OK, if you HAD to serve a red with Lobster and drawn butter

Before any one starts yelling at me..LOL! I am going to a neighbor's home for a lobster dinner in a few days. I was planning on bringing a Vouvray (for hubby and I) and a big fat buttery chardonnay. However, I know our hosts ONLY drink red...with EVERYTHING! They will not touch a white...so if you HAD to drink a red wine (not a Rosé either) with Lobster...what would it be? Any suggestions?

I would think something with low tannins. How about a Barbera or Dolcetto?

Lots of people drinking Italian this weekend I think in memory of Luciano.

%^)

If you Google "red wine with lobster", what you will basically find is that it just doesn't work ... a couple suggestions about very low tannic reds like Pinot or Gamay but more talk of tannins and the iodine in the lobster making everything taste metallic ... bottom line - red wine and lobster with drawn butter is a "no no" ...

Just my $0.02 ...

Clink !

%^)

Bill, what about a sparkling Shiraz?? Oh dear, here come the emails!!! Seriously though might work, if you can find a decent one.

I would go with Bill's suggestion and try a Gamay.
If you could find some Beaujolais, or Beaujolais-Villages, those would work.

[James Roscoe]

I'm with John and Bill, although a dolcetto might also help avoid disaster.

Maria,

Krug Rose only!

If you bring white wine, they WILL drink white wine. Grab a nice bottle of Vouvray (I'm partial to Foreau) and force them to drink it with dinner. My guess is that you'll have a pair of converts on your hands. Stay on your toes - People who won't drink white wine can't be trusted...

I had lobster with drawn butter accompanied by an Albarino from Rias Baixas a few week ago. The combination worked very well together. Just say "no" to the red wine pairing.

I agree - take a white.

At least you'll have something to drink - theyt can pop a red if they really need to.

I would try a young Pinot Noir, a 2005 from Burgundy. Great food wines generally, and you can always pair them with the sides, and sip water with the lobster.

Kind of a work around, and on the human side -- ask your host/hostess what they think would work. Then follow their suggestion.

Regards, Bob

If not white wine, then water.

I spent 10 minutes pondering this question (no lie) to no avail. Even Gamay and lighter reds would butcher things.

Vouvray! Vouvray! Vouvray!

I would start some experiment with food-coloring for white wine. Might even help your neighbor out of his self-inflicted misery...

Peter

Absolutely, positively has to be red? I honestly think Bob Parsons is on to it--sparkling Shiraz or something off-dry, to work with the sweetness of the dish and so the tannins become much less of a factor. Bugey? Lambrusco? Maybe even Brachetto?

Your neighbors, hmmm...time to move to a DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOOD.

As should now be abundantly clear, red + lobster = organoleptic train wreck. Since disaster is inevitable, might as well get some fun out of it. How about a nice big tannic Petite Sirah? Or maybe a Cahors.

what difference does it make? obviously they don't care about pairing - just bring some 2 buck chuck merlot.

[Jenise]

I agree - take a white.

At least you'll have something to drink - theyt can pop a red if they really need to.

She already said she plans to--two. But she still wants to bring a red for the hosts, and I think she's absolutely right. I actually used to have a good friend in Alaska who was really into good wine, who drank only red and whose favorite food was seafood. The metallic notes that the rest of us complain of? Nonexistent for him--to him, it all tasted fine. There was no arguing with him and there's no arguing with Maria--she should take a red.

So, Maria, I'd go with a low tannin wine as others have suggesed, and one that has a bit of oak-induced sweetness to boot, because lobster's sweet. A wine in the $12-15 range that would work quite well would be Rodney Strong merlot--I had a taste of someone's bottle a few weeks ago at a fish fry, and it wasn't that bad.

As others have said, I'd not worry about pairing, they obviously don't care, just bring something you'd like to taste (when no lobster on table)

I guess if it absolutely had to be a red to try and match, something very light (lighter styled Gamay-not a Cru Beaujolais, Grignolino, etc) is better than Screaming Eagle.

I'd note by the way that Dolcetto isn't neccessarily low-tannin.

You know, this is sort of like a thread agonizing about mixing wine with Dr. Pepper - who cares what the wine is, it isn't going to taste like anything in company with that food anyway.

Give them a bottle of whatever they like to drink and don't try to second guess them on taste - they obviously don't care about wine that much or they'd be open minded about trying whites with that sort of food.

Jenise - thanks for pointing out the whites chosen - the Vouvray may be too soft and subtle for a rich lobster, depending on how it is served. You need something with some acidity (some Vouvrays have this but a lot don't). Same goes for buttery chards although I know many people like that with lobster.

Give me a Muscadet or even a crisp Riesling, depending on preparation.

So I have these people coming over and they drink nothing but white wine and I am serving a beef daube....... .

Give them a bottle of whatever they like to drink and don't try to second guess them on taste - they obviously don't care about wine that much or they'd be open minded about trying whites with that sort of food.

I agree with Bill. I'm alway skeptical of people who say "I never drink ____ wines" (unless the "blank" is Sancerre, of course ). I usually take such a statement to mean that they tolerate wines rather than enjoy them. Take a bottle of what they like, along with a bottle of wine that would work well. Perhaps they will appreciate the difference in pairing and come around to whites.

[Jenise]

I usually take such a statement to mean that they tolerate wines rather than enjoy them.

But as I pointed out with the example of my Alaska friend--whose generosity and deep cellar gave me my first taste of aged William Selyam pinots back in the day--that's not always the case and it would be a mistake, and possibly rude, to assume that. Better to assume that they like what they like with good reason and simply play into their tastes, bizarre as they may seem.

Better to assume that they like what they like with good reason and simply play into their tastes, bizarre as they may seem.

Mmmmm - I like that sort of open attitude in a woman..... (just kidding)

Better to assume that they like what they like with good reason and simply play into their tastes, bizarre as they may seem.

Jenise,

I suppose that you are correct. It just irks me when supposed "wine lovers" are closed minded to particular wines. How can there not be a white out there that a wine lover would at least enjoy, if not love? Seems impossible to me. To each his own I guess.