Re-Thinking Your Wine's Purpose
Last month, once again we put ourselves in a familiar position to defend German Riesling, historically some of the world's finest and most revered white wines.
The occasion was our Saturday afternoon tasting the day before Easter. What do families eat on Easter Sunday, we asked. In my house growing up, it was always a ham with scalloped potatoes and green beans in some sauce made from a can of mushroom soup.
What wine can you serve with American-style ham? The dang thing is so salty a lot of families put crushed pineapple on top before they bake it. Tannic red wines will have you reaching for the water glass. Beaujolais and its ilk are about the only reds that stand a chance.
Some people prefer a full-bodied rosé, not the little Côte de Provence wines we drink all summer, but a full-bodied example like Tavel, or even better, a fruity Anjou rosé if you can find one. I grew up with a jug of rosé at the Easter table. It wasn't very good in those days.
But German Riesling, especially with a little sweetness, provides an accompaniment that makes it unnecessary to crush pineapple. It becomes the fruit the ham needs to make your meal balanced.
To make the point, we served some deliciously smoked ham at our German Riesling tasting, a lineup which included some of the country's finest producers, including Zilliken and Fritz Haag. To show that German wine can be delicious when dry, there were four of them, too.
And then there was Sharon. Sharon dislikes sweet wines, but, because she has a sweet soul, she came to our German wine tasting with her friends to give our Rieslings another chance, bless her heart.
"There are a few of these (the dry ones) that I like," she said, "but I don't like sweet wines."
That's when I went into my standard rebuttal:
"Do you like fresh strawberries?"
"Yes."
"Sweet ones?"
"Of course."
So why don't you like sweet German Riesling?"
"It's not the same thing."
And that's where the booze mindset trumps the food vision for wine. I'm afraid wine, for most American consumers, is another thing to drink besides vodka tonic and Bourbon.
But at its most basic, wine is fruit juice. From grapes. Food. Rarely aged in oak barrels for flavor like Chardonnay and Cabernet, Riesling displays its fruit up front, unashamed, with such an impeccable acidity that it is balanced at any sweetness level--dry to super-sweet. Just like your favorite fresh fruits.
When wine functions as "flavored booze", any style that gives pleasure is a purpose in itself. When wine becomes the fruit accompaniment to food on the table, its purpose--and often its taste--is completely different
When you perceive wine as the fruit juice it actually is, especially when a variety like Riesling is naturally fruity, then a sweet or semi-sweet version can substitute for fruit on the table, adding balance to salty things like ham, Thai food, Chinese food, cheeses, omelets and various patés.
Judging by the enthusiasm our Riesling lovers in attendance displayed, German wines made them happy by themselves, and with their food.
The overriding purpose of wine is to give us pleasure. But there is always more to what wine can do for you. As Cecil DeLoach once told me, "It can get you high," and if you like, that can be wine's sole purpose for you. Muscadet, the racy, dry white wine grown near the mouth of the Loire, when washing down raw oysters, serves a different purpose. Chinon with a steak, Brunello di Montalcino with a steak finished with olive oil. Roquefort cheese with Sauternes, Stilton and vintage port, all these wines find a new purpose as they function as fruit in a glass.
My purpose is to open you up to new ways of enjoying wine. Re-thinking your wine's purpose is a good way to further that aim.