I have a friend who loves and appreciates good food, probably more than anyone else I know, and who is also a fan of craft beer. We’re planning on having some dinners together soon with him providing beer at one dinner, and me providing wine at another. But I’m not sure what sort of wine to choose for a beer drinker. My hope is to get him to see the light!
Any suggestions? What sort of qualities should I be looking for in a wine? He’s a fairly adventurous eater, so should I go with an adventurous wine? Or should I stick to something with wide appeal? Red, white, full bodied, light, aged, young?
If you are looking for a non-Pet(as in less funky) wine, then something with a pervasive minerality like Matthiasson Ribolla Gialla. Otherwise I would look at Pet Nat or Piquette that will have some of the same sour notes. I had this one at tasting recently and we all agreed that the finish was “beer like”: Limited Addition Piquette Willamette Valley Oregon 750ml
I find it odd that many of the strident AFWE wine people here love the huge craft IPAs. Not wrong, just odd, because they seem like they stand for opposite things and opposite flavor profiles.
So I’m not sure if one looks for similarity from beer preference to wine preference or not.
Most likely, I’d choose from wines which are good wines but also tend to have broad appeal to casual drinkers. Pinots like Sea Smoke, Rochioli, Williams Selyem, Dehlinger. Elyse, William & Mary or Riverain cabernet. Turley or Carlisle zin.
I have friends who are huge craft beer geeks and their wine preferences are absolutely all over the place. Some like German Riesling the most, some prefer big reds. None of them are into the natty stuff even if they enjoy sour beers. I would just serve wines that pair well with the food and are not super out there stylistically.
I throw small wine tastings to my craft beer-loving friends and have noticed the exact same thing. I usually pour them anything from very classic to really off-the-charts weird and usually it’s German Riesling and/or big and slightly aged (but not old and very tertiary) reds that are almost invariably the most successful chooces.
As Kris suggested, I would pair wines based on what works best with the food and not based on your guess as to what your friend might like. If you nail the food pairings and your friend doesn’t like the wines, then he probably isn’t really a wine guy (which is fine).
Yeah, it helps to actually read the OP before commenting. Bonus points for being dismissive of those who actually did.
It would definitely help to know their beer taste before making suggestions. If they are IPA freaks, the bitter tannin and size in a young Cahors might be just the thing.
I also find it weird that AFWE folks might prefer IPAs – though that’s not really the case for most of the AFWE people I know. Certainly my wife and I dislike most IPAs, though there are a few that I do like – those tend to have a dry-hopped component. And I have some other wine friends here in PDX who loathe the current fashion for ever-more-hoppy IPAs. Pretty much all of us like sours, it seems.
I am not AFWE, exactly, but I do not care for extremely ripe and/or extremely oaked wines.
So I am indeed perplexed by my own enjoyment of hoppy IPAs, given that hops are the analog of new oak of the beer world
I think the answer perhaps is that I am not anti-flavor, but like strong flavors and aromas that are not simply in the sweet and desert end of the spectrum. Hops tend to impart floral, citrus, pine-y and herbaceous aromas, as well as some bitterness (that can be offset by some RS in beer, just as RS in wine can balance high acid).
If you pour me a very aromatic wine brimming with intense non-berry flavors and aromas, I will tend to be very interested, it just has to have compelling structural tension. Nebbiolo is probably the archetype of that profile–it has a lot of everything (acid, tannin, alcohol, non-fruit aroma, body) except for new oak (if the producer did his/her job well).
IPAs are in that same general realm–a lot of everything. I will say that alcohol balance is usually pretty poor in beers like Imperial IPAs–you do taste it. Still, you are dealing with around 10% ABV, rather than the neighborhood of 16%+.
As both a wine geek and a craft beer geek I can comfortably say you should not waste one second of your time being concerned with your friend’s beer preferences when making your wine selections.
I agree preferences vary so much and beer styles vary so much. Generalities only mean so much, since people can be attracted or repelled by one specific detail that means less to others.
If you’re hosting, you can have an array of options ready then play it by ear. I’d generally go for more aromatic, lower ABV and lower tannin. If your friend hosts first, you might get some inspiration from revelatory beers you’re served. You can also ask about specific interests and talk about the options you have, and feedback from the first you open can lead to what you try next.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but without knowing what types of ‘craft beers’ your friend likes, it’s impossible to make suggestions. It’d be like saying ‘my friend likes Chardonnays - can you suggest new ones to try?’
I hope that makes sense.- give us a bit more guidance please.
Noah, As a counterpoint- When your friend provides the drinks, what beers do you hope he pours for you? His favorites? Beers he thinks will complement the food? Beers he thinks you’d prefer with your less developed beer palate? When friends are passionate about things, I like to experience those things they’re passionate about through their eyes (palates, in this case).
Orange wine gets more comparisons to sour beers than any other beer/wine combo that I can think of. I can’t think of any wine that compares to any craft beer besides some wild or spontaneously fermented ales. Nada on IPA, stouts, pilsners, etc. They’re entirely different.
All of that said, if he’s an adventurous eater and craft beer guy, and no mention of him not liking wine, introduce him to a variety of wines. I do think domestically we “generally” produce more “in your face beers” and wines and older traditional imported craft beer (UK, Belgian ales) and old world wine is generally more restrained…
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