If most wine was meant to be drunk while eating...

...Then doesn't that follow that most wines were probably developed to go well with local specialty dishes/ingredients?

But in wine competitions, musn't a wine be able to stand alone?

Doesn't that present a contradiction?

Reply to
aesthete8
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Just my opinion. No. I'm not sure that when wines were "developed" that they were "developed to go well with local specialty dishes/ ingredients" since they grew what would grow or what they had available both in grapes and in foods. They also had a fairly limited amount of "science" to manipulate the wine(s). What I've read suggests that wines of today vary significantly from wines of earlier times. My guess is that reciepes were modified to make them accompany the wines not the other way around. Our sense of taste, flavor and culture may have an affect on how we percieve matches of food and wine. While insect larvae may be quite tasty to some cultures, it seems unappealing to me but I haven't had centuries to aquire a taste for them. Lastly, I'm not sure that artisinal winemaking and competitive winemaking have much in common. Like home made BBQ or Chili and competition grade....two different cusines. While I enjoy the occasional chili competition or BBQ winner, they are too over the top for everyday eating for me.....much like wine competition winners.

Reply to
Bi!!

Indeed. That would be the case for many wines.

It should also be noted that better wines were developed/adjusted for their export markets - local economies alone could not support expensive wines. Bordeaux was bought largely by Brits, Loire wines IIRC went to Northern mainland Europe. Alsace exported wines to the rest of the country - whichever country that was - and adjusted their style depending on whether it was France or Germany.

Reply to
Steve Slatcher

But I don't think all that really addresses the original question.

I think a lot of wines today are better with food, and I prefer to drink them with food, so yes, there is a contradiction.

However, I observe tht many people DO drink wine without food, and I suspect that was always the case to an extent.

Reply to
Steve Slatcher

with local specialty dishes/ingredients?

Correct - in Europe.

Yes, which is why many Orstrilian and Californian wines do well in tastings.

Not if one is aware of it and tastes for oneself. That said, a really good wine writer (hi, Michael) knows enough about matching food and wine not to be fooled by superficial attractiveness.

-- All the best Fatty from Forges

Reply to
IanH

Or unattractiveness.

As part of a local wine course last year, I provided a set of foods to go with a range of wines.

One of the most interesting was a Chianti Classico - tasted without food it was acidic and tannic, ok in a Chianti sort of way but nothing to write home about. However with the chicken in tomato and red pepper casserole from a Tuscan recipe, both the wine and food were elevated to a different level. There was a 100% "Gosh!" around the room as we tasted.

I think it a real pity that the internationalization of the wine market is resulting in the loss of regional differences - perfectly understandable from the producers' point of view as they want access to the wider markets, but a pity none the less.

pk

Reply to
pk

"IanH" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Hey, where is Orstrilia? Is that a Frenglish name?

Anders

Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

"st.helier" skrev i melding news:hdtg7g$ki3$ snipped-for-privacy@aioe.org...

Oh, I see :-) But, wouldn't Ozstrilia be a more correct spelling?

;-) Anders

Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

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