Do you like wine without food?

[John_Morris]

@Keith Levenberg

@John Morris

Uh, doesn’t that depend on how many people are present?

No, one still needs something to sip on while cooking, extra people just give you an excuse to open extra bottles.

Do you really pour your glass of wine down the drain once you’ve had enough to eat?

I was responding to the statement that a bottle lasts from the cooking to post-meal.

[Ron_Erickson]

Sometimes after getting the kids to bed, it takes more than a glass of wine…

[John_Morris]

@Eric Guido

I love wine with food but I find that I drink at a much faster pace when eating. I guess it’s because I’m using the wine as a beverage that enhances the food. When I have a glass of wine in front of me with nothing else, I tend to savor it.

That’s the way I am. It’s funny because my wife hardly drinks anything with her food – only before and after. I have a nip or two before the food is on the table, but really pick up the pace with food. Of course, I love lingering over a good bottle as it opens up, even past the main course. But that’s where cheese comes in handy.

[John_Morris]

@Todd F r e n c h

YES! I find it rare that I enjoy wine with food, but when I do, it is a fantastic pairing and certainly the pinnacle of wine drinking for any wine lover. However, if I wine doesn’t pair near-perfectly with the food, I choose not to ‘wash my food down’ and I’d rather switch to water, and savor the wine afterwards.

Maybe you need to devote more attention to the food-wine matches!

Frankly, that’s something I find even a lot of wine geeks don’t think much about. But I’m one of those people who cooks based on what I want to drink or have available.

[Scott_Butler]

Yes. There is a sea of wine out there…many styles, some scream for food and some are fine on their own. I prefer not to limit myself.

[Oliver_McCrum]

I have a glass of white wine or sparkling wine before dinner, then I drink red wine with food. I don’t like drinking red wines without food.

[scamhi]

I like to drink around food, the during the preparation and eventual dining.
I rarely open wine just to drink alone without food.

[GregT]

I almost never drink while cooking. That’s the best way to ruin a wine IMO - hot stove, sweat, gulping increasingly warm wine while trying to use both hands to do something else - nope. Cold water or lemonade at best. Winter or summer. Unless everything is made and we’re just waiting for something to finish up in the oven or the bbq

So all my drinking will be done after dinner is served and on the plate.

[Michae1_P0wers]

@John Morris

I guess I should have asked also what wines people drink most often. I’m curious if that affects the answer to the food question.

@Michael Powers

My family’s lifestyle doesn’t allow for many drinking dinners, though you didn’t really ask why.

??

Sorry, I meant your question didn’t ask why people drink wine without food. These discussions sometimes involve the habits that lead to drinking with or without food, but you simply asked if we enjoyed it, I just added the detail that while I like wine with food it doesn’t work out that way most nights.

[Russell_Faulkner]

Its not often that food is more than an hour away (before or after) and wine being drunk.

Since we started eating early with the children we drink a lot less.

However one in two bottles opened comes from the Mosel, and those are just fine alone, partly the style, more the alcohol.

[Robert.A.Jr]

I enjoy my meals with wine every evening, and love pairings, but frankly, I appreciate the wine more, and understand it more, when I drink it by itself. My favorite glass or two of wine every evening is the one(es) I have after dinner, relaxing with TV, some reading or this ever-consuming website.

[GregT]

Of course, unless you time your chewing, dinner eventually ends and you find out that you’ve just opened another bottle so there you are - wine w/out food, unless you want to break out some cheese and crackers.

In general, I have no problem drinking some wine w/out food as I don’t believe that there is some kind of magic that happens with pairing the two, but I do like something to nibble on from time to time. However, if it’s a choice of wine with no food or no wine at all, I’m going with the former.

As far as what we drink most often - impossible to call that. Last night 1970 Rioja and 2009 CdR. My wife has fallen in love with Nebbiolo but grew up drinking Napa Cab and other than Rioja and Ribera del Duero, those are the wines we have most of. But also plenty from Beaujolais, Loire, Rhone, Washington State and Austria. For me, the whole purpose of a cellar isn’t to have a lot of one thing, it’s to have the widest range of wines possible because I like a wide range of wines.

[Patrick_Friel]

@John Morris

But I’m one of those people who cooks based on what I want to drink or have available.

Same here. I like food and I like wine but I love food and wine. I find a reasonably good pairing beats what I get from the wine or food alone. A sip encourages another bite and vice versa.

An easy, rough, and, admittedly, lazy rule of thumb is “if it grows together, it goes together”. If you see my wine inventory, you have a general idea of what I cook.

Sometimes I drink wine without something to eat but that is pretty rare. I consume more than enough wine with meals.

[J_Diven]

Seems like some of us are being a bit literal here. Yes I still (hopefully) enjoy the wine if i’m sipping it before or after eating the food, but if I have chosen well, it is much better together. And for me, that is the main point - what drives the wine selection, the food or the wine?

Our wine consumption is extremely food driven. Exceptions can be sparkling wines of course, although we are usually at least nibbling some cheese, sausage, or maybe even some herbed popcorn. Or semi sweet wines that are beautifully complex, but may not stand up to a sweet dessert. Aged Chenin Moelleux comes to mind, though i’m often still looking for something to pair - nuts, cheese, whatever.

On the weekends when I have a little more time to think, I might plan a special meal or particular dish around a wine I want to drink. But at least 95% of the time I’m choosing the wine based on what we are eating, not the other way around.

So do I still like wine without food? Sure. I guess. But it rarely determines what i’m drinking.
Now, do we target wine friendly foods, or rather avoid wine unfriendly foods? Yes, of course, that too.

BTW, Texier does not suck. Oops, sorry wrong thread…

[Kim_Caldwell]

@scamhi

I like to drink around food, the during the preparation and eventual dining.
I rarely open wine just to drink alone without food.

Same here.

[Ed_Murray]

@Todd F r e n c h

YES! I find it rare that I enjoy wine with food, but when I do, it is a fantastic pairing and certainly the pinnacle of wine drinking for any wine lover. However, if I wine doesn’t pair near-perfectly with the food, I choose not to ‘wash my food down’ and I’d rather switch to water, and savor the wine afterwards.

This.



I generally prefer my wine w/out food.

[Steve_Saxon]

@Ed Murray

@Todd F r e n c h

YES! I find it rare that I enjoy wine with food, but when I do, it is a fantastic pairing and certainly the pinnacle of wine drinking for any wine lover. However, if I wine doesn’t pair near-perfectly with the food, I choose not to ‘wash my food down’ and I’d rather switch to water, and savor the wine afterwards.

This.



I generally prefer my wine w/out food.

Todd’s boy Gary loves wine with Captain Crunch…I’m not that bad, I love it with food but I enjoy it without.

[Mark_C]

Yes. I think a wine can be best appreciated in depth on it’s own. That is not to say that I don’t also like wine with food, a great wine pairing is the best of both worlds. But with a really good wine, I find I can explore it in more detail on its own. And, it is very hard to devote enough attention to the wine while eating, let alone cooking!

So, for me, there are two types of wine appreciation, with food as a part of the taste experience of the meal where the food enhances the wine and the wine enhances the food, and stand alone where the sole purpose is an appreciation of just the wine in all its complexity - even then there may be crackers and/or cheese along with the wine…

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

@John Morris

@Eric Guido

I love wine with food but I find that I drink at a much faster pace when eating. I guess it’s because I’m using the wine as a beverage that enhances the food. When I have a glass of wine in front of me with nothing else, I tend to savor it.

That’s the way I am. It’s funny because my wife hardly drinks anything with her food – only before and after. I have a nip or two before the food is on the table, but really pick up the pace with food. Of course, I love lingering over a good bottle as it opens up, even past the main course. But that’s where cheese comes in handy.

All good, gents, but may I recommend the Italian way? More or less equal quantities of wine and mineral water over the course of a 3-hour meal. The wine is savored with and without food during and after the meal, and as an added bonus, you can drink a bottle or more per person and not get drunk until you are home in bed!

[Roberto_Rogness]

Plus 1K!!!