Can somebody please give me a BASIC run down about wines?!?

Question

OK, I have been told that reds go with brown food, and whites go with white food, and that makes sense.
Specificaly, what about chicken served in red sauce with pasta?
What about a veggie pizza (although I usually prefer beer with this)?
What about blushes?
I had thought that Zifandel was a blush, but the bottle I picked up today, appears to be a red. Am I confusing it wiht something else?

Please be nice and please don't just cut and paste Wikipedia.

Answer 1

Congratulations -- you have found out for yourself that basic food and matching rules are nonsense!

Chicken is a great meat to match with good red wines because it is a fairly bland meat. Of course that means it takes on the characteristics of the ingredients it is cooked in and served with.

There are books and books of advice (often conflicting) about matching, but you have shown you have a mind of your own. So I suggest you try the wines YOU like with the food YOU like. If the match works, fine. If you think another wine would do better, then next time try that. The more you try the more you will start making up your own rules.

Everyones tastes are different, and I wouldn't pay much attention to these lists of food/wine matches unless you are stuck for an idea of your own.

Personally, for your chicken dish I'd go for a red wine. And because it sounds Italian I'd choose an Italian wine like Barbera, or Montepulciano. Or an Italian-like grape like (red) Zinfandel.

I too eat only vegetarian pizza and I usually have a crisp dry white like a Sauvignon Blanc, or in an Italian pizza restaurant a Soave. But when its cold I some times have a red wine -- something abit rustic.

Re Zinfandel. Zinfandel is a red grape with white juice. Zin makes a fine beautiful gutsy spicy red wine. But you can make white wines from red grapes (Champagne is the most famous example) and also pink wines by taking just a little color from the grape skins.

In the USA 'white Zinfandel' -- a sweet pink wine -- has been very popular with new drinkers, but the real thing is red.

It sounds like you are just at the start of your love affair with wine. You have a great deal to look forward to, lots of new wines to discover.

May I suggest popping down to a book store and browsing the shelves in the Cookery department for wine books for beginners. Also see ifthere is a wine tasting group near you that you can join -- that way you can taste lots of different wines at little cost. of the of excitement. And you may like to start taking part in on-line wine discussion groups such as http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/

And have a look at my article "Wine & Food Matching Rules are Bunk" - http://www.winelabels.org/artbunk.htm