This isn’t meant as an either or poll-type question FWIW, b/c as you’ll see below, I enjoy some foods with particular wines. I thought of posting this after reading Nick Ryan’s post in this thread where he generally enjoys wine post-work, post-food.
For me, I prefer drinking reds without food and whites with food.
I can’t recall the last time I had shellfish and didn’t have a Muscadet, Champagne or Chablis alongside. But just about every time I have lamb, steak or chicken or pork - I find that the food either overpowers the red (for example, steak with salt/pepper and a Cali cabernet) or just isn’t a match made in heaven, and I enjoy the red much more on its own following drinking some alongside food.
Aside from Champagne, I almost never drink white wine without food.
I like both. Sometimes I want something very expressive as a cocktail. Sometimes I want something acidic and lighter with dinner. Sometimes I want both. I don’t believe in rules on this matter. The more I read about the history of wine it seems to me that most people across history have been that way.
I would say that 90% of the wine I consume is done so as part of a meal.
The rest are easy drinking wines , like whites (sav blanc, chenin blanc, occasionally chard) and roses, pre meal; or on a cold wintery night a zin or syrah to sip on. I don’t typically drink “cocktail” wines.
If I’m having wine, 90-95% of the time it is with food of some sort; even in our tasting group, we do food pairings. The rest is probably an even split between dessert wines and riper reds. If I feel like having something on its own, I’ll more often choose something like scotch over wine.
As has been said above, I don’t have any hard and fast rules about this…it’s just my preference.
I’m in the camp who believe that wine belongs on the dinner table. There is nothing more satisfying than matching good wine with good food. Like others, I do like to drink a glass (or two) of a not-too-complex white or a glass (or two) of Champagne while cooking or before dinner. I would have a hard time eating a nice piece of red meat without a glass of red wine to go with it.
If there is any red wine left after dinner, heck I’ll drink that too.
Normally, in our household, a bottle is selected based on what is for dinner. I write my TN before the meal, then enjoy the wine with the meal. Any wine left-over will be consumed after the meal or the following day(s). I will augment my TN throughout this process, as I see fit, but I like to get a good shot at it before food hits my palate.
Why Champagne and not some other sparkling wine on the dry side of the scale? Is the autolytic character of traditionally made bubbly the key? It’s hard to fault consumers for treating Champagne as they do given that it is marketed and priced as a luxury good, though.
I tend to like versatile wines, though I try to pay attention to pairings. The thing is sommelier types like Roberto will point out that every idiosyncratic wine has a food pairing that optimizes it, and I have no reason to doubt this wisdom. But at home I am not cooking up five courses and opening five matching bottles as might be appropriate in a fine dining restaurant setting. There is one bottle, and it simply needs to work well, not necessarily perfectly, in different contexts.
My answer is “all of the above” - but I would say my most common practice is to open something as we cook, probably consume on average 1 to 1.5 glasses of wine during cooking/eating…and then finish said bottle over the course of the evening.
The question I often ponder is slightly different: “do I prefer a truly great wine alone (or with light snacks) before dinner, or during dinner?”
When you’re having a big dinner, multiple courses, wine pairings, drinks beforehand, etc., the first growth or cult cab that ends up with the entree course at 10 p.m. can be pretty diminished by all the prior drinking, full bellies, and tiredness.
I know it goes against the book, but I’d often consider having the star wine (even if a red) before dinner with nuts, cheese, etc., then restart the progression upon sitting down to the courses. That way, it gets your full attention with a clear head. Does anyone else ever do this?
