Which comes first?

Florida Jim's post on notes regarding food and wine got me thinking about something similar, albeit kind of frivolous.

Do you typically choose what you're going to eat based upon what wine you feel like drinking?

or

Do you typically choose what wine you're going to drink based upon what you've decided to have for a meal?

I've never posted a poll online before, so I have no idea if this is going to work (and apologies to all you poll-haters out there, just scroll on by!).

With the exception of offlines where wine is the name of the game, I almost invariably decide on the food and then try to find a wine match.

In part that's because Janet and I decide on our menu when we eat at home -- food is always more important to her than the wine -- and then I do the cooking and choose the wine.

In a restaurant, food's almost always the most important consideration, then the wine list.

Once in a great while we will take a special bottle to a restaurant for a celebration, but our special bottles almost always will go with a variety of foods.

Regards, Bob

PS: Looks like your first poll is working great! B.

I'll always look at the winelist before ordering food, and if there's a wine I really want I'll change my food order if necessary.

[Robin Garr]

I think it's a great poll, K!

I think "50-50" works for me, although when I think it through, it's probably a little bit more complicated. I often decide on dinner based on what I was able to get fresh from the grocery (or in this season, the garden or produce market), and when that happens, the food guides the wine. But if I've been wine shopping or for any reason have a wine up that I really want to try, then the wine guides the food. And very often it's a mix of factors. I'll shop for food and, when I see something interesting, say, "Hey, I've got a few wines at home that would go great with that," buy it, take it home and then decide which specific wine to open.

So it's not necessarily a simple equation, but "50-50" certainly comes the closest to representing it.

I'm probably about 60/40 for wine then food for a couple of reasons.

I'm still relatively new to wine, so I'm doing a lot of experimenting. While I already know what to expect from most foods, a new wine is always a surprise, so I tend to want to try more new wines and base my food choice around that.

I also find that usually, at least for me, a wine benefits more from a good food choice than vice-versa (a perfectly grilled medium rare steak is going to taste really good on it's own, whereas the cab you choose to have with it might be a bit too tannic on it's own but will soften up into a really pleasing experience w/ the benefit of the protein). I can certainly think of a number of exceptions to this that I've experienced, but on the whole it holds true for me.

Oh - I took the poll to mean in restaurants.

At home??

I buy wines to my tastes and when about to have a meal select a wine I fancy. I don't think we choose a meal when we are buying ingredients based on a particular wine.

I have more than enough wines at home - the only wine I will buy especially for a meal is Retsina if we've run out, when we are having a particular Greek dish.

As for my thinking - I often have a wine that either needs drinking or is one that I've just been looking forward to for a while; or maybe the occasion is special and calls for a special wine. In these situations, I'll decide on the food because of the wine.
Just as often, I'll think about what wine to have only after I've learned what the meal/event will consist of.
Only once in a while will I have no wine at all, usually because the food either isn't wine friendly or I simply don't have a wine that will complement it.

Voted for food first, but of course it is not 100%. There are times when our hearts are set on a wine and then decide what to eat with it.

Cheers,
Carl

We'll decide what we want to cook or serve then match wines accordingly.

Richard

[Robin Garr]

Here's a small but perhaps related tangent: In the Foodie Forum, there's a new thread inviting people to post "perfect pairings," the classic or not-so-classic matches of food and wine that work particularly well.

In the first few posts, I just noticed that everybody but me listed the wine first, then the food ("Pinot Noir and mushrooms"). I instinctively listed the food first, then the wine ("Oysters and Muscadet").

In the context of this thread, I wonder if this response was random or significant ...

While I almost never join in on these polls, I decided to on yours. Since my wife cooks by far the majority of meals, and she doesn't drink wine at all, it is food first and wine second. Now on the occasion of my cooking the meal ( cooked mostly on Big Mama) I generally choose a wine then decide on seasonings.

On the occasion of dining out, I always will choose the wine then decide on the food order. Again she doesn't drink wine, so it is my food I choose without regard to what she is having I guess I agree totally with Bob Ross. Imagine that!

Bob, your comment: "On the occasion of dining out, I always will choose the wine then decide on the food order." really struck me. As important as the subject of wine is in my life, especially when dining out of the house, I have never considered picking the wine first at a restaurant! This is, for me, something of an epiphany. I will try to do as you do next time I/we are to dinner. I can see where it would put an new spin on the whole "what are you getting?" conversation. Thank you, Bob, for this idea.

Gosh Jon, coming from a Uber Geek, that is pretty high praise. Let me know what you think after the first occasion. I hope your wine selection(s) are better than what is generally offered in restaurants here.

On the restaurant scene, it is kind of a mix. We look at the wine list first to a. determine if it is any good, and b. decide if it is afforable or reasonably priced. Then we go to the menu and select food. Then back to the wine list to find something that goes with both dishes; or if a & b are negative, order a nice ale.

I don't know that the frequency is particularly skewed in one way or the other. When I make sosaties, for example, the wine must be de rigueur South African. Then again, sometimes I will have a nice smoky/leathery Pinotage on my mind all week and then select an appropriate food to have with it on the weekend (usually beefsteak marinated in a special Pinotage-friendly marinade and preferrably done over hardwood) - and this is an example of the wine coming first. It really goes both ways.

[David M. Bueker]

I tend to think that I put the wine first, but I actually rarely do.

I voted 50/50 because there are two distinct scenarios that occur. The first is when we cook a meal and I go in search of a wine to serve with it; the second is when we decide to pull a special bottle from the cellar and we then have to decide what sort of food to serve with it. The first scenario occurs more often, since we cook dinner 4-5 times a week and serve wine with it on most nights, but the second scenario may actually consume more of the wine from our cellar, since many of those meals might involve 3-6 bottles of wine.

Mark Lipton

Bob, even if I could have selected the title Über geek, I wouldn't have. But seriously, the DC restaurant/wine scene is becoming rich and rewarding. This city will soon be on par with San Francisco, New York and New Orleans if it isn't already. When I started in the Judicial Branch 30 years ago, there was one place to eat near my office - a run down lunch line in a department store. Now I have at least seven world class restaurants within a short walk and even some nice chain restaurants like Ruth's Chris.

I have to agree with Bob R...............although I am 50/50. LOL.