellar temperature, about 50-55°F. Only Champagne should be really cold. (Asti Spumante should be poured down the drain).

You want to develop the flavor, best done at the quoted temperatures. Whilst a bit of oxidation helps develop the flavor, not enough air gets into the bottle to be worthwhile. Pour the wine into the glasses ten minutes early if it’s been cooped in the bottle for ten years (you’d want to breathe too, under those circumstances).

C. I like most clarets and Cabernet Sauvignons, and some Zinfandels. I seldom drink whites with meals. Kendall-Jackson is, IMHO, the best American. Beaulieu Valley is second (they have very good wines, but also some bad ones; K-J is more consistent).

D. You probably don’t want to know what I’ve paid for a bottle of wine. :slight_smile:

E. Beringer White Zin is…well, there’s probably not much you can do to lower its quality further.

75-80°F is definitely too warm for storage. Constancy of temperature is, up to 70°F, more important than absolute temperatures. Buy your wine the previous day, or mooch a corner of a buddy’s wine cellar.

I don’t want to scare you into thinking that 24 hours at 79°F is going to turn your Cheateau Expensive into vinegar, though. But short periods of storage aren’t going to do anything; no wine will helped in any way by a week in a climate-controled vault. If you’re not planning to store wine for a couple of years, buy it as needed straight out of the liquor store, and hope that they stored it properly.

F. Who cares? Them furriners can’t spell nohow :slight_smile: (It was a few years before I stopped calling Haut Brion “Ho Brian”).

5

Ask your date if she is a wine drinker and would mind bringing a bottle. Check out the Dummies Guide to Wine. There are some other pretty good wine guide books available, but I can’t think of the names of them. Wine Spectator magazine will also point you to some of the better, less expensive wines on the market. Wine tasting festivals are a good way to become familiar with what is out there, but usually they specialize in regional wines, and I’m not sure how that would be in your part of the country… You might also check and see if there are any wine classes in your area. I like Spanish riojas, but they’re a bit heavy for some people.

1997 was a great year for California reds, btw. Even the cheaper Mondavis, etc. are better than average from that year.

6
  1. Everyone else covered the “rules”. Drink whatever the fuck you want. I personally hate all whites (okay, I dig Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, but THAT’S IT!!!) so I drink Cabs, with an occassional zinfandel (red, NOT white, bleagh!).

Wine is all about personal taste, drink what you like!

  1. Akatsukami has it correct. Reds should be served at WINE CELLAR room temperature. We have a wine fridge in the garage which we keep set at 56 degrees. We keep whites and sparkling wines in the regular fridge.

  2. I prefer Cabs from the Oakville district of Napa. These include (but aren’t limited to) Groth, Silver Oak, Plumpjack, Cakebread (pretty good white) and Mondavi. I also like Bell, Grgich Hills, Caymus, The Hess Collection and Heitz.

  3. Most of those are $50-80/bottle for current releases but you don’t need to spend that much to get a good bottle of wine. Beringer makes a (IIRC) Knight’s Valley Cab that’s excellent and only about $20.

  4. Nothing you do to Beringer Whie Zin can make it taste any worse, throw that sewage out. Bottles should be on their side. Whites are made to drink immediately anyway, so refrigerating is fine.

If you’re going to store (and age) reds, be aware that they age faster the higher the ambiant temp. Better to not fool with that until you have access to a cellar. Any really good wine shop will prolly have some older bottles, secured through auctions or estate sales anyway.

  1. I sorta disagree with Cher’s phonetics.

Ca-ber-nay Saw-vih-gnon, is better, I think. And slur. :slight_smile:

Oh, and Moet (as in Moet & Chandon) is pronounced Mwet. Moet wasn’t French, he was Belgian or something.