Wines with food

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32568, 30 March 1971, Page 12

Wines with food

Generally speaking, wine should always be accompanied by or precede foodchampagne, sherry, and port excepted. Wines and foods have natural affinities for each other and are found at their best in combination. There are conventions that certain wines should be served with certain dishes, in a certain way, or at a certain temperature. For example, sherry is commonly served with soup. Fish will be accompanied by a white wine, and beef by a red wine. A white wine might be appropriate with chicken, and a red wine with turkey. A sweet wine goes well with dessert. Champagne may be drunk throughout a meal. Port accompanies conversation, digestion, and a good cigar after a meal. Although these conventions are broadly based, some say the best thing is to work out for yourself which wines you like best with particular foods provided that better wines are served after ordinary wines, sweet wines after dry, and strong after gentle. After sparkling wines, all white wines and all dry sherries are served cold.

Red wines, medium and rich sherries, maderia, and port are generally served at room temperature. How cold a chilled wine should be when served depends on individual taste. The general rule is that the drier wines should be served colder than the sweet, and that no wine should be chilled below 42 degrees F. This can be done by placing the wine in the refrigerator for two or three hours before serving. Under no circumstances should wine be warmed artificially, either by plunging the bottle in hot water or by placing near a heater. It is better to drink a red wine too cold than to spoil it by heating. All wines may be decanted before serving, although it is usually not essential. New red wines can gain in being aerated by the process, but it doesn’t improve white wines to any extent. However, vintage port and very old wines of any colour (unless they are sparkling) should be decanted to clear the wine of sediment. From “New Zealand Wine, 1970,” published with permission of the Industries and 1 Commerce Department.