Wine first, or food first?

"Rich R" wrote in news:Vkqyc.25271$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com:

You are not a true wine nut yet. People that are enthusiastic about wine would not think of picking up a restaurant menu without first looking at the wine list. If a meal has been chosen i.e. "Honey we're having X for dinner." picking a wine to go with the meal is allowed. When asked about food, like in a restaurant or planning a dinner party, if you have to ask if the wine or food should be chosen first, you are not a true wine lover. As your palate becomes more educated, you will think to yourself "What food goes with this wine?" rather than "What wine goes with this food?"

Fred.

97% of the time I hear from Betsy what we're having, then choose wine. When there's a special occasion (I have a particular bottle I want to serve for someone), I ask Betsy to meet my guidelines (i.e,. my brother is coming Monday, I'm serving a Bdx from his birthyear, what else but roast chicken for a 43 yr old claret?!?!). Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Hmmm. My pattern isn't so cut and dried as that. I scan menu, have some options. Then scan winelist. I usually choose based on food. Sometimes, of course, there's one amazing value on list. Or maybe NOTHING that matches with my food choice. Then I choose what would work with wine. I'd say at home food defines wine choice, at restaurant they're close to equal (slight advantage food?).

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

wine : food :: cart : horse

That's a super theory, but you must get stymied time and time again. So you pick a great bottle of wine, go to the menu, and guess what? Nothing matches! I suppose you could keep going back to the wine list and try again, but suddenly an hour has passed and you're nowhere near enjoying anything (wine or food, that is) At a great restaurant, the wine list tends to be far more extensive than the menu. Extreme example: a tasting menu. There's a good reason for this, and it's not that they want to snub the "wine nut." e.

This thread came to me after I read a question posed by Bill Spohn in another group. Paraphrasing, "If you could take a pill that would negate any buzz, would you still enjoy wine?" I thought this was an excellent question, and he posed it much better than I. Got me thinking. No, I don't like a wine buzz. I do like a vodka martini before dinner for the buzz. But wine, no. So my enjoyment of wine is directly derived from the food I am eating while drinking.

Rich R.

The 97% applies to me, too.

Rich R.

] "Rich R" wrote in ] news:Vkqyc.25271$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com: ] ] > This subject has been beat up. My wine orientation: I admire guys ] > that can just taste. Not me. I need some goat cheese and some ] > Sancerre. I will be always hedonistic. ] > ] > Had an "aha" today. I realized that I choose wine for the meal I am ] > hungry for. Never the other way around. I would like to enjoy wine on ] > the merits of the wine itself, but can never do that without of ] > context of food. ] ] You are not a true wine nut yet. People that are enthusiastic about wine ] would not think of picking up a restaurant menu without first looking at ] the wine list. If a meal has been chosen i.e. "Honey we're having X for ] dinner." picking a wine to go with the meal is allowed. When asked about ] food, like in a restaurant or planning a dinner party, if you have to ask ] if the wine or food should be chosen first, you are not a true wine lover. ] As your palate becomes more educated, you will think to yourself "What food ] goes with this wine?" rather than "What wine goes with this food?" ]

Fred, I think you're being a bit patronizing. For all you know, Rich may have a superior palate, years of experience, and a vertical of Yquem back to '29.

I'm with Rich on this one, I seldom drink wine without food. And yet by any definition I am "enthusiastic about wine."

Like the other respondants I usually pick the wine to match the food, because there's usually a larger choice than on the menu or at market (the really fresh ingredients, I mean). Only for really special bottles do I go the other way, e.g. something I've had in the cellar for 20 years.

Not a question of palate education, AFAICT.

-E

Emery Davis wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@address.com:

My post was meant to be patronizing. That should be taken with a large amount of NaCl. I was trying to indicate that as wine grows in importance it will outstrip food and the food will become secondary. The food is usually primary at home. A restaurant is another matter. I can see special bottles as being the focus of a meal. The bottles will be less and less special to be more important than the food as your obsession with wine grows. I do not claim to be a master of wine. From what I have read on this group my knowlege/palate/collection seems to be about average. I understand obsession from my experience with a lot of people that were obsessed with something, only a few of them about wine. A few years ago I asked for submissions to "The Top 10 Signs You are a Wine Nut". Some of the submissions were the mark of someone that was obsessed with wine. I think someone said "You pick the food to go with the wine and not vice versa" as one of the signs you were obsessed with wine. FYI #1 was "You wonder why so many people hate the French".

Fred.

Anecdotally, I'm recovering from a mild migraine today. The thought of getting inebriated is repulsive, but I can still contemplate great smells and tastes happily.

< I was trying to indicate that as wine grows in importance it will outstrip food and the food will become secondary. The food is usually primary at home. A restaurant is another matter. I can see special bottles as being the focus of a meal.>

We eat in and out a lot. Never found your situation to be true. Best food (and wine) has always been at home. But maybe friends and family have something to do with it.

Rich R.

"Rich R" wrote in news:mFqzc.1500$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com:

I wasn't trying to say that restaurant food is better than food at home. At a restaurant there is a menu of food choices while at home there is a more set choice of food. Some of my best meals have been outside of a restaurant. Some restaurants have very fine food. It pales in comparison to good friends and family.

Fred.

I tend to concur with Dale on this opinion - but with some differences.

I generally scan the wine list for both reds _and_ whites of interest. Then I have the option (generally) of ordering anything from the menu that strikes my fancy.

In some cases, I may have a yen for pasta with meat sauce, e.g., so that pretty much forces a red wine; or "it's too hot for red wine, so let's get something that goes with white wine". These would be the exception though IMO.

Tom S

I've pondered that question before, and my answer is a resounding "YES!"

Wine is perhaps the most perfect single food - at least from a pleasure standpoint, rather than a nutritional one - and little of that pleasure has to do with inebriation. It's all about the nuances of flavor and aroma.

I'd go as far as to say that the alcohol sometimes interferes with my enjoyment of wine, because I want another glass or two, but my body can't handle that much alcohol consumption without leaving me with a massive hangover and headache.

Tom S

But most of us end up at a restaurant that has some kind of specialty. Be it a steak house, seafood, French, etc...we have something in mind when we walk through the door. Then we look at the red wine list and find one before looking at the menu. We have preprocessed the color decision.