Hows my little dinner wine?

This weekend (more on that soon) I was asked, what wine should we have with dinner? I've been thinking frequently about this subject over the last several months and I probably stammered out some sort of rocky reply about not knowing anymore and all this other stuff that may or may not have made sense/was worth listening to. So today I set out to send an E-mail to Scott letting him know in a concise easy to read response summing up what has been on my mind recently regarding the subject of food and wine, this epic was what I pulled out:

A few weeks ago I attended a wine conference were I sat in on a presentation about wine's taste perceptions. It pretty much turned my idea of the rules of drinking wine on their head. I've spent a lot of time thinking about it since then. There is a misconception that if you enjoy and prefer a dry red wine you are a sophisticated individual. This is not only false but it's a terrible accusation against people who like sweet wine and are sophisticated people. There is also this giant misconception that a particular wine pairs better with a particular food.

In the past if you've read a description of a wine on the label and you saw words like 'big, bold, or huge' you would probably pair it with a creature with similar sizing descriptors, like a cow. This is wrong. Mostly because if you don't like cow, or a bold pinot noir they won't pair well at all, ever. The fact is most people like sweeter wine, historically wine has been sweet, and the trend is reemerging (just google 2011 moscato sales) So there is no reason that if you order a nice piece of cow at a restaurant that you shouldn't get a sweeter wine if that is what you prefer, in fact, you will probably enjoy your meal more because you are drinking a wine that you like with a food that you like. This concept seems deceptively simple but that is all there is to it.

So when you're going out into the world and trying new wines, especially at a restaurant let the server know what you like, and they can probably give you a good idea of a wine to drink, they should never tell you that this wine will go terribly with your meal, because assuming you end up liking both things, your meal and wine will accompany each other greatly.

If you really want to think about it, you could eat mashed potatoes with fish, chicken, steak, a burger, or hot dogs. Wine is just another component to your meal, it's not an ingredient creating your meal, just like mashed potatoes you can have your favorite wine with any meal. Next time you have guests over, have a little something for everyone and don't worry so much about what you think will go best with it. In the end, you or your guest could hate their meal and love the wine, and if that's the case, cross your fingers that the company is good. Two out of three isn't bad.

This principal also applies to a wine's rating. Last year there were over 5,000 wines that were awarded 90+ rating (which seems like quite a few to me). There is absolutely no reason to take these scores as gospel, because they are all based off of someone's opinion. Sure this person may have tried more wines than you and could rattle off interesting facts about any wine, but that doesn't mean their rating of any wine will match up with your preference of wine. Everyone has different ideas of what they like, which is why someone can find so many shades of blue paint. You wouldn't buy robin's egg blue just because the paint store says its the best shade of blue, you might like midnight blue better and would probably buy that instead. Wine is the same principal.

I hope this PSA helps disrobe the unreasonable shroud of snobbery and mystery wine has around it. Remember, drink what you like, don't be afraid to try new things, and embrace taste!