Wine purists say that the dinner wine you choose should match the food. Some of them can be persnickety about this.
Others say, phooey, drink anything you like with any food. Do you like riesling with steak? If so, go for it. It’s your dinner and your wine. Do what you like.
But a riesling with steak would be odd. I can’t imagine such a combination.
I once knew a man who loved Alsace gewurztraminer with veal forestiere. He had tasted that combination as a young man in Europe, and he believed it was a perfect pairing.
Most traditionalists and I would choose a red wine, but not this man, who was a well-regarded wine collector.
Then again, how you serve the wine could make a difference in its enjoyment. For instance, if you are serving a red wine in a room that’s very warm, then the wine may also be warm. Try chilling it a bit.
I am not suggesting red wines should be cold. But cooler is better than warmer, especially when the room temperature is 80 degrees F or more. Cool wines usually taste better than warm ones.
Also, some white wines should not be served too cold. I could tell tales of waiters at fine dining places who do not know this. I have experienced this in a humorous way several times when a waiter wanted to keep my chardonnay ice cold.
In one place, he kept putting the bottle in the ice bucket, and I kept taking it out. I finally solved the problem by asking him to remove the bucket.
If you don’t like a wine’s initial aroma, don’t assume it’s bad. Perhaps the wine is very young. Just decant it and let air do its thing. The aroma may improve.
Decanting also may work for imported wines that are still suffering from the journey to the United States.
Does a red wine seem a little alcoholic? If the alcohol is 15 percent, the decanter may again be the answer. Splash the wine around, pouring it from one decanter to another for a few minutes.
This allows some alcohol to evaporate. Some winemakers say you can get rid of nearly 1 percent alcohol this way.
If that still doesn’t do it, add an ice cube. Not only will it keep the wine a bit cooler, but it'll also drop the alcohol. Purists may squawk, but it’s your wine. If it tastes better, don’t fear offending someone else.
(But if you put four ice cubes in your Chateau Latour, expect a grimace from a wine purist.)
I'll never forget a hot afternoon years ago when the late Pete Seghesio, patriarch of the family winery bearing that name, poured cool water into his glass of zinfandel at lunch. He then said, “I like the flavor, but sometimes the wine is too strong.”
