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Choosing wine for your dinner party - eliminating the mystery
What color goes with what food, how much to pay for a good wine, what wine matches what food - and on the questions go. How on earth is a non-expert supposed to deal with all these questions about choosing wine? Well first, we need to remind ourselves not to get overwhelmed by the mystique. Most of us aren’t trying to become sommeliers (experts on wine service). That’s a career in itself All we’re trying to do is serve our guests some pleasing food and wine combinations. You can manage very well with some basic information on choosing wine, married to your own preferences. Also... Don’t be afraid to take advice. Consult your local wine store. You’ll almost always find a staff person who knows enough matching food and about wine to steer you right. They love to advise so don’t feel shy if you don’t know the first thing about wines. Give them the pleasure of holding forth on what is probably their favorite topic. But whether or not you have a conversation with your local wine store staff, you can apply some simple guidelines to help you in choosing wine. (Remember, they’re only guidelines. As always, remember that your guests are grateful that someone is cooking for them. They aren’t coming to your home dinner party focused on whether you chose the “correct” wine or not. They know you are not running a gourmet wine bar out of your kitchen. Focus on four guidelines: There are really only four key items you need to consider in choosing wine. With these guidelines, you’ll be way ahead of most people in knowing about choosing wine for your dinner party. And they are pretty straightforward:
Weight: Weight for wines just refers to alcohol content. Light means about 8 to 10 percent alcohol. Medium-bodied means about 10.5% to 12%, and full-bodied means about 12.5% to 16% alcohol.For example, if you are serving a light fish dish try picking a wine that is light in alcohol content and see how you like this food and wine match. Flavor: The next consideration is the flavor and texture of your dish. Sweet dishes should be matched with sweeter wines, heavier, saltier and more robust dishes should be matched with more acidic wines. Often wines are rated on the wine store rack from 0 (very dry or non-sweet) to 10 (very sweet). If you are not sure about the degree of sweetness, just ask the wine staff. Usually people match the flavor to the strongest dish. So if you are serving a highly flavored dish, you should choose the wine based on your strongest flavor. Otherwise your flavored dish will overpower the wine. If you are a little unsure on this point, just google and you’ll find a ton of specific suggestions for wines that match dishes you are serving. Color: What color should I serve with what dishes?
Otherwise, people generally choose white with lighter-weight or paler dishes, and red with weightier dishes. If you are hosting, you will be safe going with these guidelines. But remember, they are only guidelines. Do you know that your guests have different preferences, such as always preferring red wine no matter what is being served? Then don’t be afraid to serve red wine with fish or otherwise depart from the guidelines to please your guests. Cost: How much should you spend? Here’s a good way to put anxiety to rest about how much you pay. If you bought a bottle of wine that cost $100.00 and you hated the taste, would you call that a “good” wine? Maybe someone else thinks so, but it’s not a good wine for you if you don’t like it. Choose something else.Why not start at or near the bottom end of the price list and try choosing wine that falls in with the other three guidelines above. Then if you are feeling rich, you can try choosing a wine in a higher price bracket. But whatever the price, as long as you like it, you are off to a good start. |
Ah the mystique of choosing wine. It brings up a thousand questions.
Well first off, champagne goes with everything.