Wine for the Unsure
One of the things I'm involved in is ChefsUSA (which does in-store cooking demos in 21 states across the country) as the account coordinator for the LFHI account. That means I both demo in a Byerly's store twice a month and manage the scheduling of 9 other locations, as well as fielding questions from the chef "fleet" on the account. Believe me, questions come from all over the board, and from both customers in the store as well as chefs in the program.
A recent favorite involved wine: The questioner had gone to a local restaurant and was served a glass of chilled Pinot Noir. The waiter claimed that the bartender was chilling all the reds because of the heat (we were having a rather hot run of it at the time). Her question: Is chilling red wine ok?
The fun thing about wine is you can get a dozen "experts" in a room, ask them the exact same question, and get a dozen different answers. Some will argue the "old ways":
You always chill white, and you always serve red at room temperature...
Others will argue that we aren't interpreting the old ways properly:
What do we mean by "room temperature"? Dining room? Wine room (cellar)? Bed room? And when do we mean this, as in Medieval times a dining room was a colder, mustier place than it is today ...
Others still will argue that there is no argument:
Do what you want to wine. Drink it the way you want to drink it, and to hell with what anyone else tells you.
Just do a little Googling and you'll come across online discussions that are just as lively, just as sectarian, and (frankly) just as ridiculous.
Do I drink red wine only with beef and never with chicken? What wine pairs perfectly with peanut butter? To chill or not to chill, that is the question!
The answer, oddly enough, is yes. Try this experiment sometime (I love food experiments, and wine experiments even more):
- Get a bottle of your favorite red.
- Open it and pour two glasses.
- Put one glass in your fridge, and leave on on the counter.
- Walk away for 20 minutes. Go read this (or another) food blog, just don't touch either glass (as much as you may want to).
- When the time is up, taste both glasses.
What you should find is the chilled glass seems more "focused", more things happening on the tongue than in the nose. The cooler temperature has dampened some of the aromatics but fortified the structure of the wine. In other words, it's pretty darned tasty. In contrast, the wine that had been sitting on the counter should have more activity going on in your nose than in your mouth, with less and less happening in the taste department the warmer the wine gets. Interesting, yes?
If you'd like to extend your research, try the same experiment with a white whine. In this case, the room temperature white will taste sweeter and the chilled white more savory.
In the end, what's really important is whether you like the taste. You may find that you enjoy both tastes (chilled and not), so why not start with the wine chilled and let it warm naturally while you drink it, giving you the best of both worlds? Try that technique some time with friends for an impromptu wine and cheese party and see how the pairings change as the wine's temperature changes. The only true way to become an expert is to try it yourself.
And as for peanut butter? Rosemount Estates Diamond Label Traminer Riesling. Unbelievable! Check it out!
