picking the perfect wine for my weekly wine night with the girls

Jenn, sounds like good evenings with friends, I would suggest this wine, and it's a steal at $3.99 here in N.C. Citra Montepulciano D'Abruzzo - from Italy pairs nicely with cheeses, crackers and smoked turkey on toothpicks.

If you were to move to Pinot Noir - Rex Goliath 47 Pound Rooster is around $9.99. Way under priced for the taste.

That's my 2 cents, can't wait to get other suggestions in this thread.

Thanks Dave, that sounds like a good idea. Of course, the grapes will be picked soon and my grandpa is going to make us girls sample his wine. Maybe I'll make some fun labels for his wine if it turns out ok.

Why? Why not COOK some FOOD too?

On what basis? It sounds like you have no clue as to what you are doing.

A wine....paired with a wine? HUH?

Of course you were. You have NO CLUE as to what you are doing.

How...charmingly naive....

A Chianti Riserva is intended for a hearty Tuscan dinner. It is NOT intended as a "sipping with the girls" wine.

Has anybody ever bothered to tell you that tasting wines in isolation is an utter waste of time? Italian wines, esopecially, are intended to be consumed WITH A MEAL.

That means: DO NOT TASTE WINES BY THEMSELVES!

DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

"UC" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...

Don't listen to him (sigh) Anders

UC, how cute. We needed the humor. hahaha. Don Rickles of our newsgroup, how cute. You should go into show business.

Jenn,

Subscribe, it's free, tothe

newsletter (it's free). They always list wines under $30, under $20, under $10. I can usually find one or more of their suggestions at Trader Joe's or Beverages and More in Sonoma County. I'm generally pleasantly surprised.

Don't work so hard on the food pairing. If you like the food and you like the wine, you would have to try hard to not like the 2 together.

Bryan

So you mean that if I like halibut and I like Zinfandel that they should go well together? I hope not.

Mark Lipton

Have you tried it? Don't be a wine snob, but if you don't like it, don't do it.

"Bryan" skrev i meddelandet news:HbqRg.7642$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com...

But, seriously Bryan, Jenn asked a question and wanted a piece of advice. She has also given the background - she is trying to find better alternatives for a group of as it appears soemwhat recalcitrant friends, she is also working hard and has not a lot of time to spend - I seriously do believe that trying to find good halibut and then cooking it, then serving it with a Zinfandel, would be a study in misery.

That said, I have not too seldom had fish with red wines (not Zins as they are ahrd to find this side of the pond), but a delicate fish like halibut would be (I believe) smothered by a rich wine such as (I also believe) Zins tend to be. This is not wine snobbery, but the fruit of 40 years experience of trying to cook edible dinners.

Now, TURBOT with a Zin might be more like it. Not for the good Jenn however who will have the same problem with a turbot as with a halibut - finding it and havign the time to cook it.

In the sincere hope of not offending

Cheers

Nils Gustaf

Jenn wrote: snip

If you're only looking for a wine to have with friends and no food, then I'd suggest a Riesling. These vary greatly, so if you're buying a German one, I'd suggest a Spatlese which'll be slightly sweeter or at the very least a Kabinett free of the Trocken (dry) tag, as the dryness in them tends to go quite nicely with food. Don't pick up an Australian one, as I've found that many of them are a little too acidic and assertive. Not sure how many Rieslings from New Zealand will ship to where you are, but my family and I quite enjoy them both paired with food and alone. If you can find them, they're usually very good value.

And if you're looking to pair it with any cheeses; softer, creamier ones like brie will go well with a lot of Rieslings.

Not at all.

A Chianti Riserva is not a wine for '"sipping with the girls". One does not have to be a wine snob to know this. This is basic, rudimentary. The trouble with Americans is that the Puritans and other anti-alcohol forces have created a society that does not have a clue on how to deal with wine. In Italy or France or Spain, children are taught how to drink wine from an early age. They are given wine along with their meal, which is what wine is for.

I visit wine stores all the time, and inevitably one encounters people who want to 'taste' wine but have no clue about what that actually entails. They also want to to sample wines in isolation that demand a meal to show themselves off.

To be blunt: you have no clue what you are doing, so of course the wines taste harsh. They were not intended to be tasted in isolation. If you really wnat to know what that Chianti Classico Riserva can do, serve it with a nice braised lamb leg.

It is not a matter of opinion.

Salmon often goes well with young Chianti Normale...

Yes, alas, I have.

What about that statement makes me a wine snob? The fact that I disagree with you? Or the fact that I prefer to have some wines rather than others with food? It's all too easy to dismiss dissenting opinion as wine snobbery. IME, most people find that low-acid wines (especially New World reds, but also many CA Chardonnays) when paired with fish don't have enough acid to get rid of the fish oils, so that the wine tastes fishy or metallic. Perhaps you don't mind fishy wines, in which case, have at it, Bryan. For my part, I'll steer clear -- and most of the people I know do likewise.

IMO, the statement that all wine goes well with all food is as ridiculous an assertion as a dogmatic "red wine with meat; white wine with fish" is. Both represent rigidly extreme viewpoints. Common sense dictates that, as in most of life, tradition does have value but shouldn't be taken as gospel. This is what a food-wine pairing guide is all about.

Now, you maybe are someone who doesn't always have food with wine. There are plenty of wines that are great on their own. But, if you're drinking wine with a meal, it's important to understand that certain combinations are really good while others may be disastrous (red wine and asparagus is another).

If you consider such views snobbery, then I guess that I'll just have to wear that label with pride.

Mark Lipton

Mark, I should like to add that the opposite of wine snobbery is just as bad. You will learn NOTHING about what Chianti Classico Riserva is intended to be like by sitting around sipping it while nibbling on goat cheese. Chianti Classico Riserva is a fairly big wine intended for, and well-suited for, big Tuscan-style dishes.

I do like Chianti Normale with Salmon baked in olive oil and butter.

Let me frank: If you want to learn about wine, ask FIRST what the best way to do that is, before doing any 'tasting'. Don't presume that you know anything whatosever about how to go about doing it. (In this case, it's obvious you don't.)

The first thting you should understand is that many wines are intended for and suitable ONLY as dinner wines. If you want to know how to enjoy a Chianti Riserva, take a Tuscan cooking class FIRST.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Wine-drinking and cooking are INEXTRICABLY connected. They have to be studied and learned as a whole.

I suggest you take an Italian cooking/wine class.

Well said.

I don't have a problem with anything people drink, from Thunderbird to Ch. Le Pin. And it's fine with me if you want to drink your Le Pin with lemon sole, or vinho verde with elk venison. But if we're on a wine newsgroup, and discussing wine with food, then we should be able to talk about what most people think works, and any disagreements we have. That's not snobbery.

As I've stated here before, I'm pretty ok with the fact my dad drinks a glass of Taylor Lake Country Red for health reasons. I have dear friends I love who have never spent in double digits for a wine, and probably have never bought anything that wasn't from a major multinational. I don't think less of them for their choices. But if folks choose to post on a wine newsgroup, one would think they have some interest in discerning differences between wines (regardless of price) and might have an interest in pairings that others have found positive (and negative). That's not snobbery.

If caring what you drink and what its paired with is snobbery, I'll join the snob club.