Wine Poll #007: Once is Not Enough

When Jacqueline Susanne wrote "Once is not enough" she was not thinking of wine. But this is, after all, a wine forum, so the question this week is - how often do you drink more than one wine with meals you consider truly fine or in some way special. And, of course, any comments you may care to make.

I'm not the first to vote but the first to comment..... Voted for frequently but in my case, that is particularly easy. Because I taste so many wines during the morning in my tasting room, there is invariably a selection from which I can choose one wine with which to start a meal and then to continue with another. Those, of course are the ones that go neither to neighbors nor to clean the sewers of Tel Aviv.

When dining out, especially with one companion, I also frequently will have two wines with my meal, quite frequently the first being from a 375 cc bottle or ordered by the glass, the second from a full bottle. When dining alone too, for then it is usually not difficu8lt to start off with a single glass and then to go on to a half-bottle.

Best
Rogov

[Robin Garr]

Timely question! My response is quite like yours, Rogov, but I would add that also one of my favorite eateries is a local wine bar with a giant (54-tap) Cruvinet as well as about 50 more wines available by the taste. We got together with a nice group of friends there just last night and, in my case, tried two wines in 2 ounce tastes and one in a 5-ounce glass. Total consumption, no more than two standard wine glasses, but I was able to enjoy mixing and matching wines and dishes on the table, a project made even more interesting by my decision to enjoy a few small plates rather than one large main course. Sweetbreads, goat-cheese-onion-tart and an heirloom-tomato variation on Caprese with a modest Burgundy, a very modest Bordeaux and a really delicious Minervois.

I voted "sometimes":

At family dinners I usually bring the wine, sometimes one bottle, sometimes two. This includes dinning out with BYO.
As I do not have regular drinking companions at home, I attend wine tasting and other gathering and events, where I either drink by the glass, or share a couple of bottles or more with friends, or taste several flights of 3 wines around a table, or taste 20+ wines at a standing event.

Eli

When there is more than one course to eat, there will be more than one wine. Usually, though, this only happens when I have people round for a meal or eat out with a group. Meals at home are, 90% of the time, one course and one wine. Quick meals out, either alone or with one other person, usually are also one course, one wine.

Matilda

I voted "almost always," because when I do drink wine with a meal it is almost always with friends and/or family. I find this an occasion during the week (particularly Shabbat meals) to open up at least two bottles of wine, if not more. Meals/gettogethers with at least a snack with at least one other person would have two wines as well (I think at least three other current forum members can testify to this!).

- E.Y.

Rarely. One wine drinker in the family...

Had to say "Sometimes" because it's usually just my wife and me. If others join us it's virtually always. But this really points out why half bottles are such a nice idea. They make a meal for two (or even one) much more interesting.

Ken

Voted almost always since on Shabbat there is almost always a fish appetizer followed by a meat/fowl main course. Definitely calls for both a white and a red