{"id":6869,"date":"2022-10-18T06:20:54","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T17:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=6869"},"modified":"2022-10-18T10:15:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T21:15:06","slug":"wine-with-food-and-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=6869","title":{"rendered":"Wine with (food and) friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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As a writer of \u2018words about wine\u2019 I am often to be found in a quiet space – my favourite chair, with a glass of wine, and deep in thought. I\u2019m coaxing thoughts into coherent sentences and through the connection of laptop and ethernet, out to the waiting world. Similarly, I\u2019ve spent a few days of recent weeks as a judge at \u2018Wine Shows\u2019 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.<\/p>

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 \u2018side order\u2019 – something you have as part of the meal, but not the main event?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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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\u2019t likely\u00a0 <\/span>to complement the other. Or, you want to drink a fabulous aged Barolo, but your dinner guests just \u2018aren\u2019t into wine\u2019. Why open a wine costing $300 when something for $25 would do just as well – in this case? Everyone\u2019s happy and you get to keep that special \u2018side order\u2019 for another time.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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However, I quite often get to open that \u2018side order\u2019\u2026 not only around a dinner table, but with friends, and great food. I\u2019m 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\u2019s enjoyment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Food\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Pot luck is great – in fact, encouraged, and wines poured blind and then discussed – amongst some cliques of mates, but the \u2018theme night\u2019 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<\/a> – gave the opportunity to try twelve cracking bordeaux-style reds. One thing that you will always find at one of the WineFolio \u201dTop 10 Tastings\u201d is food – designed to complement the wines we\u2019re trying.<\/p>

Wine in an atmosphere like this just shows how wine is a part of the table. I\u2019m often heard to say that I wish wine wasn\u2019t alcoholic. I could taste and swallow it all day and then if I wanted some booze I\u2019d have a beer or a whisky. To many of course, wine is booze. In fact to everyone – unless you\u2019re buying the zero alcohol stuff. What I\u2019m trying to say is that I don\u2019t drink wine to get drunk. I drink wine because I love it, the taste of it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

And what I also love is the feeling of sharing a bottle with a meal. I confess, I am not the world\u2019s greatest food and wine matching guru, and often our meals are just dumplings, or curries! But it doesn\u2019t have to be what you might think of as \u2018fine dining\u2019 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\u2019ve drunk sherry with dumplings, and riesling with curry; all quite successfully. Food is one of humanity\u2019s basic needs, but when you can enjoy an evening to combine friendship, wine and food in harmony, then you have found something pretty special.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a writer of \u2018words about wine\u2019 I am often to be found in a quiet space – my favourite chair, with a glass of wine, and deep in thought. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-about-wine"],"yoast_head":"\nWine with (food and) friends - WineFolio<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=6869\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wine with (food and) friends - WineFolio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a writer of \u2018words about wine\u2019 I am often to be found in a quiet space – my favourite chair, with a glass of wine, and deep in thought. …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=6869\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WineFolio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wine.folio.1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-17T17:20:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-17T21:15:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/0003.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"501\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Walker Bell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Walker Bell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=6869#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=6869\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Walker Bell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8b8706e15ba32f9782222c431fa75d9f\"},\"headline\":\"Wine with (food and) friends\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-17T17:20:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-17T21:15:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=6869\"},\"wordCount\":735,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=6869#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/0003.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Features\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=6869#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=6869\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=6869\",\"name\":\"Wine with (food and) friends - 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