You might enjoy a glass of wine with my meal some times and may not know what wines go with what foods.
At a friends wine tasting, I tasted a glass of wine that tasted awful by it self. Then he had us eat a piece of cheese and then taste the wine, I could not believe it was the same wine. Below is a chart to compare foods and wines and more. enjoy.
Steak and Cabernet Sauvignon--Huge classic. The proteins and fats in the steak really soften and mellow out the tannins in the wine and bring forward the fruit flavors. Yum.
Tomato-based Pasta Sauce and Sangiovese (Chianti Classico)--Yes, please! The same goes for pizza. Sangiovese (the main grape in Chianti) doesn't shy away from the acid in the tomatoes. Other Sangiovese-based wines are Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello di Montalcino. There are also varietal Sangiovese wines being grown successfully in California, Washington state and other places beyond Italy.
Seafood and Chardonnay (White Burgundy) -- In fact, Chardonnay is a popular match with lots of seafood. It has nice acid, and makes seafood taste fresh; it's like a bright squeeze of lemon!
Spicy Asian Food and Riesling--This works so well because Riesling's touch of sweetness and relatively low alcohol can help take the sting off the heat of spicy dishes. A highly alcoholic wine, by contrast, would just make you feel the burn.
Blue Cheese and Sweet Dessert Wines (Sauternes, for example)--It's the contrast here that works so well! The salty cheese against the sweet wine delivers big, big, utterly gigantic flavor.
The Whites
Chardonnay is a very versatile wine grape: its flavor and aromas are easily influenced by where it's grown and how it's made. When barreled in oak, it takes on a richness characterized by honey and butter flavors. When barreled in stainless steel, it often retains more mineral flavors and comes across as fresher on the palate. Chardonnay excels in Burgundy, France. Cool coastal areas of California also produce excellent Chardonnay.
Chardonnay is a favorite with seafood.
Riesling is a crisp, clean wine. With age, Riesling takes on honey flavors and attractive oily aromas. Riesling grows well in Germany, the Alsace region of France, the Finger Lakes region of New York, and parts of Australia and Washington State.
Riesling pairs nicely with spicy foods, poultry. Try it with Thai food.
Pinot Gris is made from grapes that generally produce different styles of wine depending on where the grapes are grown and how they're handled in the cellar. In the Alsace region of France, and in places like Oregon and New Zealand, Pinot Gris typically makes rich wines marked by a bit of spice. The Italian style (Pinot Grigio) tends to be fresh, crisp and refreshing.
Sample either style with seafood and pasta dishes, vegetarian food and poultry.
Sauvignon Blanc is a fresh, crisp, aromatic wine. This wine is the star of the Loire region of France. It also shines in the Bordeaux region, where it is often blended with Semillon. In the New World, New Zealand has emerged as a prime spot for Sauvignon Blanc.
Sauvignon Blanc is a food-friendly wine that goes well with many seafood, poultry and vegetable dishes.
The Reds
Merlot is a soft, supple wine with nice fruit flavors and aromas. Typically, it is ready to drink earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon, which sometimes needs a few years for its astringent tannins to mellow. Outside of Europe, New World Merlot shines in places like California, Chile and Washington State.
Cabernet Sauvignon is more assertive than Merlot, with more tannin and greater aging potential. Aged in oak, Beyond Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon does well in Napa, California, where it produces smooth, ripe wines. Washington State, Chile and Australia are also making excellent Cabernet.
Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are very nice with meat dishes like beef and lamb.
Pinot Noir, a notoriously difficult grape to grow, made its mark initially in Burgundy, France. The grape continues to deliver single-varietal wines that are among the best in the world. Pinot Noirs are delicate wines. In the New World, tasty Pinot Noir is being made in Oregon, New Zealand, and some of the cooler appellations of California.
Pinot Noir is a versatile food wine, great with poultry, salmon, meat and vegetable dishes.
Syrah is at home in the Rhone region of France, where the grape makes spicy, rich, darkly delicious wines that increase in complexity as they age. Syrah also makes delicious wines in Australia, where it is marketed as Shiraz. Syrah also excels in Washington State, where it often displays an attractive acid balance, and in California, where the styles vary significantly.
Syrah is a very versatile wine that pairs well with a wide variety of foods. It's terrific with grilled meats.
Other Reds to Consider
Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Malbec, Tempranillo, Gamay, Zinfandel.
Which glasses are best for what type of wine?
You can drink wine from any glass, but some glasses really do offer advantages. Glasses with bigger, tulip-shaped bowls improve red wines by capturing and showing off the aromas. Whites are served cooler, which can tamp down aromas, and are fine in the smaller, narrower glasses with less of a tapered rim. I drink my reds and whites out of the same big tulip-shaped glasses.
How much should you pour?
Five ounces is considered a serving for both white and red wine. Pour 6 ounces into a big glass.
What about those bistro glasses?
Those work fine, particularly with pizza or something rustic and fun. But it is interesting to notice the way that a wine's aromas are captured in tulip-shaped glasses. You can try it yourself as an experiment: drink the same wine out of a bistro glass and then a tulip-shaped glass. I think you'll see how much more aroma, and therefore flavor, there is with wine served in the traditional tulip-shaped glasses.
What's the best way to store wine?
It really depends. If you have half a bottle but you know you'll drink it the next day, just put a cork in it and store it on the counter. But if you know it's going to sit there for several days, you can do a few things to preserve it--because once the bottle is exposed to oxygen the wine begins to deteriorate.
*Pour the remaining wine into a smaller container. A plastic water bottle works fine, and you can crinkle the edges to eliminate more air.
*Vacuum pump it to draw out the air.
*Cork it and refrigerate (which slows down the chemical reaction) but be sure to take red wines out in time to bring the temperature back up before drinking
What is the life span of re-corked or refrigerated wine?
Wine can last a while re-corked in the fridge or put into smaller containers that eliminate oxygen. I have kept white wine in the fridge for a couple weeks, and I have not found that they've gone off. In my house, red wine never sticks around that long.
But if you only drink a glass or two on the weekends, I'd invest in a vacuum pump--available at wine merchants and some supermarkets. Vacuum pump the air out of the bottle and store it in the fridge. Take red wine out of the refrigerator on Thursday to enjoy it the following night.
It's good to remember that you're never going to drink the same wine twice: too many flavor compounds are busy at work, changing, improving in many ways but then deteriorating once they're exposed to air.
Can you freeze wine, say in an ice tray?
You could. I've never done it because I drink it or add it straight to a sauce or stew without freezing. But you can use it like ice cubes made of stock to add depth to sauces and soups.
Any personal suggestions for leftover wine?
I like to finish a sauce with the same wine I'm drinking with dinner--it builds a tasty flavor bridge between the food and the wine.
At a friends wine tasting, I tasted a glass of wine that tasted awful by it self. Then he had us eat a piece of cheese and then taste the wine, I could not believe it was the same wine. Below is a chart to compare foods and wines and more. enjoy.
Steak and Cabernet Sauvignon--Huge classic. The proteins and fats in the steak really soften and mellow out the tannins in the wine and bring forward the fruit flavors. Yum.
Tomato-based Pasta Sauce and Sangiovese (Chianti Classico)--Yes, please! The same goes for pizza. Sangiovese (the main grape in Chianti) doesn't shy away from the acid in the tomatoes. Other Sangiovese-based wines are Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello di Montalcino. There are also varietal Sangiovese wines being grown successfully in California, Washington state and other places beyond Italy.
Seafood and Chardonnay (White Burgundy) -- In fact, Chardonnay is a popular match with lots of seafood. It has nice acid, and makes seafood taste fresh; it's like a bright squeeze of lemon!
Spicy Asian Food and Riesling--This works so well because Riesling's touch of sweetness and relatively low alcohol can help take the sting off the heat of spicy dishes. A highly alcoholic wine, by contrast, would just make you feel the burn.
Blue Cheese and Sweet Dessert Wines (Sauternes, for example)--It's the contrast here that works so well! The salty cheese against the sweet wine delivers big, big, utterly gigantic flavor.
The Whites
Chardonnay is a very versatile wine grape: its flavor and aromas are easily influenced by where it's grown and how it's made. When barreled in oak, it takes on a richness characterized by honey and butter flavors. When barreled in stainless steel, it often retains more mineral flavors and comes across as fresher on the palate. Chardonnay excels in Burgundy, France. Cool coastal areas of California also produce excellent Chardonnay.
Chardonnay is a favorite with seafood.
Riesling is a crisp, clean wine. With age, Riesling takes on honey flavors and attractive oily aromas. Riesling grows well in Germany, the Alsace region of France, the Finger Lakes region of New York, and parts of Australia and Washington State.
Riesling pairs nicely with spicy foods, poultry. Try it with Thai food.
Pinot Gris is made from grapes that generally produce different styles of wine depending on where the grapes are grown and how they're handled in the cellar. In the Alsace region of France, and in places like Oregon and New Zealand, Pinot Gris typically makes rich wines marked by a bit of spice. The Italian style (Pinot Grigio) tends to be fresh, crisp and refreshing.
Sample either style with seafood and pasta dishes, vegetarian food and poultry.
Sauvignon Blanc is a fresh, crisp, aromatic wine. This wine is the star of the Loire region of France. It also shines in the Bordeaux region, where it is often blended with Semillon. In the New World, New Zealand has emerged as a prime spot for Sauvignon Blanc.
Sauvignon Blanc is a food-friendly wine that goes well with many seafood, poultry and vegetable dishes.
The Reds
Merlot is a soft, supple wine with nice fruit flavors and aromas. Typically, it is ready to drink earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon, which sometimes needs a few years for its astringent tannins to mellow. Outside of Europe, New World Merlot shines in places like California, Chile and Washington State.
Cabernet Sauvignon is more assertive than Merlot, with more tannin and greater aging potential. Aged in oak, Beyond Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon does well in Napa, California, where it produces smooth, ripe wines. Washington State, Chile and Australia are also making excellent Cabernet.
Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are very nice with meat dishes like beef and lamb.
Pinot Noir, a notoriously difficult grape to grow, made its mark initially in Burgundy, France. The grape continues to deliver single-varietal wines that are among the best in the world. Pinot Noirs are delicate wines. In the New World, tasty Pinot Noir is being made in Oregon, New Zealand, and some of the cooler appellations of California.
Pinot Noir is a versatile food wine, great with poultry, salmon, meat and vegetable dishes.
Syrah is at home in the Rhone region of France, where the grape makes spicy, rich, darkly delicious wines that increase in complexity as they age. Syrah also makes delicious wines in Australia, where it is marketed as Shiraz. Syrah also excels in Washington State, where it often displays an attractive acid balance, and in California, where the styles vary significantly.
Syrah is a very versatile wine that pairs well with a wide variety of foods. It's terrific with grilled meats.
Other Reds to Consider
Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Malbec, Tempranillo, Gamay, Zinfandel.
Which glasses are best for what type of wine?
You can drink wine from any glass, but some glasses really do offer advantages. Glasses with bigger, tulip-shaped bowls improve red wines by capturing and showing off the aromas. Whites are served cooler, which can tamp down aromas, and are fine in the smaller, narrower glasses with less of a tapered rim. I drink my reds and whites out of the same big tulip-shaped glasses.
How much should you pour?
Five ounces is considered a serving for both white and red wine. Pour 6 ounces into a big glass.
What about those bistro glasses?
Those work fine, particularly with pizza or something rustic and fun. But it is interesting to notice the way that a wine's aromas are captured in tulip-shaped glasses. You can try it yourself as an experiment: drink the same wine out of a bistro glass and then a tulip-shaped glass. I think you'll see how much more aroma, and therefore flavor, there is with wine served in the traditional tulip-shaped glasses.
What's the best way to store wine?
It really depends. If you have half a bottle but you know you'll drink it the next day, just put a cork in it and store it on the counter. But if you know it's going to sit there for several days, you can do a few things to preserve it--because once the bottle is exposed to oxygen the wine begins to deteriorate.
*Pour the remaining wine into a smaller container. A plastic water bottle works fine, and you can crinkle the edges to eliminate more air.
*Vacuum pump it to draw out the air.
*Cork it and refrigerate (which slows down the chemical reaction) but be sure to take red wines out in time to bring the temperature back up before drinking
What is the life span of re-corked or refrigerated wine?
Wine can last a while re-corked in the fridge or put into smaller containers that eliminate oxygen. I have kept white wine in the fridge for a couple weeks, and I have not found that they've gone off. In my house, red wine never sticks around that long.
But if you only drink a glass or two on the weekends, I'd invest in a vacuum pump--available at wine merchants and some supermarkets. Vacuum pump the air out of the bottle and store it in the fridge. Take red wine out of the refrigerator on Thursday to enjoy it the following night.
It's good to remember that you're never going to drink the same wine twice: too many flavor compounds are busy at work, changing, improving in many ways but then deteriorating once they're exposed to air.
Can you freeze wine, say in an ice tray?
You could. I've never done it because I drink it or add it straight to a sauce or stew without freezing. But you can use it like ice cubes made of stock to add depth to sauces and soups.
Any personal suggestions for leftover wine?
I like to finish a sauce with the same wine I'm drinking with dinner--it builds a tasty flavor bridge between the food and the wine.
