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September - Wine Accessories

Wine Accessories For Your Reading Pleasure

What Wine Goes With What Food?

We've all heard the rules: red wine with meat, white with fish or fowl. But just as with all rules, this one was made to be broken. There's a growing recognition that there's both more and less to choosing how to pair foods and wine.

The most important factor, of course, is to choose a wine you enjoy. Spumante with Chinese take-out may make the so-called experts shudder, but if that combination works for you, that's all that matters. After all, you're the one eating the meal. However, personal tastes aside, there are some guidelines and suggestions for combining wines and foods that can enhance your enjoyment of each.

Start by thinking of wine as a condiment. You're choosing one that will interact with the foods, just the way a spice does. In fact, wine does affect the taste of food, similar to the effect of spices. Wine contains acids, tannins and sugars, all of which work with the food to create different tastes. Your goal is to find the proper combination that will allow you to enjoy the flavors and characteristics of both the food and the wine.

Wines, like food, can taste sweet, tart or bitter. Food can also be salty (not a property of wine, but salty foods affect its flavor). It's that sweet/tart/acidic interaction that determines the way different food/wine combinations will affect each other.

Sweet Foods

Foods that are somewhat sweet, such as a honey-mustard glaze on chicken will make the wine taste drier (less sweet) than it really is. A slightly sweet wine such as a White Zinfandel or Riesling could work well.

Acidic Foods

Choose wines that are higher in acid when serving acidic foods. Try pairing salad with a balsamic vinaigrette or a lemony-kissed fish dish with a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio.

Bitter Foods

When serving food with a bitter twist-say, bitter greens in a salad-enjoy it more with a fruity, full-flavored wine such as Merlot or Chardonnay. If you're grilling a steak, try a wine such as red Zinfandel or Shiraz. The tannins in these wines can sometimes give them a slightly bitter taste, but the fat in the meat can tone down this tendency.

In addition to the basic tastes, consider pairing foods and wines that have the same feel to them - light with light and full with hearty. A full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon could overwhelm a light fish, and the taste of a delicate white Zinfandel would be lost when accompanying beef stew.

And what about sparkling wines? Only those produced in the Champagne region of France may be called Champagne, but all sparkling wines, no matter their name, are suited to festive occasions. They make an excellent start or finish to any meal.

At times, pairing opposite foods and wines can be surprisingly effective. Hot and spicy foods such as fiery curries or Chinese hot pot can work well with sweet dessert wines. The contrast in flavors can create new nuances in taste and act to cleanse the palate.

A fun way to pair wines and food is to match them by their geographic source. Doesn't it make sense that a French wine would be the best accompaniment for coq au vin?

And for those times when you aren't serving a full meal, don't forget the natural pairings of wine and cheese. There's a reason these two are so often combined. Wine and cheese complement each other exquisitely. Mild to sharp cheeses work well with red wines, as do soft cheeses such as Camembert or Brie. Dry whites are excellent with goat cheese. Sweet wines call for a more intense cheese.

But no matter what combination of food and wine you choose, remember that the most important ingredients for a memorable occasion are the friends and loved ones you invite to share the experience with you.

About the Author

Morgan Slater demonstrates a detailed knowledge of wine industries through his writing for Ecef. Find more articles by Morgan Slater at ECEF

A Short Wine Accessories Summary

What Wine Goes With What Food?

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How to Grow Grapes for Excellent Wine

I think it quite safe to say that more has been written about the cultivation of grapes than has - or ever will be - written about any other fruit. This is not surpris?ing, considering that the grape is probably the oldest of known fruits.

Surprisingly, grapes do not need loads of manures and fertilizers; they grow well on quite poor soils and need little after-attention. The roots will search out and find what they want; all we have to concern ourselves with is where to put the top-growth - the vine itself.

If one wall of your house faces south, south-west or even west, that problem is solved very easily. If you cannot plant the vine under that particular wall, plant it round the corner and train the vine round to the sunny side of the house. Grapes may be grown in the open garden in similar fashion to loganberries, or they may be trained over sheds, garages, out-houses and such-like.

Vines are not expensive, and if two are planted, the yield may be regarded as fantastic when considering the value of the wine that may be made for many years.

Planting is best carried out in autumn and in any case before Christmas. If planting against a wall, take out a hole about two feet each way and plant so that the stem of the vine is about fifteen inches away from the wall itself. Dig deeply and work in any compost that may be available and some builders' rubble if you can get some. A dusting of lime forked in will be helpful. Spread out the roots well and plant as recommended for fruit trees.

Having planted the vine, spread a little manure above the roots: this will not be necessary in subsequent seasons, but the vine will benefit from a mulch each spring if you can give it one.

Vines must not be allowed to fruit the first season; therefore they must be cut back to about four buds.

Having planted the vine and cut it back, we must decide how to train it to cover the wall.

The best plan is to use special wall nails, run wires to and from these and train the vine to the wires.

The four long growths that come from the four buds you left when cutting back are stopped at the bud nearest the growing point. These four leaders are the basis from which the vine will be built up to cover the wall. If flower buds form during the first season, they should be nipped off so that the vine uses its energy producing wood for subsequent fruiting. First-season fruiting often permanently weakens a vine.

When pruning, remem?ber that next year's fruit will be borne on the wood made this year. But we do not want masses of long, straggling growths hanging about all over the place, so during the summer it is best to cut some of them out. Those left to bear next year's fruit should be cut back to five or six buds in autumn or early winter. Only new growth should be cut during the summer; never cut old wood during summer - indeed old wood must never be cut after Christmas, as this can cause profuse bleeding which may be quite impossible to stop. By all means cut away some of the old growth to make way for new wood, but if this has not been done before Christmas leave it until the next winter.

Many varieties ripen in September - or earlier if the summer has been good. This is especially advantageous because the weather is still warm enough for a satisfactory fer?ment when you come to make the wine. This is not so important to those who carry out their fermentation in the house, but where it has to be carried on in a shed or outhouse the warm weather is a great help.

About The Author

Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on home wine making have appeared in print and on many websites. You can find more of these at: www.makinggreatwine.com