Artichokes

No. I don't try too hard, though. Artichokes tend to impart a jarring sweetness to wine that I find actively unpleasant. So, I'll drink water with artichoke and wait to have the wine later.

Mark Lipton

I tend to agree with Mark Lipton and avoid wine with artichokes. If artichoke hearts or bottoms are used as a garnish, as in several old fashioned French dishes, you can make the best of the situation by eating the artichoke after a bite of the meat, then have another bite of meat, have a sip of wine and continue the process. Bites of meat on either side of a bite of artichoke tend to clear the palate.

Some people apparently will tolerate a not-too-fine wine with artichokes. Hugh Johnson suggests an incisive dry white such as a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Cotes de Gascogne, or modern Greek with artichoke viinaigrette. He also suggests a young Bordeaux or Cotes du Rhone red. For artichoke with hollandaise he suggests a full-bodied slightly crisp dry white such as Pouilly-Fuisse, Pfalz spatlese, or a Carneros or Yarra Valley Chardonnay.

Yeah, Badoit is about best match I've tried.

Following cwdjrxyz's thoughts, I wonder what would happen with a painfully austere young white, say a Savennieres? Could the sweetness effect make it seem like sec-tendre or demi-sec Vouvray? :)

DaleW wrote on Mon, 5 May 2008 11:01:47 -0700 (PDT):

I think I agree with drinking water. I once had a bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc open and sipped a little. It was not a success, tho' after drinking some water, I could enjoy the wine with the rest of the meal.

Yes, I did. In principle only with artichokes with hollandaise, not with vinaigrette. In this case I tend to serve the same wine as with asparagus with hollandaise: A full bodied (13%) dry white without any wood, something like an Austrian chardonnay, pinot blanc, pinot gris, neuburger, zierfandler or rotgipfler, of at least 4 to 5 years of age.

That works perfectly with me.

M.