Wine Taboos--Time for a Change : Restrictions Pull Consumers From Pleasures of the Grape

What never ceases to amaze is the enormous number of old wine myths which serve to divert consumers away from the pleasures of the grape. No other beverage is plagued by as many taboos and restrictions as to how wine should be enjoyed and with which foods it should be served.

Currently, vintners seem to be falling all over themselves in the race to proclaim their wines as food wines, whereas other brands, even those of the same grape variety, are claimed to be unfit for table use. Citing a bottle as a food wine is an ignorant, even irresponsible, claim, in my opinion. There is no wine made anywhere that does not purport to go well with some food on one occasion or another. Indeed, I have never encountered a non-food wine.

Some concerned with matching wine and food contend a wine is not appropriate for food when it shows too high a percentage of alcohol or aggressive tannin, which masks flavor. They believe that a wine can be so monstrous in structure, style and taste that pairing with food would offend the palate and may even offer health risks. What utter nonsense, in my opinion. Powerfully structured, high-alcohol wines can find a host of good food pairings. All that is required is a bit of experimentation. A super hot Tex-Mex chili, for example, is an obvious choice.

Dilemma Underscored

A recently published wine and food guide, “Wine and Dining” by Robert Bunn and Tom Budny, underscores the right taste with the right wine dilemma. The authors offer general wine recommendations for a broad spectrum of equally general foods, including appetizers, beef, cheese, eggs, fish, lamb, pasta, pork, poultry, shellfish and veal. Wine selections are indicated best choice, second-best choice and good choice. No wineries have been selected, leaving the choice to the reader with the wise instruction to find out which wine goes best by trying all three.

For neophyte wine lovers, the book can only be a guide for the exploration of new and interesting flavors. In my opinion, it would be foolhardy for vintners or other wine authorities to bring forth wines and restrict their use to only a few isolated foods. Bunn and Budny do just that when they suggest that bass should be paired with Chardonnay first, Chenin Blanc second and Chablis third. I seriously doubt that wine producers would want their bottles to be limited to only bass and not paired with other kinds of fish. There is the same problem for catfish for which Riesling, rose and Chablis are suggested.

In my opinion, the problem with these suggestions is that they are confusing to the reader who buys, for instance, a California generic off-dry Chablis for a fresh bass dinner when a dry, crisp, tart French-styled Chablis is closer to the desired taste. The distinction between the two wines is so dramatically different that without more detailed wine information, the pairing can be a disaster.

Even More Acute

For the authors’ recommendations of Petite Sirah, Zinfandel and Burgundy for cioppino , the problem becomes even more acute. For a new-to-wine drinker, red wine with fish stew or any fish (something which I enjoy) may be unpleasant. It is an acquired taste requiring some trial and error tasting with white wine first, and then perhaps moving on to the red, or even to bone-dry sparkling wines.

It is easy to pick at Bunn and Budny’s choices, but at least they are trying to make some sense out of the multitude of food and wine pairings. A good example is the recommendation of Barbera (presumably California), Chianti and Cabernet with spaghetti and tomato sauce. Not bad choices, in my opinion.

What most food and wine pairings proponents forget is that any wine can be partnered with any food and no authoritative permission is necessary to experiment. It is always a question of personal taste, acquired or otherwise, which makes the difference between enjoying reds with fish or whites with meat. Today, too much is made of pigeonhole pairings. Indeed, consumers are better advised to simply pick up a glass of wine and enjoy it with a variety of food combinations. It’s best to rely on one’s own palate to make the right choice.

Because of longstanding taboos, the grape is still saddled with the ancient recommendation of white wine with fish, red wines with meat, Champagne with appetizers, and roses if all else fails. If those narrow parameters are truly old hat, why climb into another set of yet more limiting taste confines? Foods and wines are fashioned for individual tastes and no amount of current pairing caveats can resolve the question of personal preference.

Pairings Vary by Region

In each wine-producing region, pairings are casually or deliberately made by daily tasting and dining on foods and wines completely different from those enjoyed in adjacent vineyard areas. A prime example is the Bordelaise who passionately loves Sauternes (a sweet syrupy white) with goose liver as a beginning course. Place the same Sauternes on a Burgundy table and diners will embrace it only as a dessert wine.

Sauternes’ most respected vintner and proprietor of the district’s most celebrated wine, Chateau d’Yquem, Alexander Lur Saluces, never takes a morsel of salmon without his beloved wine. No other wine fits better, he claims, and frankly while I find the affinity enjoyable, I would prefer a California Chardonnay or a French white Burgundy. No doubt Burgundians would quickly agree.

Many Fine, Dry Red Wines

In Mexico City, I observed many a fine dry red table wine, including costly claret, Burgundy and California Cabernet enjoyed with chicken and a chocolate-flavored sauce. It would be pointless and presumptuous to try and tell these diners that they are wrong (if indeed they are). They like it that way and no one should tell them otherwise.

In Israel, sweet wines are favored. Although this is changing, many Israelis still enjoy a glass of intensely sweet wine with whatever is served and wouldn’t dream of trying a dry-style Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay.

In Italy, red wines like Chianti, Barolo and Bardolino are enjoyed with meat or seafood pastas. Italian wine lovers seem not to be slavishly tied to wine distinctions of color, texture or even regional differences. More than one Italian vintner has said that if the wine is otherwise good, Italians will drink it gratefully with anything.

Germans and Sweet Wines

In Germany, sweet-styled wines are not rejected and indeed are savored with sauerkraut and sausage dishes. The Germans operate on the assumption that Rhine and Moselle wines, sweet or not, are for drinking and not confined to pairing specifications. They simply pull the cork and enjoy without worrying about right choice reflections.

Finding the right wine for Chinese dinners ought not to be a problem either, provided the food is not served to you all at once so that you are trying to match meat and fish and whatever with a single partnering. To try to find an all-purpose wine to go with Chinese food is a palate-boggling impossibility. Bunn and Budny suggest Riesling, Gewurztraminer and rose.

For a copy of the book, which includes a complete list of the authors’ recommended pairings, send $4.95 plus $1 for shipping and handling to “Wine and Dining,” 110 Pacific Ave., San Francisco 94111. Better yet, compose your own list by trying new combinations and pairings secure in the knowledge that somewhere in the vast world of wine, others are enjoying your choice of wine but with vastly different foods.