Everyday Wines, Everyday Foods

Although I really love good Italian wines, California Cabernets and Pinot Noirs, the wine I most frequently have with dinner is Santa Barbara County barrel fermented Chardonnay. It goes very nicely with grilled fish or chicken, and I have a _very_ large supply of it! :^)

Tom S

I like some of the Columbia Crest offerings, The Cline's are always a good choice as are Rosenblum's Zins. There are a bevy of terrific Alsatian varietals available for everyday drinking and I drink a lot of different Cote du Rhone, Gigondas and St Josephs all under $20.00. Lately I've been drinking a fair amount of J-M Brocard's Bourgogne Blanc from a 3 litre box. Bi!!

There's no one size fits all, no wine is a good match for all everyday fare. But I usually try to have at least a bottle in each "category" of the following (many under $10, only the Lafarge more than $15):

Basic food-friendly reds : Lighter: Brun (terres Dorres) L'Ancien Beaujolais, Clair Haute-Cotes-de-Beaune, ? Medium-Cline CA Zin (not 2000), CdR from d'Andezon, Gallo of Sonoma CS, Borsao, Vina Alarba, Lafarge Bourgogne, Viticcio Chianti Fuller: Bogle Petit Sirah, 2000 Lanessan, 2000 Coufran

Basic food-friendly whites: Crisper: Giesen SB, Trimbach Riesling, Clos Roche Blanche Sauvignon Fuller: Brun (Terres Dorres) Beaujolais Blanc Aromatic: Trimbach Gew, Domane Wachau GV Off-dry: various Qba (Loosen, Thanisch, etc.) or Kabinett (Selbach-Oster, Strub) Rieslings

I know this wasn't your point, but I would like to point out that braised lamb is pretty easy to make, and about the most wine-friendly food you could ever serve. :)

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

In Australia we are lucky to have such varying produce and variety..

meals include seafood such as Salmon Cutlets on the Webber BBQ with a nice West Australian Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, or McLaren Vale Chardonnay..

Vietnamese Combination Noodles with a Mudgee or Barossa Shiraz..

but the Australian Favourite meals is Roast Lamb, cooked rare-medium, with a nice blend red such as Grenache Shiraz Mouvredre, or an aged Shiraz.. (my personnel Fav)..

Nice wine. Our everyday SB is the Villa Maria 2002 Private Bin, which around here costs about US$12.

The Cline CA and Ancient Vines Zins are also great values, especially the

2001s. Our recent house reds have been Cotes du Rhones from Domaine de L'Espigouette and Ravenswood 2001 Vintners Blend.

So much depends on what you eat, however. We tend to eat more vegetables and birds, so we tend not to need as many Cabernets as many might. The other factor is that we now have enough older wines in the cellar that we can pull out a few wines every week and not worry about depleting the supply -- so our "everyday" wines are in part things from the cellar now... ;-)

Mark Lipton