WHY ORDER A WINE???

Why order a wine?????

 I am seated in a restaurant and I want to enjoy my food with an alcoholic beverage, now what I have in mind is a wine but it’s natural that (just) maybe I will abort the idea when I glance at the beverage menu card. Can anyone point out the reason as to why?????? Well let me give you some. First of all I will not like the price; I would rather consider hops than wine which will be way cheaper and effective to give me a memorable weekend. The second reason being the complication in pronouncing the name of the wine, which gets more and more complicated if we consider the French creation (I seriously think that they should consider giving their products names that can be pronounced easily at one go). If my wallet were loaded I would prefer a Scotch or an American (J.D. Most probably) over a wine that will give me nothing but embarrassment when I pronounce the name wrong and I have myself corrected by the server and that is when the clock strikes awkward o’ clock for me.

Now having said all this would you call for a wine????? Well you should but before you do, it is imperative that you are well equipped with the required knowledge because consuming a wine is one type of investment (because they are very expensive). What I am trying to say is that when purchasing a bottle of wine you should know the wine and that is the only way to get value for your investment unless if you are not paying for the drink forget everything that I have said. CHEEERRRSS….

interesting facts

INTERESTING FACTS –

·         In the year 1998 about 2000 bottles of 1907 Heidsieck Champagne was discovered in the Gulf of Finland, the bottles were being shipped to the Russian Imperial family in 1916. These bottles are now priced at $275,000 each.

·         Aman Hotel in Delhi is most probably the only hotel in India that has a full time internationally qualified sommelier- Kavita Faiella.

·         Alsace is particularly famous for the production of rich whites but some excellent reds are also produced from pinot noir.

lets not complicate

Why make it complicated???????

Let me thank the readers who go through my blog especially ones who have taken the trouble to read my post on pairing food with wine (thanks a lot), wherein I had mentioned certain pairing guidelines. This post is to make my readers aware of the fact that this subject which is of concern here is not mathematics wherein you apply a certain formula and you get the desired product. I myself am an amateur in this field with an experience of nothing but it does not take experience to figure out what my palate desires or which wine when paired with which food is pleasing my taste bud. Many books containing as much details with regard to pairing have been written( with all the respect to the authors which had taken them a life time’s effort to sum up their knowledge and lay it down there) anyways my point is pairing food and wine is not science so let’s not make it one by COMPLICATING this deWINE subject. Yes with no doubt there are certain guidelines to pairing but finally it should come down to your choice and your experience. Anyways till next time indulge in healthy drinking and stay safe.

what is a good wine???

WHAT MAKES A GOOD WINE????

This is a question that has led men to scrutinize wine and ponder upon each sip. Wine is a very subjective issue and thus each individual has his personal take on it, for example you might enjoy a particular wine say a chardonnay but the other person might not. So what makes a good wine??? I say balance is what makes it good. A wine has four elements which have to strike a note in the palate and if there is a perfect balance between these four elements then a wine is divine. By balance it means that the four elements should be in harmony and should note overpower each other.

THE FOUR ELEMENTS-

Alcohol- the fermentation of the grape sugar in the grape juice produces alcohol. The riper the grape the more the sugar and hence subsequently higher level of alcohol.

Acid- gives the mouth a sensation of tartness similar to the taste obtained when sucking a lemon.

Tannin- the presence of tannins is indicated when the mouth is left dry after the consumption of the wine. The tannins are best broken down in the mouth by the proteins present in  red meat, and for this reason red wines are to be consumed with red meat.

Sweetness- the residual sugar that is not fermented adds to the sweetness of the wine. The process of Chaptalisation can also be followed in order increase the sweetness of the wine.

INTRODUCTION

   

     Introduction-

  I have let poison in to my life- that’s what a wine artist should have in his mind, no.. I am just messing around, as of now let me caution you that excessive indulgence in alcoholic beverages can prove to be very fatal to an individual’s health. It can further more shake and stir up your personal life as well. Anyway my responsibility towards showing you the bad side of the beverage we are concerned about is over with (thank god because that’s the toughest part for me) CHEEEERRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSS…………

  Anyway let me place a brief introduction about myself. Well I am not so good looking not tall but I am very susceptible to flattery so you can go ahead and say things to me that I am not………that will make me emotionally feel good. Go by the name Apurba Raj Rai currently pursuing my hotel management degree programme from Institute of Hotel Management Kolkata, aspire to dive into the field of wines and I think that’s more than enough that the readers should have their interest inclined towards me (or may be not)

  Through this wine dairy a normal human being who would want to go out get a wine to have with his dinner can actually have a good dining experience to a memorable and enriching one. Hence the main motive of the compilation of the diary would be educate people how to create a harmony between food and wine by identifying the different aspects of each such that the marriage between the two impresses the palate and heightens the gastronomical experience.

BASICS-

Enrico Bazzoni pointed out that red wine should go with red meat and white wine with white meat but when we speak of pairing both I have a rather different concept, I believe that an individual should drink the wine that he likes with the food that he likes but the most important aspect of which is that he or she should experiment. Moreover I kind of like the American attitude “they will order what they like” sounds right and absolutely fair to me (I hope that adaptation of such attitude does not gather popular mass)

I would like to order a salmon or chicken or anything on the the menu that is edible, what wine should I go for??  This has always been a clichéd remark but not a problem so as to let you know. There are basic guide lines upon which you can pair a wine with a certain food, to start off with you can take into consideration the following pairing combination which is very basic and easy to understand.

Chardonnay (white grape) should be paired with dishes of cream sauce. Likewise pinot noir (red grape) one of the most popular grapes used to make red wine basically from the region of Burgundy in France can be served with moderate to heavy food. According to my point of view a Bordeaux red wine would be indeed very happy to give accompaniment to a heavy red meat preparation the reason being such that the grapes of Bordeaux are small but have thick skins such that they contain a whole lot of tannin. Now the reason as to why we are pairing the two is simply because the tannins help to break down the proteins which are present in the meat preparation.VOILA!!!!!!!!!!!!

  

Service of Wine-

It is of imperative nature to know how to serve a wine, if not served properly than it can decollate the wowness of the wine then and there. The following steps should be kept under consideration whilst serving a wine-

·         Make sure that you have a good corkscrew. Use a foil cutter to cut off the capsule.

·         Use appropriately sized wine glasses as per the beverage being served.

·         Pour the wine about one third high in the glass (but I would suggest that the guest seated should be asked for specifications)

·         White wine is always served chilled.

·         Red wines are served at room temperature.

·         AND THE MOST IMPORTANT PART…...IS TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE ENOUGH WINE FOR YOUR GUEST.

Well the above mentioned are exhaustive points. Decanting in the case of red wine is also necessary as the decantation of the wine will allow the wine to breathe and hence it will release a more of flavor and aroma (nose) in short it will taste awesome. Finally I will say serve the wine good because it deserves to be served so.

Pairing Food and Wine-

I had highlighted a certain aspect of pairing food and wine early on, now I will try my level best to explain a bit more about the topic that will (I hope)ease your understanding towards the subject.

One of the first ways a pairing can be understood is by understanding that light food should be served with light wine, heavy wine with heavy food and delicate food with lighter wines. Let us consider a fillet of salmon; it will be appropriate to serve a sauvignon Blanc than a cabernet sauvignon as the latter will overpower the food preparation. Again an exhaustive list for the readers-

·         Sauvignon Blanc- white or light fish also goes well with cheese.

·         Chardonnay- grilled chicken, salmon topped with cream sauce.

·         Pinot noir- will be perfect accompaniment to light meat dishes.

·         Merlot- red meat preparation and also pasta.

·         Zinfandel- will give a perfect complement  to red meat preparation topped with heavy sauce or even a pasta,

·         Cabernet sauvignon- will go with heavy red meat preparation, grilled or barbequed steaks

·         Dry Rose’- will go with pasta salad, salad and light spicy food.

Lastly I have champagne on my list that without any doubt will go best with caviar. I did love to have a caviar (an ossetra most likely) with a couple of glass or a bottle even of Veuve Clicquot. Oh!!!! Before it slips right out of my mind I will quickly write this down because this combination is worth a mention- it’s some hot samosas with our own Omar Khayyam, you must not miss this one at any cost.

 

                   

. And some more pairing tips –

I will list down some more of pairing guidelines that can be of immense help to my readers. Try and you will notice that vinegar and oil is a comfort, simply because the acid of vinegar neutralizes the heaviness of the oil. Having said this acidic wine like pinot noir itself should be paired with an oily food.

Now let me give you another demonstration (I read this in some book) try and dip some lemon in a glass of milk, how would that taste to you??? If you like it than you are sick you need to go see a doctor on immediate grounds likewise a wine which has more of acidity in it should not be paired with preparation which is topped with cream sauces.

One of the most important things that should be kept under consideration while pairing is that the wines which have a dominant presence of non food flavor should be avoided, for example a wine which has a dominance of oak flavor should not be paired with food preparations. I would also point out that it is advisable to match flavors between the food and the wine. For instance the citrus taste of sauvignon Blanc will go with fish. In case you have decided to have an Indian or Chinese food which is spicy in nature than a suggestion that I would offer to satisfy your palate would be a Riesling or a gewürztraminer. The spiciness of the grape will complement the spiciness of the food. Lastly when in doubt about the suggestion to be made than remember that it is good to pair a food from a certain region with a wine from the same region

                        

“Don’t drink it if you do not like it, drink it if you like it, drink it if someone else pays for it………”