WineLovers Discussion Group

I'm new here so I apolgize if this has already been covered but it seems most of what I read these days is about pairing food with wine. I may be strange but for quite a bit of my wine drinking there isn't any food in sight. Instead, I often just want a nice glass (or two) of wine. And I find that many wines, and specifically, a lot of big reds really need some food to tame them down. So I would like to ask, assuming you just want a nice glass of wine, say when you are reading a book, or watching a movie, or having a conversation without food... what wines do you like to drink by themselves? Or is it the same wines you drink with foods?

Thanks,

Glenn

Hi Glenn! First <b>Welcome to the forum</b>, then on to your question. I like wine without food well enough. But I like wine with food even better. I will often drink a glass or two while I read the forum in the late afternoon, or even after dinner...but the wine I have with dinner is always the best glass of the evening. When I sip in the late afternoon, it is more likely to be a white or a rosé than a red. There is not much of anything better than a nice chilled rosé or white as I sit on the deck under the umbrella, with a good book on a hot summer afternoon. That of course doesn't preclude a glass of red if I happen to have one glass left in the bottle from the night before. So, like I told Parker once, I like wine, red, white, and pink. It would be so much nicer though if my wife enjoyed it too.

PS: Glenn, I have decided to come back and add a point or two to my response. Some wines are simply made to go with food and are nearly painful when sipped alone. I would add that the more acidic whites such as albariño, and Aussie Rieslings fall into this category. Then in the Loire there is muscadet, that demands food. In the red spectrum, I would say that most young tannic reds if not require food they are sure better with than without. These are just some samples and are not meant as the <b>only</b> wines that are better with than without.

Glenn, I drink most of my wine without food; usually after dinner with a book or a movie while my feet are up.

Sherry, Rioja, Cava and Loire whites are my usual foodless wines.

Best,
Joe

Hi Glenn and Welcome! I like wine both with and without food, but generally, not the same wines. Most of the wine I drink are wines that I make myself and some are not particularly food friendly, but are enjoyable on their own, such as wines made from Labrusca and some hybrid grape varieties. When I think of pairing wine with food, I generally think in terms of a meal and not an accompanying snack, such as cheese and crackers.

Although we tend to have the glasses filled with wine when we're eating casually at home, we don't actually drink that much until the plate is finished. In some respects the wine offers after meal relaxation as much as mouth-watering palate freshening.

Wines by themselves? I guess through the various wine tastings, I don't think there's any wine that is horrible without food, though often there's a good food match where the food adds to the wine and vice-versa.

My feeling is, stick with what you like doing.

regards

Ian

Glenn Mackles wrote:
So I would like to ask, assuming you just want a nice glass of wine, say when you are reading a book, or watching a movie, or having a conversation without food... what wines do you like to drink by themselves? Or is it the same wines you drink with foods?

Thanks,

Glenn

For me, most of the time, it is the same wine. And that's because, most of the time, my wine drinking surrounds the evening meal. A glass while Beth and I are working in the kitchen or I am working at the grill, then with the meal, and usually I still have a bit left over to enjoy while watching the tube or reading. The main event, however, is the meal and the wine balances it out. These are usually food friendly wines with a dose of acid and some nice structure, and not overpowering gobs of fruit and oak.
If, however, I am opening a wine NOT to go with a meal - a rarity except in wine tastings like our Thursday-After-Work group - I am apt to go with something that is perhaps a bit softer, a bit lower in acid, a bit more fruity, a bit more complex, or a bit older.

I prefer most of my wines with food. They just seem to work better for me that way. Plus, we almost always have wine with our dinner and if we don't, it is because we just don't feel like wine that night. That leaves very little occasion to drink wine by itself.

If I'm going to have a glass with nothing else, it will usually be a dessert wine like Sauternes or Tokaji Aszú.

If I am going to just unwind with a glass of wine, I'll pick something like a German Riesling or New World Viognier. Something cool, crisp and refreshing with nice fruit and acidity (which then makes me hungry). A really good quaffer for the summer heat is Vinho Verde...easy on the wallet and a nice simple wine.

OW Holmes wrote:.... in wine tastings like our Thursday-After-Work group....

Since I've never been involved is anything like this, I'm curious. Do you bring a wine from your cellar and go home beforehand to get it or do you bring it with you to work? If I were to bring wine to work I'd have to leave it in the trunk of my car as no alcoholic beverages are permitted on the site, which would mean either a cooler or a heater, depending on the time of year.

No such rediculous rules here, Howie. I bring it with me in the morning. Sometimes in a bag, sometimes in a fancy carry case, and often just gripped by the neck of the bottle. If a white, I put it in the little refrigerator in my office. If a red, it goes on the conference table, next to the corkscrew, basket of goodies and cheese plate. And it sits there in plain sight while office workers walk by my open door, glance in, shake their heads, and move on.

Glenn Mackles wrote:So I would like to ask, assuming you just want a nice glass of wine, say when you are reading a book, or watching a movie, or having a conversation without food... what wines do you like to drink by themselves? Or is it the same wines you drink with foods?

Glenn, first of all, welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy being part of this fine wine-loving community.

To answer your question I will say that I believe that wine certainly can go with food, but it doesn't have to go with food to be good. Any of the table wines that I enjoy with my meals are fair candidates for solo sipping at any time.

That said, I reserve a special place for aromatic wines as sipping wines that probably go best without food: wines such as Gewürztraminer, Muscat, and our native American Vitis labrusca wines (which I make at home in a dry style). These wines tend to have very overt, forceful bouquets on the nose, sometimes thought of as "perfumey", and as such they are strong enough to be the sole performers rather than needing a culinary accompaniment.

That's how it is for me.

There are wines I like better as stand alone wines. I like some of the softer Rhone blends as casual sipping wines.

Other wines seem to work better with food. Chiantis, for example. Or, even some cabs. Definitely whites, which I don't like by themselves very much at all.

I'd like to become involved in a wine tasting club. Partly to help me work through my collecting insanity-developed cellar collection. (It's one of my biggest flaws, this collecting mentality. An inherited thing, sadly).

I tend to have food whenever drinking wine, with the exception of dessert wines. These usually stand alone, or I'll occasionally have something that's not sweet with them, e.g. some nuts with a glass of Madeira.

cheers,
al

Glenn, although all roads lead to wine with dinner, we often sip wines on the patio before dinner or while preparing it. As some have said, some wines need food, and conversely some wines are more easily enjoyed by themselves. The older, more unusual and special the wine is, the likelier we are in fact to drink at least a glass of it away from the meal--who needs distractions?

Glen, welcome to a great place to discuss wine. No question can be asked too often -- new people stop by with new insights, and it's always fun to pontificate. :-)

I love drinking the same wine with a meal and then having a second glass, spending two or three hours drinking, sipping and following the wine's evolution. The character of the wine may make incredible changes during its evolution, and I like to be there to experience them.

Again, welcome. Stop by again. Regards, Bob

We like to quaff anything that doesn't go with food. How do we end up with such? Sometimes we buy two at a time and find the first one over oaky (either white or red) or have something else that frowns on food. Sometimes we get gifts or wines from clubs that are like the former or are simply too high powered to destroy good food with.

Glenn Mackles wrote:I'm new here so I apolgize if this has already been covered but it seems most of what I read these days is about pairing food with wine. I may be strange but for quite a bit of my wine drinking there isn't any food in sight. Instead, I often just want a nice glass (or two) of wine. And I find that many wines, and specifically, a lot of big reds really need some food to tame them down. So I would like to ask, assuming you just want a nice glass of wine, say when you are reading a book, or watching a movie, or having a conversation without food... what wines do you like to drink by themselves? Or is it the same wines you drink with foods?

Thanks,

Glenn

Glenn,

I tell people to drink what they like.

The labels don't matter, the pretentiousness doesn't matter....what matters is do you like what is in your glass.

I don't try to impress anyone with my wine selections or with what I write about the wines I currently enjoy on this forum. Instead, I drink what gives me pleasure in the times you mentioned in your first post.

Drink what you like.