As a writer of ‘words about wine’ I am often to be found in a quiet space – my favourite chair, with a glass of wine, and deep in thought. I’m coaxing thoughts into coherent sentences and through the connection of laptop and ethernet, out to the waiting world. Similarly, I’ve spent a few days of recent weeks as a judge at ‘Wine Shows’ locally. Now this is about as far as sitting around a table sharing a bottle of wine, and some good food, with friends and family, that a wine experience can get. If you might suggest that the conviviality of the dinner table is the ideal scenario for getting the most out of a wine; then the former – whether it is a windowless room, or the middle of an agricultural barn, is perhaps less than ideal.
They are, however, quite different beasts. There is, I argue, something to be said for the silent contemplation of a glass of decent wine. I find I can concentrate on the nuances and subtlety better, and the review (or judging) is all the better for that, then. Across a noisy, bustling food-laden meal, does wine simply become a ‘side order’ – something you have as part of the meal, but not the main event?
You might even compromise your choice of wine in order to best suit the food. If you want to drink a zesty Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, but the meal is a slow-cooked venison, then one isn’t likely to complement the other. Or, you want to drink a fabulous aged Barolo, but your dinner guests just ‘aren’t into wine’. Why open a wine costing $300 when something for $25 would do just as well – in this case? Everyone’s happy and you get to keep that special ‘side order’ for another time.
However, I quite often get to open that ‘side order’… not only around a dinner table, but with friends, and great food. I’m blessed to have a small group of fellow gourmands who appreciate the special affinity that comes from sharing a bottle of (very) good wine over a meal. In fact, not just my friends, but a regular tasting group where careful consideration is given to the location – and food on offer – and the theme of the wines for that evening’s enjoyment.
Pot luck is great – in fact, encouraged, and wines poured blind and then discussed – amongst some cliques of mates, but the ‘theme night’ is a very successful format too. Not only can you have a wonderful dinner, but with a BYO collection of sometimes a dozen on-theme bottles you are given a fabulous option to the interested taster (me). For example, our dinner at Kingsland Social in July – https://winefolio.co.nz/?p=6178 – gave the opportunity to try twelve cracking bordeaux-style reds. One thing that you will always find at one of the WineFolio ”Top 10 Tastings” is food – designed to complement the wines we’re trying.
Wine in an atmosphere like this just shows how wine is a part of the table. I’m often heard to say that I wish wine wasn’t alcoholic. I could taste and swallow it all day and then if I wanted some booze I’d have a beer or a whisky. To many of course, wine is booze. In fact to everyone – unless you’re buying the zero alcohol stuff. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t drink wine to get drunk. I drink wine because I love it, the taste of it.
And what I also love is the feeling of sharing a bottle with a meal. I confess, I am not the world’s greatest food and wine matching guru, and often our meals are just dumplings, or curries! But it doesn’t have to be what you might think of as ‘fine dining’ in order to have one of your favourite wines. A simple pasta dish can bring out the best in a range of wines – depending on the sauce and style. We’ve drunk sherry with dumplings, and riesling with curry; all quite successfully. Food is one of humanity’s basic needs, but when you can enjoy an evening to combine friendship, wine and food in harmony, then you have found something pretty special.
