Vintage Story

Epistemological epiphany:
Life must be lived forwards,
but can only be understood backwards
Mercifully, life may be enjoyed sideways!

Full Moon: July 11, 2006. Allen Dale Olson a/k/a the Pontiff of Palate, Story Inn’s Wine Connoisseur. Copyright 2006 Story Bed & Breakfast, LLP, d/b/a Story Inn, all rights reserved.

FUHGEDD ABOUT IT

            Never drink red wine with fish. How often have you heard that? Ever try it? I’ll bet you were surprised, but chances are you probably liked it. Throughout the Loire Valley and Paris last month, I chose red wines with the fish courses I so love in France. Not once did a wine waiter challenge me or even raise an eyebrow. When I have a food I like, I want a wine I like with it. Color? Forget about it.

            I’m not advocating that you match a complex cabernet sauvignon with Vindaloo curry or spicy hot salsa. There’s no point burning out taste sensations when trying to enjoy a favorite wine. You wouldn’t put ketchup on ice cream or barbeque sauce on corn flakes, would you? So don’t go to extremes. Choose a wine you like. Soon enough you’ll find there are plenty of red wines that like light dishes and plenty of white wines that like robust meats and dressings. You can enjoy wines with such foods as chocolate, artichokes, asparagus, and salads. Palates can be very forgiving.

            Always serve your red wines at room temperature. How many times have you heard that? Air-conditioned room temperature? Rooms heated by steam, gas, electricity, space heaters?  Wines – even red wines – prefer cool to hot, or even warm. Go to where wines are produced, and you’re likely to find people serving their red and white table wines at just about the same temperatures. At wineries they come right out of the same cellar.

            Sure, sweet wines like to be chilled, sparkling wines fare far better with a chill, but most white table wines like to be cool – about 55F, and most red wines prefer somewhere between 60 and 65F. In Beaujolais and the Loire and Piedmont your red wines may be served in an ice bucket. Room temperature? Forget about it.

            OK, if you insist on being a perfectionist, always find a group of people to share your meals. That way you can drink a different wine with each dish. If you’re alone or with a partner, chances are you can only have a single bottle plus a glass or two and so must make do throughout the meal. With a group, you can share more bottles and tastes.

            What’s finally important, though, is your own palate. The wine you like is always the best choice with whatever you’re eating. The grape variety, weight, density, complexity, and strength of a wine are far more reliable indicators of a good match than the color. Still not convinced? You can always drink a rose (a pink wine). But if you’re thinking white zinfandel, forget about it.

Vintage Story is an e-newsletter authored by Ole Olson and published by the Story Inn, and is available free of charge to all who appreciate good wine. Vintage Story is published at each full moon. The author and the Story Inn specifically authorize the republication, reprinting and circulation of any issue Vintage Story so long as due credit is given to the author and to the Story Inn (which holds the copyright).

If any newspaper or website desires to make use of any issue of Vintage Story, we do request that you notify us. Thanks, and here's to your health!