Mixing and matching wines

Curious, do folks have any go to combinations for serving wine regions at the same event? For example, if you are opening two bottles of wine, are there go to regions you like to mix and match? This question is different than mixing different levels of the same wine(e.g. a Bourgogne followed by 1er cru).

I have taken a shine to opening a Rhone ahead of a Burgundy; I feel it helps a Burgundy pop out more and saves against from having to share two burgundies [wink.gif]. Was thinking about Barolo today, and will pair with a northern piedmonte wine to start…

Do you have any go-to pairings that work for you?

Classic pairing would go from lighter wines to darker wines. I don’t see how a syrah blend would be beneficial to drinking before a pinot.

Lighter to heavier (not darker), right? Years ago I attended a retailer Ampeau tasting where reds preceded whites because for the wines/vintages offered the whites were more robust.

Actually, there is precedent for that order. Traditionally, Burgundy was served after Bordeaux. The theory, as I recall, was to move to more refined wines. Certainly, Rhone to Burgundy would follow that.

Yes, in the cellars in Burgundy, they pour reds before white. And, having tasted there a number of times, that does seem to make sense in practice.

I’ve found that in at a tasting (as opposed to a dinner), Burgundy should generally go after Bordeaux, as Burgundy can make Bordeaux seem oafish, clumsy, and harsh if Burgundy goes first. If consumed as part of a meal, the food generally ameliorates that issue.

Often enjoy the bubbly first, As well as after all the reds!

I like to pour a sour beer somewhere in the middle of a tasting or gathering. I feel it helps to re-set the stage for the palate. Champagne also works…

Completely different story than having them with dinner. The OP said “event” so I’m not sure what that means, but if you’re “tasting” at some trade event without the focus being lunch or dinner, it’s more logical to start with reds. I never attend a trade event and start with whites, and even when I was in the business and showed wines to retailers and restaurants, I poured the reds first.

The idea of light to heavy and white to red comes from Victorian multi-course meals where you’d start with a fish course, move to fowl, go to game, and then to your roast and you finish with Port and sherry and cigars. Tasting is not the same.

That said, for dinner, the best approach is to go from good to better. You don’t want your guests exclaiming “My god this is crap! Can we have some more of that last wine instead?”

And who even eats like that anymore? I suppose you need to bring out and polish the silver for the occasion too?

As for ‘progressions’ in wine, Musar and northern Rhone could work. Skin-contact Albarello can work with Rhone white (North or South).
What are you trying to get at here?

You pretty much have to if you want to have a serious wine-centered meal. [wink.gif]

It wasn’t intended to be a loaded question or specific to formal events. It was just asking if anyone on the board has go to combinations they serve when mixing up wine regions.

I didn’t think it was loaded, but wondering in what frame of reference should I approach the question. For instance, some wine events seem to be free-for-alls where anything goes; some have a theme but then you have a modern-styled big wine next to a tiny delicate flower, both from the same grape, region but they act totally different from each other and seem like they are from different worlds; then some tastings (a precious few) seem to work like a clock’s gears working in harmony. I think if wines have similar weights and textures, they can work together.

Sometimes I feel I open wines on a too technical basis to hit a given contrast (vintage, level, etc.) and was looking for perhaps other contrasts to pursue.

As I reflect on the answers on this board, I do think the reason I open with the Rhone first and then Burgundy second, is that the Burgundy does seem much more elegant/refined, without a jarring evolution in experience (others may disagree). Northern Piedmont to Barolo for me, is opening up with a lighter/higher acid wine to something bigger, so lighter-to-bigger the trend here.

As I think about the question more, a better question would be “contrasting wine styles that can work as pairings”. Answers such as n. rhone/burgundy, champagne/red, northern piedmont/barolo, would be valid answers to the question without running into the more targeted pairings. As it so happened, the ones that came to mind were regional based, and that’s why I framed the question from the angle of regions. And maybe because there are so many permutations, and ability to pair light/big, similar textures, etc., that this question was failed from the beginning.

Circa 2007, I served a flight of 1999s blindly at a dinner: a Monthelie-Duhurait Volnay Champans; a Mastrojanni Brunello; a Produttori Barbaresco; and a Lopez de Heredia Rioja (don’t ask me which one). The first three were remarkably similar in structure and fruit profile and hard to peg. They were all pretty restrained. The Rioja was a give-away because of the oak. (Lesson learned.)

Those Volnays were stern, super-traditional, long-lived wines. The Barbaresco was not too tannic, and the Brunello was traditional and fairly elegant. All three had solid acid backbones. I’d say the fruits were centered around something like sour cherry or red plums in all three cases.

So you can mix and match if you focus on the structure and fruit profile of the wines. At another dinner, I mixed a Sagrantino di Montefalco with a Barolo and a Brunello. Those didn’t have quite the same affinity, but it worked. I could easily see some Etna Rossos next to Barolo or Barbaresco.

I could also imagine a Charvin Chateauneuf (traditional, tauter, lower alcohol than most CdP) in a leaner year like '14 working with a Gevrey Chambertin from a warmer year.

Burlotto’s Barolo Monvigliero could work with Burgundies, too, at least in some years, if it had a bit of age. It typically has a strawberry note to the nose that, to me, is a dead ringer for a Chambolle-Musigny.

I haven’t tried it, but I could see a Pesquera Ribera del Duero working next to an Il Poggione Brunello. They are both big wines but without being too alcoholic or oaky.



Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, > “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

Personally, when I’m hosting a sit down dinner party, I don’t usually save the best wines for last. People are usually buzzed, full, tired, etc. by that point, and the difference between a $150 wine and a $30 wine is usually lost on everyone. Quite the contrary, I will sometimes take the most special wine and serve it before dinner with light snacks, because people are most likely and able to notice and to appreciate a special wine at that point in the evening.

I’m talking here about a dinner party and not usually one full of wine geeks, so this is different than what might be the progression of wines I would serve to a group of WBers.

Champagne followed by Burgundy. Generally speaking, both regions produce relatively higher-acid, elegant wines; additionally, many champagnes are made from the same grapes that make Burgundy (chardonnay and pinot noir.)

In fact, Champagne can precede any wine that is the primary match with the meal, as Champagne is arguably the most versatile, food-friendly wine there is and is often a great match to the earlier courses in a meal. Furthermore, there’s even no reason Champagne can’t be served at the same time as the other wine, as sips of Champagne can be consumed throughout a meal, either as a palate-cleanser or for pleasure.